How many children are being cared for by relatives under the TANF program today?
Would any of those families be eligible for Federal foster care payments under Chairman McDermott’s bill? We believe the most recent data from the 2006 Annual TANF Report to Congress indicates that there are approximately 783,000 “child-only” cases in TANF including a range of families where the parent is present (table 1:3-Appendix). Of this total, approximately 20 percent of these child only-cases are headed by grandparents and another 10 percent by other relatives (table 10:40-appendix). Not all of these children would be in the child welfare system. In fact, a recent report by the Urban Institute (Series B, No.B-68, May 2006) indicates that less than half of those children in the report defined as “public” kinship care are taken into custody and are a part of the child welfare system. Yes, we would expect some of these kinship families would be eligible for kinship placements. This would be consistent with what members of Congress mandated in the enactment of P.L. 105-89, the Adopt
