The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 directly addresses the needs of siblings in two ways:  (1) through provisions on sibling placements; and (2) through provisions that provide for sibling eligibility for kinship guardian assistance.

In Section 206, the Fostering Connections Act requires States to make:

“reasonable efforts to place siblings removed from their home in the same foster care, kinship guardianship, or adoptive placement, unless the State documents that such a joint placement would be contrary to the safety or well-being of any of the siblings; and in the case of siblings removed from their home who are not so jointly placed, to provide for frequent visitation or other ongoing contact interaction between the siblings, unless that State documents that frequent visitation or other ongoing interaction would be contrary to the safety or well-being of any of the siblings.”

In its guidance on this statutory provision (ACYF-CB-PI-10-11), the Children’s Bureau states the following:

Sibling Placement and Visits. A title IV-E agency must make reasonable efforts to place siblings removed from their home in the same foster care, adoption or guardianship placement, or to facilitate frequent visitation or ongoing interactions (for example, letters, phone calls, text, email and other electronic communication) for those that cannot be placed together, unless it is contrary to the safety or well-being of any of the siblings to do so. 

Standards for Visits and Contacts.  A title IV-E agency may establish its own standards for visitation and contact between siblings consistent with the law; however, sibling visitation or other ongoing interactions must be frequent.  The agency can determine the most appropriate settings for visitations and protocols for supervision.  The Children’s Bureau expects decisions on the frequency of sibling visitation and contact to be on a case by case basis, however, frequently means at least monthly.

Policies. The Children’s Bureau expects agencies to revisit their existing sibling visitation and placement policies to determine if there are ways to bolster them to ensure that siblings are always placed together unless there is a bona fide safety or well-being concern that prevents placement together or frequent visitation.  

Decision Making and Reviews.  The Children’s Bureau encourages the agency to develop standard protocols for caseworkers to use in making decisions about when it would be contrary to a child's well-being or safety to place siblings together or provide for frequent visitation.  A standard decision making tool could assist workers with guidelines in making this important decision, and address difficult situations, such as a sibling's refusal for visitation.  The Children’s Bureau also encourages the agency to periodically reassess sibling visitation and placement decisions in cases where siblings are separated or not visiting to determine if a change is warranted.

Documentation.  If the agency determines that the siblings cannot be placed together and/or cannot have frequent visitation, the agency must document the reasons that it is contrary to the safety or well-being of the siblings to be placed together or to have frequent visitation.  

Foster Family Recruitment.  The Children’s Bureau also encourages agencies to review their foster family home recruitment strategies to determine if there are ways to increase the number of resource homes available for sibling groups. 

The Courts. The courts can play an important role in sibling placement and sibling visitation.

In Section 101, the Fostering Connections Act addresses the eligibility of siblings for Kinship Guardianship Assistance Program:

“A child is eligible for a kinship guardianship assistance payment under this subsection if the State agency determines the following:

Treatment of Siblings. With respect to a child described in Subparagraph A [child eligible for kinship guardianship assistance] whose sibling or siblings are not so described –

(i) the child and any sibling of the child may be placed in the same kinship guardianship arrangements . ..  if the State agency and the relative agree on the appropriateness of the arrangement for the siblings; and

(ii) kinship guardianship assistance payments may be paid on behalf of each sibling so placed.”

In its guidance on these statutory provisions (ACYF-CB-PI-10-11), the Children’s Bureau states the following:

Siblings and GAP Payments

Option to Make Payments on Behalf of Siblings.  A title IV-E agency may, but is not required to, make GAP payments pursuant to a kinship guardianship agreement on behalf of each sibling of an eligible child who is placed with the same relative under the same kinship guardianship arrangement if the title IV-E agency and the relative guardian agree that the placement is appropriate (section 473(d)(3)(B) of the Act). 

