Funding for the PSSF Program is authorized by Title IV, Part B(2), of the Social Security Act (as amended by The Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006, P.L. 109-432, effective June 20, 2007). More information about Title IVB can be found at www.acf.gov.

Title IV, Part B, subpart 2 is intended to enable States to develop and establish, or expand, and to operate coordinated programs of community-based family support services, family preservation services, time-limited family reunification services, and adoption promotion and support services. These services are supposed to prevent child maltreatment among families at risk through the provision of supportive family services, to assure children's safety within the home and preserve intact families in which children have been maltreated when the family's problems can be addressed effectively, to address the problems of families whose children have been placed in foster care so that reunification may occur in a safe and stable manner in accordance with the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997, and to support adoptive families by providing support services as necessary so that they can make a lifetime commitment to their children.

In operating its PSSF Program, the Shawnee Tribe's services are required to satisfy the intentions of Oklahoma's Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 by directly providing services to children and by providing educational and informational activities that improve children's welfare. Because the funding is state-based, a tribe can serve only residents of the state in which it is headquartered. This is the reason why PSSF funding is available only to Oklahoma residents, and why direct services are available only to Shawnee Tribe members.