The Children's Bureau is committed to providing learning resources that support professionals engaged in title IV-E eligibility determinations for children in foster care. These resources are designed to enhance understanding of federal regulations and policies and promote accurate application of title IV-E requirements.
Published: September 29, 2026
This video explains how to correctly identify the date a child entered foster care, a critical milestone that establishes timelines for:
- Determining whether the child had been in foster care for 12 months or more;
- Establishing when the title IV-E agency was required to obtain the initial judicial determination regarding reasonable efforts to finalize the permanency plan; and
- Tracking compliance with required 12-month judicial review intervals.
For those familiar with the Title IV-E Foster Care Eligibility Review Instrument, the date a child entered foster care is used to answer the first question in Section I, Ongoing Judicial Activity: Reasonable Efforts to Finalize the Permanency Plan.