Authority: Title 63.1, Chapters 3, 10, 10.1, 10.2, 11.1, 11.2, 12.1, and 18, Code of Virginia; P.L. 100-294, P.L. 101-126, P.L. 101-226, P.L. 105-89, as amended, Federal Code.

A. Out of the amount for Financial Assistance for Child and Youth Services, $575,000 from the general fund and $400,000 from nongeneral funds the first year and $575,000 from the general fund and $400,000 from nongeneral funds the second year shall be provided for the purchase of services for victims of domestic violence, child abuse and neglect prevention activities as stated in §§ 63.1-248.7 C and 63.1-319, Code of Virginia, in accordance with regulations promulgated by the Board of Social Services.

B. Expenditures meeting the criteria of Title IV-E of the Social Security Act shall be fully reimbursed except that expenditures otherwise subject to a standard local matching share under applicable state policy, including local staffing, shall continue to require local match. The Commissioner shall ensure that local social service boards obtain reimbursement for all children eligible for Title IV-E coverage.

C. This appropriation includes $180,200 from the general fund and $99,800 from nongeneral funds the first year and $180,200 from the general fund and $99,800 from nongeneral funds the second year to continue respite care for foster parents.

D. The Commissioner, in cooperation with the Department of Planning and Budget, shall establish a reasonable, automatic adjustment for inflation each year to be applied to the room and board maximum rates paid to foster parents. However, this provision shall apply only in fiscal years following a fiscal year in which salary increases are provided for state employees. The amount of the increase shall be based on inflation in the cost of raising a child as indicated by appropriate inflation indicators selected by the Department of Planning and Budget.

E. Out of this appropriation shall be provided $100,000 the first year from nongeneral funds and $100,000 the second year from nongeneral funds for Volunteer Emergency Families for Children to expand its shelter care network for abused, neglected, runaway, homeless, and at-risk children throughout Virginia.

F. The Department of Social Services shall develop additional performance measures for the adoption subsidy program to measure, over a fiscal year, the percentage of foster care children with a goal of adoption who are placed in adoptive homes and, of those, the average number of months since the termination of parental rights and the average number of months since the goal of adoption was established.

G. The Department of Social Services shall develop and maintain a Memorandum of Understanding with the Comprehensive Health Investment Project (CHIP) of Virginia to pilot the use of foster care prevention funding in Southwest Virginia. Additional funding which may be available through this effort to Southwest Virginia CHIP projects cannot be used to supplant existing resources for those projects.

H. The Department of Social Services shall establish a separate state program for foster care prevention services. The separate program shall be administered with appropriate local, state, and federal funds. The Department of Planning and Budget shall have authority to transfer amounts from the Comprehensive Services Act for At-Risk Youth and Families for this purpose. The Department of Social Services, pending approval of the Secretary of Health and Human Resources and the Department of Planning and Budget, shall establish regulations as necessary to govern this separate program.