In 1986, Congress amended Title IV-E of the Social Security Act to authorize federal funds targeted to assist youth aged 16 and over in making the transition from foster care to living independent of the child welfare system and created the Independent Living Program. This program was designed to prepare adolescents in foster care to live self-sufficiently once they exited the child welfare system. Several amendments were made to the Independent Living Program over the years, but the passage of FCIA and the creation of the Chafee Program represented the most significant changes in the federal Independent Living Program since its creation. FCIA doubled the federal funds available for independent living programs to $140 million each year. These funds are allocated to states based on their share of the nation’s foster care population. In addition to providing increased funding, FCIA eliminated the minimum age limit of 16 years and provided states with the flexibility to define the age at which children in foster care are eligible for services to help them prepare for independent living, as long as services are provided to youth who are likely to remain in foster care until 18 years of age. The law also provided several new services to help youth make the transition to adulthood. It allowed states to use up to 30 percent of their state allotment for room and board for former foster care youth up to age 21. It allowed states the option to expand Medicaid coverage to former foster care adolescents between 18 and 21. Title IV-E was amended again in 2002 to provide foster care youth vouchers for postsecondary education and training under the Education and Training Vouchers (ETV) program and authorized an additional $60 million for states to provide postsecondary education and training vouchers up to $5,000 per year per youth. Eligible participants include youth otherwise eligible for services under the states’ Chafee Programs, youth adopted from foster care after attaining the age of 16, and youth participating in the voucher program on their 21st birthday (until they turn 23 years old) as long as they are enrolled in a postsecondary education or training program and are making satisfactory progress toward completion of that program. In addition, the law required that states make every effort to coordinate their Chafee Programs with other federal and state programs for youth, such as the Runaway and Homeless Youth Program, abstinence education programs, local housing programs, programs for disabled youth, and school-to-work programs offered by high schools or local workforce agencies. Further, states were required to coordinate their programs with each Indian tribe in the state and offer the state’s independent living services to Indian children. To receive funds under the Chafee Program, states were required to develop multiyear plans describing how they would design and deliver programs and to submit program certifications. The multiyear Chafee plans must include a description of the state’s program design, including its goals, strategies, and its implementation plan for achieving the purposes of the law. States were also required to certify that they would operate a statewide independent living program that complied with the specific aspects of the law, such as providing training to foster parents, adoptive parents, workers in group homes, and case managers on issues confronting adolescents preparing for independent living. Further, to receive annual funds, ACF required states to submit annual reports that described the services provided and activities conducted under their Chafee Programs, including information on any program modifications and their current status of implementation; provide a record of how funds were expended; and include a description of the extent to which the funds assisted youth age 18 to 21 in making the transition to self-sufficiency. FCIA also required that HHS develop and implement a plan to collect information needed to effectively monitor and measure a state’s performance, including the characteristics of youth served by independent living programs, the services delivered, and the outcomes achieved. Further, FCIA required HHS to conduct evaluations of independent living programs deemed to be innovative or of potential national significance using rigorous scientific standards to the maximum extent practicable, such as random assignment to treatment and control groups. While overall federal funding for state independent living programs doubled with the passage of FCIA, there were significant variations in the changes to state allocations, and the maximum amount of funds available at the time of our 2004 report for each eligible foster care youth ranged between $476 and $2,300. Under the previous independent living program, states received funds ranging from $13,000 in Alaska to more than $12 million in California. In the first year of funding under FCIA, Alaska and 8 other states received the guaranteed minimum of $500,000, while California received more than $27 million (see table 1). Some states were unable to spend all of their federal allocations in the first 2 years of increased funding under the program. For example, in 2001, 20 states returned nearly $10 million in federal funding to HHS, and in 2002, 13 states returned more than $4 million. ACF regional officials reported that one reason for these unspent funds was that some states did not initially have the infrastructure in place to quickly absorb the influx of funds. Data provided in a July 2007 Congressional Research Service memo to Congress showed that 9 states returned less than 1 percent of total Chafee funding in 2004 (see app. I). At the time of our 2004 report, we could not determine the exact amount of funding states had available to spend on each youth eligible for independent living services because of the lack of data on eligible youth emancipated from foster care. However, available data at that time on youth in foster care suggest that states may have different amounts of funds available for services to youth in foster care. We compared each state’s 2004 FCIA allocation with its 2002 population of eligible youth in foster care. This comparison showed that maximum funding for independent living services ranged from $476 per foster care youth in West Virginia to almost $2,300 per foster care youth in Montana. These differences were due in part to the new provision that allowed states to define the age ranges within which youth were eligible for independent living services. For example, 4 states reported in our survey offering independent living services to youth at age 12, while 27 states reported offering services at age 14. In addition, the funding formula is based on the total number of all children in foster care. However, some states have a larger share of youth eligible for independent living services than other states, even when their eligibility age range is the same. For example, of the 15 states reporting in our survey that youth are eligible for services between the ages of 14 and 21, 3 states had 25 percent or less of their foster care population within this age range, while in 3 other states, this age range accounted for over 40 percent of the total foster care population. In our 2004 survey, 40 states reported expanding services to youth younger than they had previously served, and 36 states reported serving older youth, but states reported service gaps in critical areas, such as mental health and housing. The number of states that reported providing core independent living services, such as independent living skills assessments, daily living skills training, and counseling to youth younger than 16 more than doubled after FCIA. Similarly, more states reported offering these supports and services to youth who were emancipated from foster care. Many states also began to offer the new services to support youth that emancipated from foster care. These services include the Education and Training Vouchers, Medicaid health insurance, and assistance with room and board. ETV: All states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico began receiving funds under the ETV program to assist youth seeking postsecondary education, but 26 states did not spend all of the funding received (see app. II). A report from the National Resource Center for Youth Development showed that states provide a range of benefits to youth eligible for ETVs. Over 90 percent of 38 state independent living coordinators responding to a survey reported offering financial support to youth for room and board, school supplies, equipment and uniforms, school-related fees, and transportation costs. Eighty-four percent of states made payments for child care for the dependents of youth, and 60 percent of state reported making payments for college or university health plans on behalf of youth. States were challenged to spend all of their funding allotment. Mississippi returned almost all of its 2004 ETV funds, and 14 other states returned over 20 percent of their funding allotment. Medicaid: Recent information from the American Public Human Services Association shows that all states are now using or planning to use the Chafee option or other means to extend Medicaid coverage to youth. In our 2004 survey, 31 of 50 state independent living coordinators had reported offering Medicaid benefits to at least some emancipated youth to help them maintain access to health care benefits while they transitioned to independence. In 2007, the American Public Human Services Association reported that 22 states planned or have already started using the Chafee option to offer Medicaid coverage to youth who age out of foster care. The study also found that the remaining 28 states and the District of Columbia were reported to be using other methods, such as the State Children’s Health Insurance Program or the Medicaid waiver demonstration program, to extend coverage to youth. Housing assistance: In our 2004 survey, 46 states reported that they offered assistance with room and board to youth who had been emancipated from foster care, and the 4 states we visited reported offering a range of housing supports to assist youth. At the time of our visit, Connecticut provided several housing options to meet the needs of youth at varying levels of independence, including group homes, supervised apartment sites, and unsupervised apartment sites with periodic visits from case managers. While 3 other states we visited offered a more limited supply of housing options, all provided some type of housing subsidy or placement. Existing services: Chafee Program funds were also used to improve the quality of existing independent living services and refocus the attention of their programs, according to state officials we visited.