[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 76 (Tuesday, May 20, 2014)]
[House]
[Pages H4522-H4529]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
PREVENTING SEX TRAFFICKING AND IMPROVING OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUTH IN
FOSTER CARE ACT
Mr. REICHERT. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 4058) to prevent and address sex trafficking of youth in
foster care, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 4058
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 ``Preventing Sex Trafficking
and Improving Opportunities for Youth in Foster Care Act''.
SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS.
The table of contents of this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title.
Sec. 2. Table of contents.
Sec. 3. Findings.
TITLE I--IDENTIFYING AND PROTECTING YOUTH AT RISK OF SEX TRAFFICKING
Sec. 101. Identifying and screening youth at risk of sex trafficking.
Sec. 102. Documenting and reporting instances of sex trafficking.
Sec. 103. State plan requirement to locate and respond to children who
run away from foster care.
Sec. 104. Increasing information on youth in foster care to prevent sex
trafficking.
TITLE II--IMPROVING OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUTH IN FOSTER CARE AND
SUPPORTING PERMANENCY
Sec. 201. Supporting normalcy for children in foster care.
Sec. 202. Improvements to another planned permanent living arrangement
as a permanency option.
Sec. 203. Empowering foster youth age 14 and older in the development
of their own case plan and transition planning for a
successful adulthood.
Sec. 204. Ensuring foster youth have a birth certificate, Social
Security card, health insurance information, medical
records, and a bank account.
TITLE III--IMPROVING DATA COLLECTION AND REPORTING ON CHILD SEX
TRAFFICKING
Sec. 301. Including sex trafficking data in the Adoption and Foster
Care Analysis and Reporting System.
Sec. 302. Information on children in foster care in annual reports
using AFCARS data; consultation.
TITLE IV--IMPROVING THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY TO INCREASE CHILD SUPPORT
COLLECTIONS
Sec. 401. Required electronic processing of income withholding.
SEC. 3. FINDINGS.
The Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Recent reports on sex trafficking estimate that
thousands of children are at risk for domestic sex
trafficking.
(2) The risk is compounded every year for the up to 30,000
young people who are ``emancipated'' from foster care.
(3) The current child welfare system does not effectively
identify, prevent, or intervene when a child presents as
trafficked or at risk for trafficking.
(4) Within the foster care system, many young adults are
housed in congregate care facilities or group homes, which
often are targeted by traffickers.
(5) Within the foster care system, children are routinely
denied the opportunity to participate in normal, age or
developmentally-appropriate activities such as joining 4-H
and other clubs, participating in school plays, playing
sports, going to camp, and visiting a friend.
(6) A lack of normalcy and barriers to participation in age
or developmentally-appropriate activities contribute to
increased vulnerability to trafficking, homelessness, and
other negative outcomes for children in foster care.
(7) The latest research in adolescent brain development
indicates that young people learn through experience and
through trial and error, and that as part of healthy brain
development young people need to take on increasing levels of
decisionmaking through their teenage years.
(8) In order to combat domestic sex trafficking and to
improve outcomes for children in foster care, systemic
changes need to be made to the child welfare system that
focus on--
(A) the reduction of children in long-term foster care;
(B) greater child engagement in case planning while in
foster care;
(C) improved efforts to locate and respond to children who
have run away from foster care and to reduce the number of
foster children who are on the run;
(D) improved policies and procedures that encourage age or
developmentally-appropriate activities for children in foster
care and that permit more opportunities for such children to
make meaningful and permanent connections with caring adults;
and
(E) with regard to domestic sex trafficking, improved
identification, prevention, and intervention by the child
welfare agency in collaboration with the courts, State and
local law enforcement agencies, schools, juvenile justice
agencies, and other social service providers.
TITLE I--IDENTIFYING AND PROTECTING YOUTH AT RISK OF SEX TRAFFICKING
SEC. 101. IDENTIFYING AND SCREENING YOUTH AT RISK OF SEX
TRAFFICKING.
Section 471(a)(9) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.
671(a)(9)) is amended--
(1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``and'';
(2) in subparagraph (B), by inserting ``and'' after the
semicolon; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
``(C) not later than--
``(i) 1 year after the date of the enactment of this
subparagraph, demonstrate to the Secretary that the State
agency has developed, in consultation with organizations with
experience in dealing with at-risk youth, policies and
procedures for identifying and screening (including relevant
training for caseworkers), and for determining appropriate
State action and services with respect to--
``(I) any child over whom the State agency has
responsibility for placement, care, or supervision (including
children for whom a State child welfare agency has an open
case file but who have not been removed from the home and
youth who are not in foster care but are receiving services
under section 477 of this Act) who the State has reasonable
cause to believe--
``(aa) is a victim of sex trafficking (as defined in
section 103(10) of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of
2000 (22 U.S.C. 7102(10))) or a severe form of trafficking in
persons described in section 103(9)(A) of such Act (22 U.S.C.
