Decategorization of child welfare and juvenile justice funding is an initiative intended to establish systems of delivering human services based upon client needs to replace systems based upon a multitude of categorical funding programs and funding sources, each with different service definitions and eligibility requirements. Decategorization is designed to redirect child welfare and juvenile justice funding to services which are more preventive, family centered, and community-based in order to reduce use of restrictive approaches that rely on institutional, out-ofhome, and out-of-community care.
The Child Welfare Decategorization Program was authorized by the Iowa General Assembly in 1987 as an initiative designed to deliver more effective service to children and families. Decategorization is intended to help communities achieve a system in which services are driven by client strengths and needs, rather than by the diverse eligibility requirements and service definitions of categorical programs and funding streams. Goals for the decategorization program include:

• Tailoring services to the individual needs of children and families;
• Redirecting funding toward preventive, family, neighborhood and community-based services:
• Reducing reliance on out-of-home and out-of-community placements;
• Promoting community planning, collaboration, and governance of services;
• Developing service systems that more accurately reflect the needs of the children and families within the communities served.

The legal basis for Decategorization is outlined in Iowa Code Section 232.188,which was initially enacted in 1993 and substantially modified by the 2005 Iowa General Assembly, and in annual Department appropriation bills allowing continuation of the program. In addition, Iowa Administrative Code Chapter 153 contains administrative rules on Decategorization that were developed in 2005 and are consistent with current statutory requirements of Iowa Code Chapter 232.188.