Title IV-B of the Social Security Act is a relatively small, but critical, federal funding source for child welfare agencies. It provides flexible funding for agencies to invest in programs and services across the child welfare continuum, including services that prevent child maltreatment and entries into foster care, as well as supporting the stability of children and families after they leave foster care.
We are grateful to Congress for its bipartisan support and investment in Title IV-B, shown most recently by its reauthorization, enacted by the Supporting America’s Children and Families Act (P.L. 118–258, also known as Supporting America’s Families Act) in early 2025. Throughout the legislative process, Congressional leaders from both sides of the aisle worked together to prioritize and invest in children and families. The Act promotes numerous areas of progress, including supporting kinship caregivers, prioritizing the perspectives of those who have experienced foster care, connecting families to concrete and peer-delivered services, and investing in research and evaluation to address key gaps in the field.
This Primer provides an overview of the Title IV-B funding source, its structure, and how it can be used flexibly by states to strengthen families and communities. It also provides a high-level look at the ways The Supporting America’s Families Act updates Title IV-B. This Primer is a part of The IV-B Blueprint, which dives deep into key provisions of the Act, offers examples of related innovation, and provides concrete implementation tips.
What is Title IV-B and What Are Title IV-B Funds Designed to Do?
Title IV-B of the Social Security Act is a federal child welfare funding source for states, territories, and Tribes. It is divided into two parts: the Stephanie Tubbs Jones Child Welfare Services (CWS) program (Subpart 1) and the MaryLee Allen Promoting Safe and Stable Families (PSSF) program (Subpart 2).
The Congressional Research Services (CRS) provides the following overview of how funds can be used:
Under the CWS and PSSF programs, states, territories, and tribes receive funding to support a broad range of services, including to protect children from abuse, neglect, or exploitation (CWS); strengthen families (CWS and PSSF); help children to remain safely with their families (CWS and PSSF); ensure the well-being of children in foster care and enable them to be safely reunited with their families (CWS and PSSF); or, if necessary, find children new permanent families (CWS and PSSF).
Additionally, some PSSF funding must be reserved each year for the Court Improvement Program (CIP), Monthly Caseworker Visit (MCV) grants, and Regional Partnership Grants (RPGs) to improve outcomes for children affected by parent/caretaker substance use disorder, and for child and family services-related research, evaluation, and technical assistance.
Although relatively small (see the answer to the next question for more about that!), Title IV-B is unique because its flexibility allows it to be blended and braided with other funding sources. That flexibility allows states to pilot innovative approaches or meet needs that can’t be met through other funding sources with more narrow eligibility requirements.
Resources for Going Deeper
Information Memorandum on The Supporting America’s Children and Families Act: This policy document, issued by the federal Children’s Bureau in June, 2025, walks through key provisions of the new legislation.
Title IV-B at a Glance: This Child Welfare Wonk blog by Zach Laris walks through the elements of Title IV-B and why it is so important for child welfare agencies.
Webinar Examines Strategies to Keep Families Supported, Connected and Safe: This webinar from the Annie E. Casey Foundation - along with related briefs - explains how different child welfare funding sources can be leveraged.
Title IV-B Spending by Child Welfare Agencies in SFY 2022: This fact sheet from Child Trends provides an overview of Title IV-B funding and how spending has changed over time.
How Large is Title IV-B, Compared to Other Federal and State Funding Sources?
Child Trends, an independent research organization, surveys state child welfare agencies every-other-year to understand overall child welfare financing trends. They reported that states spent $632 million in Title IV-B funds during state fiscal year (SFY) 2022. There has been an overall decrease in IV-B expenditures over the last decade: with states reporting a decrease of 16% since 2012.
Nationally, Title IV-B was only 4% of federal funds spent by child welfare agencies in 2022. However, this does vary by states. States showed that the proportion of federal funds for Title IV-B varied from less than 1% to above 10%.
To understand trends in your state, you can find your state child welfare financing profile here: Child Welfare Financing Survey SFY2022 - Child Trends
How Does My State Use Title IV-B Funding?
