1.The Congress finds the following:
(1)The Nation’s foster care system provides
for nearly 424,000 children each day who are unable to live safely with their
biological parents.
(2)In fiscal year 2009, an estimated 255,000
children entered the foster care system and an average of 115,000 children were
waiting to be adopted every day.
(3)Most children who are removed from the care
of their parents live with non-relative foster parents, however, the number of
children placed in relative foster care is growing.
(4)Foster parents and relative caregivers are
the most frontline caregivers for children who cannot safely remain with their
biological parents and provide physical care and emotional support.
(5)Federal legislation enacted over the past
three decades, including the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980,
the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997, and the Fostering Connections to
Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008, provided new investments and
services to improve the outcome of our most vulnerable children. However, more
work needs to be done to ensure children are placed in quality foster homes as
they wait to be reunited with their parents or achieve permanency with a
relative caregiver or adoptive family.
(6)The last national report to Congress on
recruitment and retention of foster parents was last conducted in the
1990s.
2.
(a)The Secretary of
Health and Human Services shall conduct a study on the recruitment and
retention of foster parents of children served by any foster care program
funded under part E of title IV of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 670 et
seq.).
(b)The study shall
include—
(1)a survey of foster parents who care for
children served by any foster care program funded under part E of title IV of
the Social Security Act;
(2)an evaluation of
the role of respite care training and services;
(3)the identification
of the capacity of respite care service providers in each State;
(4)the identification of any barriers that
presently exist that limit the ability of States to successfully recruit and
retain families in the foster system;
(5)an evaluation of
the efforts that have been made by States to recruit relative caregivers;
and
(6)any other matters that the Secretary of
Health and Human Services deems appropriate for this study.
(c)Not later than 3 years after funds are made
available for the study, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall
submit to Congress a report containing the study's findings and
recommendations.