7102(9)(A)); or
``(bb) is at risk of being a victim of either kind of
trafficking; and
``(II) at the option of the State, any individual, without
regard to whether the individual is or was in foster care
under the responsibility of the State, who has not attained
26 years of age; and
``(ii) 2 years after such date of enactment, demonstrate to
the Secretary that the State agency is implementing, in
consultation with the child protective services agency or
unit for the State, the policies and procedures referred to
in clause (i).''.
SEC. 102. DOCUMENTING AND REPORTING INSTANCES OF SEX
TRAFFICKING.
(a) State Plan Requirements.--Section 471(a) of the Social
Security Act (42 U.S.C. 671(a)) is amended--
(1) by striking ``and'' at the end of paragraph (32);
(2) by striking the period at the end of paragraph (33) and
inserting a semicolon; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
``(34) provides that, for each child over whom the State
agency has responsibility for placement, care, or supervision
(including any child for whom a State child welfare agency
has an open case file but who has not been removed from the
home, and any youth who is not in foster care but is
receiving services under section 477), the State agency
shall--
``(A) not later than 2 years after the date of the
enactment of this paragraph, identify and document
appropriately in agency records each child who is identified
as being a victim of sex trafficking (as defined in section
103(10) of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000) or
as being a victim of severe forms of trafficking in persons
described in section 103(9)(A) of such Act, as such a victim;
and
``(B) report immediately, and in no case later than 24
hours after receiving--
``(i) information on children who have been identified as
being victims of sex trafficking (as defined in subparagraph
(A) of this paragraph) to the law enforcement authorities;
and
``(ii) information on missing or abducted children to the
law enforcement authorities for entry into the National Crime
Information Center (NCIC) database of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, established pursuant to section 534 of title
28, United States Code, and to the National Center for
Missing and Exploited Children; and
``(35) not later than 2 years after the date of the
enactment of this paragraph, contains a regularly updated
description, made available to the public on the Internet
website of the State agency, of the specific measures taken
by the State agency to protect and provide services to
children who are victims of sex trafficking (as defined in
section 103(10) of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of
2000), or victims of severe forms of trafficking in persons
described in section 103(9)(A) of such Act, including efforts
to coordinate with State and local law enforcement, schools,
juvenile justice agencies, and
[[Page H4523]]
social service agencies such as runaway and homeless youth
shelters and transitional and other supportive housing
providers to serve that population.''.
(b) Regulations.--The Secretary of Health and Human
Services shall promulgate regulations implementing the
amendments made by subsection (a) of this section and shall
provide uniform definitions for States to use for the reports
required under section 471(a)(34)(B) of the Social Security
Act, as added by such subsection (a).
SEC. 103. STATE PLAN REQUIREMENT TO LOCATE AND RESPOND TO
CHILDREN WHO RUN AWAY FROM FOSTER CARE.
Section 471(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.
671(a)), as amended by section 102 of this Act, is amended--
(1) by striking ``and'' at the end of paragraph (34);
(2) by striking the period at the end of paragraph (35) and
inserting ``; and''; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
``(36) provides that, not later than 1 year after the date
of the enactment of this paragraph, the State shall develop
and implement specific protocols for--
``(A) expeditiously locating any child missing from foster
care;
``(B) determining the primary factors that contributed to
the child's running away or otherwise being absent from care,
and to the extent possible and appropriate, responding to
those factors in current and subsequent placements;
``(C) determining the child's experiences while absent from
care, including screening the child to determine if he or she
is a possible victim of sex trafficking (as defined in
paragraph (9)(C)); and
``(D) reporting such related information as required by the
Secretary.''.
SEC. 104. INCREASING INFORMATION ON YOUTH IN FOSTER CARE TO
PREVENT SEX TRAFFICKING.
