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GAO-20-69R 1 (2019-10-25)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaeagj0001 and id is 1 raw text is: G A O U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE 441 G St. N.W. Washington, DC 20548 October 25, 2019 Congressional Requesters Child Welfare: Various HHS Offices Provided Input on Decision to Grant Exception from Religious Nondiscrimination Requirement In fiscal year 2017, over 440,000 children were in the foster care system in the United States. Most of these children-77 percent-were in foster family homes. Over the last few years, the number of children entering the child welfare system has generally increased even as many states have struggled to recruit foster families. To help cover the costs of operating foster care programs, including costs associated with foster family recruitment, state child welfare agencies receive federal funding from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under title IV-E of the Social Security Act. The state agencies may, in turn, contract with private child welfare agencies, in some instances faith-based organizations, to help carry out their foster care programs. States participating in title IV-E are required to ensure that their programs comply with various program-specific requirements established by the statute and regulations. In addition, as recipients of HHS funding, these state and private child welfare agencies are also required to comply with HHS's uniform administrative grant requirements.1 HHS may authorize certain exceptions from its administrative grant requirements on a case-by-case basis.2 In February 2018, on behalf of the private, faith-based child welfare agencies that assist in recruiting foster families for the state, the South Carolina governor requested an exception from an HHS administrative grant requirement that prohibits discrimination on the basis of religion, among other characteristics.3 Specifically, the governor's request claimed that this regulatory provision effectively requires faith-based child welfare agencies to abandon their religious beliefs or forego federal funding, which the request claimed violates these agencies' constitutional rights. According to the governor's request, one such private faith-based child welfare agency was responsible for recruiting 15 percent of South Carolina's foster families. This agency recruits foster parents based on their religion. In January 2019, HHS approved South Carolina's request for an exception from the religious nondiscrimination requirement, allowing the state to apply the exception to this private child welfare agency and any other 1The HHS regulations found at 45 C.F.R. pt. 75 - which implement guidance from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) - establish uniform administrative requirements, cost principles, and audit requirements for federal awards to non-federal entities, including contracts, grants, and cooperative agreements. These requirements generally apply to recipients and subrecipients of HHS federal awards. Part 75 is divided into several subparts: subpart A (acronyms and definitions), subpart B (general provisions), subpart C (pre-federal award requirements and contents of federal awards), subpart D (post federal award requirements), subpart E (cost principles), and subpart F (audit requirements), along with a number of appendices. For purposes of this report, we focused on subparts A through D, and refer to these collectively as the administrative grant requirements. 2See 45 C.F.R. § 75.102(b). Section 75.102 also authorizes other modifications of the administrative grant requirements in certain circumstances; however, for purposes of this report, we focused on subsection (b). 3See 45 C.F.R. § 75.300(c). GAO-20-69R HHS Exceptions from Requirements DRAFT-Page 1

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