FAC lobbies a range of children’s issues on behalf of our member counties. For example, the fees for Non-Title XXI children enrolled in the Florida KidCare program are covered by participating counties. Additionally, every county in the state is required to pay a portion of the state’s share for inpatient hospital care provided to Medicaid recipients. Currently, Counties pay for days 11 through 45 of a resident’s inpatient hospital stay.
FAC has also been working with the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability (OPPAGA) on its research to support a Sunset Review of the Department of Children and Families (DCF). As part of this review, OPPAGA is examining the advantages, disadvantages, and feasibility of transferring the regulatory authority and responsibility for the Child Care Services Program, currently in DCF, to local governments.
Florida KidCare program
The State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), enacted in 1997, created Title XXI of the federal Social Security Act, which provides health insurance to uninsured children in low-income families. The SCHIP established a federal and state partnership with the objective of providing health insurance to children whose families earn too much money to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to purchase private insurance. The Florida KidCare Program, established in 1998, was born of this movement.
Child Welfare
Community-Based Care is a comprehensive redesign of Florida's Child Welfare System. It combines the outsourcing of foster care and related services to competent service agencies with an increased local community ownership of service delivery and design. Over the last several years, some county Sheriffs have taken this responsibility over from the state. The funding for those services is still provided by the state.
Department of Children and Families Sunset Review
OPPAGA is examining the advantages, disadvantages, and feasibility of transferring the regulatory authority and responsibility for the Child Care Services Program, currently in DCF, to local governments.