Not later than 2 years after the date of the enactment of
this Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall
submit to the Congress a written report which summarizes the
following:
(1) Information on children who run away from foster care
and their risk of becoming victims of sex trafficking, using
data reported by States under section 479 of the Social
Security Act and information collected by States related to
section 471(a)(36) of such Act, including--
(A) characteristics of children who run away from foster
care;
(B) potential factors associated with children running away
from foster care (such as reason for entry into care, length
of stay in care, type of placement, and other factors that
contributed to the child's running away);
(C) information on children's experiences while absent from
care; and
(D) trends in the number of children reported as runaways
in each fiscal year (including factors that may have
contributed to changes in such trends).
(2) Information on State efforts to provide specialized
services, foster family homes, or child care institutions for
children who are victims of sex trafficking.
(3) Information on State efforts to ensure children in
foster care form and maintain long-lasting connections to
caring adults, even when a child in foster care must move to
another foster family home or when the child is placed under
the supervision of a new caseworker.
TITLE II--IMPROVING OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUTH IN FOSTER CARE AND
SUPPORTING PERMANENCY
SEC. 201. SUPPORTING NORMALCY FOR CHILDREN IN FOSTER CARE.
(a) Reasonable and Prudent Parent Standard.--
(1) Definitions relating to the standard.--Section 475 of
the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 675) is amended by adding
at the end the following:
``(9)(A) The term `reasonable and prudent parent standard'
means the standard characterized by careful and sensible
parental decisions that maintain the health, safety, and best
interests of a child while at the same time encouraging the
emotional and developmental growth of the child, that a
caregiver shall use when determining whether to allow a child
in foster care under the responsibility of the State to
participate in extracurricular, enrichment, cultural, and
social activities.
``(B) For purposes of subparagraph (A), the term
`caregiver' means a foster parent with whom a child in foster
care has been placed or a designated official for a child
care institution in which a child in foster care has been
placed.
``(10) The term `age or developmentally-appropriate'
means--
``(A) activities or items that are generally accepted as
suitable for children of the same chronological age or level
of maturity or that are determined to be developmentally-
appropriate for a child, based on the development of
cognitive, emotional, physical, and behavioral capacities
that are typical for an age or age group; and
``(B) in the case of a specific child, activities or items
that are suitable for the child based on the developmental
stages attained by the child with respect to the cognitive,
emotional, physical, and behavioral capacities of the
child.''.
(2) State plan requirement.--Section 471(a)(24) of such Act
(42 U.S.C. 671(a)(24)) is amended--
(A) by striking ``include'' and inserting ``includes'';
(B) by striking ``and that such preparation'' and inserting
``that the preparation''; and
(C) by inserting ``, and that the preparation shall include
knowledge and skills relating to the reasonable and prudent
parent standard for the participation of the child in age or
developmentally-appropriate activities, including knowledge
and skills relating to the developmental stages of the
cognitive, emotional, physical, and behavioral capacities of
a child, and knowledge and skills relating to applying the
standard to decisions such as whether to allow the child to
engage in social, extracurricular, enrichment, cultural, and
social activities, including sports, field trips, and
overnight activities lasting 1 or more days, and to decisions
involving the signing of permission slips and arranging of
transportation for the child to and from extracurricular,
enrichment, and social activities'' before the semicolon.
(3) Technical assistance.--The Secretary of Health and
Human Services shall provide assistance to the States on best
practices for devising strategies to assist foster parents in
applying a reasonable and prudent parent standard in a manner
that protects child safety, while also allowing children to
experience normal and beneficial activities, including
methods for appropriately considering the concerns of the
biological parents of a child in decisions related to
participation of the child in activities (with the
understanding that those concerns should not necessarily
determine the participation of the child in any activity).
(b) Normalcy for Children in Child Care Institutions.--
Section 471(a)(10) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 671(a)(10)) is
amended to read as follows:
``(10) provides--
``(A) for the establishment or designation of a State
authority or authorities that shall be responsible for
establishing and maintaining standards for foster family
homes and child care institutions which are reasonably in
accord with recommended standards of national organizations
concerned with standards for the institutions or homes,
including standards related to admission policies, safety,
sanitation, and protection of civil rights, and which shall
permit use of the reasonable and prudent parenting standard;
``(B) that the standards established pursuant to
subparagraph (A) shall be applied by the State to any foster
family home or child care institution receiving funds under
this part or part B and shall require, as a condition of any
contract entered into by the State agency and a child care
institution, the presence on-site of at least 1 official who,
with respect to any child placed at the child care
institution, is designated to be the caregiver who is
authorized to apply the reasonable and prudent parent
standard to decisions involving the participation of the
child in age or developmentally-appropriate activities, and
who is provided with training in how to use and apply the
reasonable and prudent parent standard in the same manner as
prospective foster parents are provided the training pursuant
to paragraph (24);
``(C) that the standards established pursuant to
subparagraph (A) shall include policies related to the
liability of foster parents and private entities under
contract by the State involving the application of the
reasonable and prudent parent standard, to ensure appropriate
liability for caregivers when a child participates in an
approved activity and the caregiver approving the activity
acts in accordance with the reasonable and prudent parent
standard; and
``(D) that a waiver of any standards established pursuant
to subparagraph (A) may be made only on a case-by-case basis
for nonsafety standards (as determined by the State) in
relative foster family homes for specific children in
care;''.