States are allowed to design their Title IV-B service array and determine who is eligible for services. In order to receive federal allotments, states must submit a Child and Family Services Plan (CFSP) to the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). These strategic plans cover the goals and vision for their child welfare system, including those for the two subparts of Title IV-B, and must be approved by the federal government. The most recent plans are for 2025 – 2029. There are also annual reporting requirements, where states share their progress and can update their plans. Exploring your state’s plan and annual report can help you understand the constellation of services and supports available.
The federal Administration for Children and Families houses plans and reports on their website. As of December 2025, this page does not yet have the 2025-2029 plans. Those may be available on your state child welfare agency’s website.
As detailed in The Title IV-B Blueprint, the Supporting America’s Families Act makes some changes to what must be included in those plans, and requires agencies to consult with youth, parents, kin caregivers, and foster parents in developing these plans moving forward. The Act also requires that HHS develop a standardized Title IV-B plan format, making them uniform across states. HHS also must make plans available on a public website and produce summaries and analyses of state plans.
How Does the Supporting America’s Families Act Change Title IV-B?
The Supporting America’s Children and Families Act (P.L. 118–258, also known as Supporting America’s Families Act) was signed into law on January 4, 2025. It reauthorizes Title IV-B through FY2029 and increases annual funding by $75 million. This is the first increase in over two decades and shows an important investment in prevention and family strengthening services. The Congressional Research Service summarizes the changes:
Most of the $75 million in additional PSSF funds will increase formula grant funding to states, territories, and tribes for child and family services, but a part of it is directed (as of FY2026) to increase annual mandatory funds reserved for the CIP, RPGs, and MCV grants. The new law reorganizes PSSF support for evaluation and technical assistance and directs new set-asides of discretionary PSSF funds for competitive grants to support kinship navigator programs and to develop evidence-based services to prevent foster care. Other amendments to the PSSF program focus on boosting resources to strengthen families in their own communities, developing policies to prevent family separations due to poverty alone, offering short-term benefits to address a family crisis, serving kinship families and older youth, and incorporating lived experience in service planning. Changes to the CWS program address offering information on available independent legal representation, developing standards for virtual caseworker visits of older youth in care, and addressing the mental health needs of children in care.
What Types of Services and Supports are Included in The Supporting America’s Children and Families Act?
Congress has reauthorized and amended Title IV-B of the Social Security Act numerous times since 1980. In general, reauthorization occurs every five years. The 2025 reauthorization through the Supporting America’s Families Act extended many of the same provisions but also made important additions and amendments.
The Congressional Research Service categorizes key changes made by the Act in the following buckets:
It clarifies how funds can be spent, explicitly informing agencies that the flexible PSSF funds can be used on:
Short term benefits
Peer-to-peer mentoring
Family Resource Centers
Digital Portals to connect families to resources in their communities
Specifically including youth under 26 and kinship families or kinship caregivers as eligible populations for services
It creates new requirements, to be implemented by October 1, 2025, for states and the federal HHS around program planning, such as:
Requiring states to describe how policies ensure that poverty is not the sole reason a child enters care, as well as how they support a family with concrete needs that comes to their attention
Requiring youth, parents, foster parents, adoptive parents, kinship caregivers be engaged in developing the plan
Requiring states describe how children and parents/guardians are informed about available legal counsel
Describing how/when virtual caseworker visits are offered to youth in care age 18 or older, and what consent looks like
Describing how states are implementing ICWA
It modifies specific IV-B programs and activities, including:
Court Improvement Programs (increased funding and allowing technology for remote proceedings);
Regional Partnership Grants (increased funding, stronger connection to Title IV-E prevention evaluation requirements);
Monthly Caseworker Visit Grants (increased funding and allows them to be used on caseworker recruitment and retention);
Kinship Navigator grants (reserves funding and creates competitive grant process)
Grants to build the prevention evidence base
Demonstration grants to support relationships between children in care and incarcerated parents
New best practices in data collection and reporting on youth in residential treatment
Research on post adoption/post-guardianship stability and supports
Reserves a full 3% of PSSF and CWS funding (increase, effective rate was 2.6% and 2.8% respectively, so an increase)
