[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3852 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3852

 To amend part E of title IV of the Social Security Act to address or 
   assist in resolving the shortage of appropriate foster homes for 
children, to develop resources to keep sibling groups together, and to 
provide for a system of checks and balances to ensure a child's ongoing 
safety and well-being, by providing for the placement of a foster child 
   in cottage family homes and making a child so placed eligible for 
                   foster care maintenance payments.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              June 6, 2023

 Mr. Dunn of Florida (for himself, Mr. Steube, Mr. Soto, Ms. Wasserman 
Schultz, Mrs. Cherfilus-McCormick, Mr. Bean of Florida, Mr. Rutherford, 
   Mr. Waltz, Mrs. Cammack, Mr. Bilirakis, Mr. C. Scott Franklin of 
 Florida, and Mr. Moskowitz) introduced the following bill; which was 
              referred to the Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend part E of title IV of the Social Security Act to address or 
   assist in resolving the shortage of appropriate foster homes for 
children, to develop resources to keep sibling groups together, and to 
provide for a system of checks and balances to ensure a child's ongoing 
safety and well-being, by providing for the placement of a foster child 
   in cottage family homes and making a child so placed eligible for 
                   foster care maintenance payments.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Create Accountable Respectful 
Environments (CARE) for Children Act''.

SEC. 2. PLACEMENT OF FOSTER CHILDREN IN COTTAGE FAMILY HOMES.

    (a) State Plan Requirement.--Section 471(a)(37) of the Social 
Security Act (42 U.S.C. 671(a)(37)) is amended by inserting ``or a 
cottage family home'' before the comma.
    (b) Eligibility of Cottage Family Homes for Foster Care Maintenance 
Payments.--Section 472(a)(2)(C) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 672(a)(2)(C)) is 
amended by inserting ``a cottage family home,'' before ``with a 
parent''.
    (c) Definition of Cottage Family Home.--Section 472(c) of such Act 
(42 U.S.C. 672(c)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(3) Cottage family home.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The term `cottage family home' 
                means a home--
                            ``(i) that is operated by a public or 
                        private child care agency licensed or approved 
                        by the State in which the home is situated as 
                        an agency that meets the standards established 
                        for the licensing or approval;
                            ``(ii) that encourages and supports the 
                        child and the family of the child in 
                        maintaining a strong connection through regular 
                        contact and involvement in a plan of care, 
                        except to the extent otherwise directed by a 
                        court of law;
                            ``(iii) that is able to serve as a resource 
                        to facilitate sibling groups being placed 
                        together where daily contact and interaction 
                        strengthens family ties;
                            ``(iv) that provides children access to 
                        activities or items that are age or 
                        developmentally-appropriate, including the 
                        ability to participate in extracurricular, 
                        social, or other home and community activities 
                        with the same freedom afforded to their peers 
                        who are living at home with their families;
                            ``(v) that has and implements a trauma-
                        informed approach in the care of children;
                            ``(vi) that prohibits the use of seclusion 
                        or mechanical or chemical restraints and 
                        permits only short-term physical restraint if 
                        approved in the policies of the agency to 
                        prevent injury to self or others, and prohibits 
                        any prone physical restraint;
                            ``(vii) that provides a system for a child 
                        to alert a staff member if the child has a 
                        concern, feels unfairly denied rights, or is 
                        subject to a threat of mistreatment;
                            ``(viii) that has a continuous quality 
                        improvement methodology that regularly solicits 
                        information from children concerning their 
                        perceptions of the quality of care and opinions 
                        about the strengths and weaknesses of the 
                        program;
                            ``(ix) that is in a single-family style 
                        residence with no more than 2 children per 
                        bedroom unless it is in the best interest of 
                        the children; and
                            ``(x) in which the children are under the 
                        care of live-in parents that use the reasonable 
                        and prudent parent standard and provide 24-hour 
                        substitute care of children placed away from 
                        their parents or other caretakers.
                    ``(B) Preservation of state flexibility.--The 
                Secretary may not prohibit, limit, or penalize, by 
                regulation or order, or bring an action in any court to 
                challenge, any action or determination of a State or 
                political subdivision of a State to--
                            ``(i) treat a cottage family home as a 
                        foster family home for purposes of this part; 
                        or
                            ``(ii) treat an entity as a cottage family 
                        care home for purposes of this part, as the 
                        State deems necessary to serve the best 
                        interests of children or families.''.
    (d) No Time Limit on Foster Care Maintenance Payments for Children 
Placed in a Cottage Family Home.--Section 472(k)(2) of such Act (42 
U.S.C. 672(k)(2)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(D) A cottage family home.''.
    (e) Effective Date.--
            (1) In general.--The amendments made by this section shall 
        take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act, and shall 
        apply to payments under part E of title IV of the Social 
        Security Act for calendar quarters beginning on or after such 
        date.
            (2) Delay permitted if state legislation required.--If the 
        Secretary of Health and Human Services determines that State 
        legislation (other than legislation appropriating funds) is 
        required in order for a State plan under part E of title IV of 
        the Social Security Act to meet the additional requirements 
        imposed by the amendments made by this section, the plan shall 
        not be regarded as failing to meet any of the additional 
        requirements before the date that is 6 months after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act.
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