(c) Effective Date.--
(1) In general.--The amendments made by this section shall
take effect on the date that is 1 year after the date of the
enactment of this Act, without regard to whether regulations
to implement the amendments have been promulgated by that
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 developed pursuant to 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 1st day of
the 1st calendar quarter beginning after the 1st regular
session of the State legislature that begins after the date
of the enactment of this Act. If the State has a 2-year
legislative session, each year of the session is deemed to be
a separate regular session of the State legislature.
SEC. 202. IMPROVEMENTS TO ANOTHER PLANNED PERMANENT LIVING
ARRANGEMENT AS A PERMANENCY OPTION.
(a) Elimination of the Option for Children Under Age 16.--
(1) In general.--Section 475(5)(C)(i) of the Social
Security Act (42 U.S.C. 675(5)(C)(i)) is amended by inserting
``only in the case of a
[[Page H4524]]
child who has attained 16 years of age'' before ``(in cases
where''.
(2) Conforming amendment.--Section 422(b)(8)(A)(iii)(II) of
such Act (42 U.S.C. 622(b)(8)(A)(iii)(II)) is amended by
inserting ``, subject to the requirements of sections
475(5)(C) and 475A(a)'' after ``arrangement''.
(b) Additional Requirements.--
(1) In general.--Part E of title IV of such Act (42 U.S.C.
670 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 475 the
following:
``SEC. 475A. ADDITIONAL CASE PLAN AND CASE REVIEW SYSTEM
REQUIREMENTS.
``(a) Requirements for Another Planned Permanent Living
Arrangement.--In the case of any child for whom another
planned permanent living arrangement is the permanency plan
for the child, the following requirements shall apply for
purposes of approving the case plan for the child and the
case system review procedure for the child:
``(1) Documentation of intensive, ongoing, unsuccessful
efforts for family placement.--At each permanency hearing
held with respect to the child, the State agency documents
the intensive, ongoing, and, as of the date of the hearing,
unsuccessful efforts made by the State agency to return the
child home or secure a placement for the child with a fit and
willing relative (including adult siblings), a legal
guardian, or an adoptive parent, including through efforts
that utilize search technology (including social media) to
find biological family members for children in the child
welfare system.
``(2) Redetermination of appropriateness of placement at
each permanency hearing.--The State agency shall implement
procedures to ensure that, at each permanency hearing held
with respect to the child, the court or administrative body
appointed or approved by the court conducting the hearing on
the permanency plan for the child does the following:
``(A) Ask the child about the desired permanency outcome
for the child.
``(B) Make a judicial determination explaining why, as of
the date of the hearing, another planned permanent living
arrangement is the best permanency plan for the child and
provide compelling reasons why it continues to not be in the
best interests of the child to--
``(i) return home;
``(ii) be placed for adoption;
``(iii) be placed with a legal guardian; or
``(iv) be placed with a fit and willing relative.
``(3) Demonstration of support for engaging in age or
developmentally-appropriate activities and social events.--At
each permanency hearing held with respect to the child, the
State agency shall document the steps the State agency is
taking to ensure the child's foster family home or child care
institution is following the reasonable and prudent parent
standard.''.
(2) Conforming amendments.--
(A) State plan requirements.--
(i) Part b.--Section 422(b)(8)(A)(ii) of such Act (42
U.S.C. 622(b)(8)(A)(ii)) is amended by inserting ``and in
accordance with the requirements of section 475A'' after
``section 475(5)''.
(ii) Part e.--Section 471(a)(16) of such Act (42 U.S.C.
671(a)(16)) is amended--
(I) by inserting ``and in accordance with the requirements
of section 475A'' after ``section 475(1)''; and
(II) by striking ``section 475(5)(B)'' and inserting
``sections 475(5) and 475A''.
