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County, CLS and PBO outline plan to spend Title IV‑E funds on child and parental representation

5760754 · August 13, 2025

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Summary

Community Legal Services and county staff presented a proposal to use anticipated Title IV‑E federal funds (initial conservative estimate $600,000 of a projected $1.2M) to add attorneys, social workers and program support for child and parental representation; staff said full funding will be phased as receipts are received.

Community Legal Services (CLS) and county planning staff presented a plan Aug. 13 to use Title IV‑E federal funds to expand child and parental representation in FY2026. The county estimates $1.2 million in new IV‑E funds in FY26 but the county auditor conservatively certified $600,000 for the preliminary estimate; staff asked the court to approve a first allocation of the conservative amount with plans to phase additional funding as receipts arrive.

Jeff Burkhart, County Executive for CLS, explained Title IV‑E money must be spent on child and parental representation and cannot supplant existing funding; the funds were previously available but not pursued. CLS and the public defender/parental representation offices proposed using the initial tranche to add attorney and social‑services capacity in the Office of Child Representation (OCR) and Office of Parental Representation (OPR), including attorneys and social workers aimed at reducing caseloads and improving outcomes. Travis County staff and the auditor said the funds can be recognized conservatively now (600K) with the remainder added as revenue/expenditure adjustments later in FY26 when receipts are certified.

PBO and the county auditor advised that the court could accept the proposed spending plan at markup as an item that is matched to revenue as it is received; staff noted indirect costs and administrative rules that must be accounted for and that the county will return to the court with incremental reimbursements and allocations. CLS asked the court to earmark the initial revenue for the requested positions and to allow a mechanism to add the balance of funds if/when they are disbursed by the state.

Commissioners expressed support for using federal Title IV‑E funds to shore up legal representation for children and parents in dependency proceedings; they asked staff to add the Title IV‑E allocations to the budget agenda worksheet as discussed so the full funding plan can be considered during budget markup.