Title IV-B: Alignment with Vision and Other Funds Is Key
By Rebecca Jones Gaston
Child Welfare Director Perspectives
Child Welfare Wonk invites insights from bipartisan former state child welfare leaders on the biggest ideas shaping the field today.
Our contributors surface how former state child welfare leaders think through high-stakes policy moments.
These aren’t endorsements; they’re strategic intelligence.
Looking at leadership across political and geographic contexts, you get to see the kind of thinking that shapes decisions before they’re public.
So, how are leaders thinking about what we’ve broken down in our Title IV-B Explainer?
Alignment with Vision and Other Funds Is Key
By Rebecca Jones Gaston
The Supporting America’s Children and Families Act (PL 118-258), reauthorizing Title IV-B in December 2024, underscores the importance of funding services—not placements—to prevent family separation, support reunification, and strengthen systems support to families and children, court improvements, and kinship supports.
As a leader, I see Title IV-B as a critical, though modest, funding stream—about 4% of federal child welfare funding compared to Title IV-E, which is nearly 60%—that can support upstream efforts to keep families safely together and support reunification.
The IV-B funding increase for FY26–29 is positive, but impact will depend on how well states align Title IV-B with other resources like IV-E, CAPTA, TANF, and Medicaid.
If I were a director today, I’d focus Title IV-B funds on
Family preservation, prevention, and reunification;
Kinship navigator services;
Tribal consultation and ICWA compliance;
Cross-system coordination with health and community partners; and
Extended supports for youth transitioning out of care up to age 26.
While the law’s modest increase in federal funding matters, we cannot overestimate what the funding increase alone can achieve.
IV-B’s Real Opportunity
The real opportunity lies in continuing to break barriers and support community pathways for families and children to have access to what they need, when and where and how they need it.
As systems face federal funding cuts, it is critical to not use the child welfare system as a catch all, and to continue to have systems that are more integrated, and centered on community voice and family well-being.
Rebecca Jones Gaston served as Commissioner of ACYF from 2022 to 2025. She served as Oregon’s child welfare director from 2019 to 2022. She is the Founder and Chief Strategist of RJG Consulting, LLC.