In October 2007, Children’s Rights, the National Foster Parent Association and the University of Maryland School of Social Work released Hitting the M.A.R.C.: Establishing Foster Care Minimum Adequate Rates for Children. It identified the true costs of supporting children in foster care, uncovered disparities in foster parent reimbursement rates across the country, and recommended a new standard rate for each state to meet federal requirements to provide foster parents with funds to cover children’s basic needs.

The release was groundbreaking; it was the first time these data were collected for each state across the country. But as with any important study, compiling it is only half the battle. What you do next—how you track its influence—is equally important.

Few child and youth organizations have the resources to keep score of the reach and results of their work. We asked Julie Farber, Director of Research with Children’s Rights for a “scorecard”—detailed follow-up on what has happened since the report was released. Here are those results.

The Reach of Hitting the MARC

The report was widely disseminated. Recipients included:

• Every state and county public child welfare agency across the country
  
• Thousands of private child welfare service provider agencies across the country
  
• Tens of thousands of foster parents via the National Foster Parent Association (NFPA) and state and local foster parent associations
  
• Members of congress
  
• State legislators
  
• Thousands of media outlets which produced coverage reaching millions of Americans

The report has been presented at multiple conferences including Child Welfare League of America, National Foster Parent Association (NFPA), the North American Council on Adoptable Children and the Foster Family Treatment Association.

Press Coverage

Hitting the MARC received tremendous press coverage; the story was featured by more than 150 print, broadcast, and online news outlets, including ABC News, The Associated Press, Chicago Tribune, The New York Times, USA Today, The Washington Post and others. The report continues to generate coverage as advocates use it in their local advocacy efforts.

Making a Difference: Advocacy Support to States

Children’s Rights and NFPA are supporting states in their advocacy and also working on advocacy at the federal level with members of Congress and the Administration, along with other partners such as Child Welfare League of America, the Alliance for Children and Families and Voices for America’s Children.

In addition to making technical assistance available to all states, NFPA is providing small grants to five states to support local advocacy efforts: Illinois, Missouri, Ohio, Oregon and Massachusetts.

Selected examples of advocacy follow-up from the report include (but are not limited to) the following:

Illinois
The Child Care Association of Illinois sent letters advocating for the MARC to every state senator and state representative.

Following the release of the MARC, two bills were introduced in the state legislature: one that would provide a one-time payment of $24 million to foster parents and another that directs the state child welfare agency to either use the MARC methodology or establish a different methodology for calculating foster parent reimbursement rates.

On February 28, 2008, the bill to mandate the additional $24 million passed unanimously out of the House Appropriations Committee and will go to the full House for a vote.

The Illinois Foster and Adoptive Parent Association members are currently scheduling meetings with members of the state legislature to discuss the MARC.

Missouri
The Missouri Coalition of Children’s Agencies (MCCA) (a membership organization of providers) provided written testimony in support of the MARC to the Missouri House Appropriations committees.

Carmen Schulze of the Missouri Coalition of Children’s Agencies wrote an op-ed that appeared in the St. Louis Business Journal that discussed how Missouri needs to increase foster care rates by more than 100 percent to reach the MARC.

The Kansas City Star named foster care rates one of its "issues to watch in 2008."

The Governor's budget recommendations included a 3,000,000 increase in resources.

A "Hit the MARC" lobby event is being planned for foster parents in Jefferson City on April 14. Joint planning by Midwest Foster Care and Adoption, St Louis Foster & Adoptive Coalition, the Missouri Foster Parent Association and MCCA is ongoing to plan the event.

California
A lawsuit seeking adequate rates and citing the MARC report was filed by advocates in California the day the report came out.

Mississippi
The State of Mississippi agreed to implement the MARC rates in the settlement of Children's Rights' class action lawsuit there (a broad overall system reform lawsuit).

Oregon
The Oregon Foster Parent Association has outlined a plan whose primary purpose and objective is to educate state legislators, the Governor, the community at large and the Department of Human Services of the importance of matching or making a plan to eventually reach the MARC. The expectation is that legislation will be submitted for the 2009 legislative session.

Vermont
Hitting the MARC has been established as a priority for the next legislative session. The Vermont Foster/Adoptive Families Association is working in collaboration with state partners to identify a fair and equitable reimbursement system for foster parents.