Requirements for Payments on Behalf of Siblings.  For title IV-E GAP payments to be made on behalf of a sibling of an eligible child, the title IV-E agency must enter into a guardianship agreement that meets the requirements of section 473(d)(1) of the Act, including paying the total cost of nonrecurring expenses associated with obtaining legal guardianship of the child to the extent the total cost does not exceed $2,000, prior to the guardian obtaining legal guardianship of the sibling.  The amount of a title IV-E guardianship assistance payment for a sibling of an eligible child may not exceed the title IV-E foster care maintenance payment the sibling would have received if the sibling had remained, or had the sibling been placed, in a foster family home (section 473(d)(2) of the Act).  Per instruction in ACYF-CB-PI-10-01, the agency may also amend an existing agreement under certain conditions.

Eligibility of Siblings.  The sibling is not required to meet the eligibility criteria in section 473(d)(3)(A) of the Act to receive kinship guardianship assistance payments or for the legal guardian to be reimbursed for the nonrecurring expenses related to costs of the legal guardianship of the sibling to the eligible child.  The order of sibling placement with the guardian and finalization of the guardianships does not matter.

Definition of “Sibling”.  A title IV-E agency has the discretion to reasonably define sibling for the purposes of the GAP program.  This means that we will accept a title IV-E agency's plan amendment that:  includes siblings related by biological, marital or legal ties (e.g., inclusive of step-siblings, half-siblings and adoptive siblings); considers as siblings only those children who were removed from the same household; or, limits siblings to those children who were in foster care at the same time and placed in the guardian's home simultaneously.  This is not an exhaustive list of the possible options for defining siblings.

For example, a 14-year-old child is in the legal guardianship of his grandmother and has been for the past three years.  The 14-year-old was not eligible for the GAP program at the time of the agreement and legal guardianship (for example, because the title IV-E agency did not have a GAP plan at the time or the grandmother was not a licensed foster family home).  The grandmother is now a licensed foster family home providing care for the 12-year-old sibling to the 14-year-old child who has been eligible for title IV-E foster care maintenance payments for six consecutive months.  The title IV-E agency determines that neither reunification nor adoption is appropriate for the 12-year old and all other eligibility factors are met.  The title IV-E agency amends the agreement with the guardian of the 14-year-old to include the 12-year old sibling, and provides a title IV-E GAP payment to the grandmother on behalf of both children once the eligible child's legal guardianship is finalized.

Guardian Background Checks.  Since the title IV-E agency is required to conduct Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) fingerprint-based checks of the National Crime Information Databases (NCID) on the guardian and child abuse and neglect registry checks on the relative guardian and other adults in the home in order to be eligible for GAP payments on behalf of an eligible child, the agency is not required to conduct these checks separately for the eligible child's sibling.  A title IV-E agency may, however, conduct additional checks on the guardian if it so chooses.

The federal Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSR) specifically look at siblings in three of the six items reviewed under Permanency Outcome 2: 

• Placement with siblings (item 12)
• Visiting with parents and siblings in foster care (item 13)
• Preserving connections (item 14). 

The CFSRs indicate that states have struggled to substantially achieve the federal standard of at least 90 percent of the applicable cases having a rating of “strength” in these areas.  In the Child and Family Services Review Aggregate Report, Findings for Round 2, FYs 2007-2010, the Children’s Bureau reports that 40.4 percent of the states had a “strength” rating on “placement with siblings” and even smaller percentages had a “strength” rating on “visiting with parents and siblings in foster care” (3.8 percent) and “preserving connections” (11.5 percent). 

States rated as having “strengths” ratings in this area:

• With respect to “placement with siblings”, had strong records of placing siblings together and clearly documenting the services or safety needs of one or more of the children that made separate  placements necessary
• With respect to “visiting with parents and siblings in foster care”, showed that they were making diligent efforts to facilitate visiting between siblings not placed together in foster care and that the visits between siblings occurred with sufficient frequency to meet the needs of the children.
• With respect to “preserving connections”, showed that they were making diligent efforts to preserve the child’s connections with community, faith, and extended family, thereby preserving relationships with individuals whom the child may consider a “sibling.”

US Department of Health and Human Services. Children’s Bureau. (2010). Child and Family Services Review Aggregate Report, Findings for Round 2, FYs 2007-2010. Retrieved February 17, 2012 from http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/cwmonitoring/results/fcfsr_report.pdf