Advocates in the child welfare system face many obstacles, but access to software to support positive case outcomes for their clients should not be one of them!
After speaking with both government and nonprofit agencies that do litigation on behalf of children and families who have been successful in obtaining federal reimbursement for their software purchases, we wanted to share some details about how they did it.
If you’d like to learn more about how Clearbrief works with courts, government agencies, nonprofits, and law firms in the child welfare space, click here to schedule a short demo with one of our knowledgeable team members.
What is IV-E Funding and how does it relate to the cost of tech products?
In their efforts to close the justice gap for children in the child welfare system, the federal government allows state agencies and tribal organizations to obtain federal funds for their operations through Title IV-E reimbursement (and nonprofit organizations can work with state and tribal agencies to receive these funds as well). Since 2019, Title IV-E includes reimbursement in eligible cases for administrative costs of legal representation for children and parents, which include the tech needed to litigate and manage these cases.
Put simply, states can access money to pay for counsel for kids and families, as well as the tech tools that they use in their litigation work.
The federal government allows this reimbursement because it is a key part of supporting the ability for children and parents to obtain counsel in child welfare cases, where the stakes are incredibly high. The investment in these legal services helps children “reach permanency (reunification, adoption, guardianship) sooner with more stable long-term outcomes,” among other benefits, according to the American Bar Association.
Reimbursement funding with Title IV-E not only increases capacity but also supports legal innovation in children’s law offices. With additional resources, child advocates have the flexibility to experiment with new platforms or shift their workflow. Visionary leaders in children’s law offices have leveraged Title IV-E reimbursement to expand operations and scale legal representation using justice tech. In recent years, software solutions have given tools to child advocates to increase their efficiency and effectiveness.
By streamlining their work with technology tools, child advocates free up their time for higher impact work, to build relationships with clients, or to take on another family’s case.
Child and family advocates can submit a proposal to their state child welfare agency to receive reimbursement for tech expenses.
Organizations representing children or families in child welfare cases may seek reimbursement for legal technology as long as the platform directly relates to providing legal representation envisioned by Title IV-E.
The federal government can only enter into IV-E funding agreements with states or tribal organizations. Each state or tribe’s structure will vary, but in general, the money will pass through a state agency (the Title IV-E agency) to legal aid organizations or courts who then contract with attorneys to provide legal services. The state agency or tribe decides the scope of the Title IV-E agreement.
By pushing money downstream, a local law firm or legal aid organization only interacts with a local court or state agency, not the federal government. The state or tribal agency will contract with orgs or courts who are best-positioned to ensure high quality legal representation reaches children and parents. The attorney works the case and then bills the local org or court consistent with that contract, and can also include the cost of technology tools that the attorney uses in the litigation.
“My advice to attorneys who want to improve the quality of child welfare legal representation is to join meetings where decisions are being made and collaborate around shared goals,” says Allison Green, Legal Director with the National Association of Counsel for Children (NACC).“Because the attorney who represents a child cannot enter into Title IV-E agreements by themselves, it’s important that they partner in the process of shaping the reimbursement model.”
Who the attorney bills depends on the state’s structure. For example, in Washington state the Office of Public Defense holds a Title IV-E agreement, and an attorney or organization could seek a contract with this office and then bill for their services. In other states, courts appoint counsel to represent children, and the court system bills the Title IV-E agency for legal representation provided.
Let’s get in the weeds: as a practical matter, how were these attorneys and agencies able to capture reimbursement dollars for their IV-E eligible tech and personnel expenses?
To receive reimbursement, the key is keeping a spreadsheet with details about the expenses that are directly related to providing legal representation to kids and families.
For example, having an office manager or intern enter the monthly costs of the different tech products used by the litigators into a spreadsheet creates the documentation that can be submitted for reimbursement. That’s it!
In addition, for litigators who work at a nonprofit that does general public defense work, and only a portion of their time is spent on child welfare cases, the nonprofit can track the attorney hours spent on the child welfare cases in the spreadsheet. If you use software that keeps track of attorney time spent on these cases, that software is also reimbursable.
Advocates can leverage federal funds and tech to provide more efficient services that help achieve better outcomes for kids and families involved in the child welfare system.
With Title IV-E reimbursement, child advocates can envision an office with a technology suite that helps attorneys advocate for positive outcomes. For example, Clearbrief is used by courts, government agencies, nonprofits, and child advocate offices to make finding the right evidence easier when you’re writing in Word.
With Clearbrief, you can:
- Click Clearbrief’s “Add Cite” button to instantly view a list of suggested pages from the discovery or transcripts to support an idea while you write (click here to see a video of the "Add Fact Cite Button") .
- Instantly view and spot inaccuracies in the legal and factual source documents your opponent or judge cited (no legal research subscription needed)
- Easily create and host a secure, cloud-based version of your filing where the source for every cite is clickable, to share as a courtesy copy link with your judge, clients, and the parties
- Build a formatted Table of Authorities in 1 Click with the magic of AI.
Click here to sign up for a free trial of Clearbrief and talk with one of our team members dedicated to helping law firm, government, court, and nonprofit customers.
Child welfare offices have long-used practice management software; remote supervision has become more common. Advocates may now look to AI and the next generation of justice tech as the gold standard of high quality legal representation.