(B) Definitions.--Section 475 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 675)
is amended--
(i) in paragraph (1), in the matter preceding subparagraph
(A), by inserting ``meets the requirements of section 475A
and'' after ``written document which''; and
(ii) in paragraph (5)(C)--
(I) by inserting ``, as of the date of the hearing,'' after
``compelling reason for determining''; and
(II) by inserting ``subject to section 475A(a),'' after
``another planned permanent living arrangement,''.
(c) Effective Date.--
(1) In general.--The amendments made by this section shall
take effect on the date that is 1 year after the date of the
enactment of this Act.
(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 developed pursuant to 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 1st day of
the 1st calendar quarter beginning after the 1st regular
session of the State legislature that begins after the date
of the enactment of this Act. If the State has a 2-year
legislative session, each year of the session is deemed to be
a separate regular session of the State legislature.
SEC. 203. EMPOWERING FOSTER YOUTH AGE 14 AND OLDER IN THE
DEVELOPMENT OF THEIR OWN CASE PLAN AND
TRANSITION PLANNING FOR A SUCCESSFUL ADULTHOOD.
(a) In General.--Section 475(1)(B) of the Social Security
Act (42 U.S.C. 675(1)(B)) is amended by adding at the end the
following: ``With respect to a child who has attained 14
years of age, the plan developed for the child in accordance
with this paragraph, and any revision or addition to the
plan, shall be developed in consultation with the child and,
at the option of the child, with up to 2 members of the case
planning team who are chosen by the child and who are not a
foster parent of, or caseworker for, the child. A State may
reject an individual selected by a child to be a member of
the case planning team at any time if the State has good
cause to believe that the individual would not act in the
best interests of the child. One individual selected by a
child to be a member of the child's case planning team may be
designated to be the child's advisor and, as necessary,
advocate, with respect to the application of the reasonable
and prudent parent standard to the child.''.
(b) Conforming Amendments to Include Children 14 and Older
in Transition Planning.--Section 475 of such Act (42 U.S.C.
675) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (1)(D), by striking ``Where appropriate,
for a child age 16'' and inserting ``For a child who has
attained 14 years of age''; and
(2) in paragraph (5)--
(A) in subparagraph (C)--
(i) by striking ``and'' at the end of clause (ii); and
(ii) by adding at the end the following: ``and (iv) if a
child has attained 14 years of age, the permanency plan
developed for the child, and any revision or addition to the
plan, shall be developed in consultation with the child and,
at the option of the child, with not more than 2 members of
the permanency planning team who are selected by the child
and who are not a foster parent of, or caseworker for, the
child, except that the State may reject an individual so
selected by the child if the State has good cause to believe
that the individual would not act in the best interests of
the child, and 1 individual so selected by the child may be
designated to be the child's advisor and, as necessary,
advocate, with respect to the application of the reasonable
and prudent standard to the child;''; and
(B) in subparagraph (I), by striking ``16'' and inserting
``14''.
(c) Transition Planning for a Successful Adulthood.--
Paragraphs (1)(D), (5)(C)(i), and (5)(C)(iii) of section 475
of such Act (42 U.S.C. 675) are each amended by striking
``independent living'' and inserting ``a successful
adulthood''.
(d) List of Rights.--Section 475A of such Act, as added by
section 202(b)(1) of this Act, is amended by adding at the
end the following:
``(b) List of Rights.--The case plan for any child in
foster care under the responsibility of the State who has
attained 14 years of age shall include a document that
describes the rights of the child with respect to education,
health, visitation, and court participation, and to staying
safe and avoiding exploitation, and a signed acknowledgment
by the child that the child has been provided with a copy of
the document and that the rights contained in the document
have been explained to the child in an age-appropriate
way.''.
(e) Report.--Not later than 2 years after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and Human
Services shall submit a report to Congress regarding the
implementation of the amendments made by this section. The
report shall include--
(1) an analysis of how States are administering the
requirements of paragraphs (1)(B) and (5)(C) of section 475
of the Social Security Act, as amended by subsections (a) and
(b) of this section, that a child in foster care who has
attained 14 years of age be permitted to select up to 2
members of the case planning team or permanency planning team
for the child from individuals who are not a foster parent
of, or caseworker for, the child; and
(2) a description of best practices of States with respect
to the administration of the requirements.
(f) Effective Date.--
(1) In general.--The amendments made by this section shall
take effect on the date that is 1 year after the date of the
enactment of this Act.
(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 developed pursuant to 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 1st day of
the 1st calendar quarter beginning after the 1st regular
session of the State legislature that begins after the date
of the enactment of this Act. If the State has a 2-year
legislative session, each year of the session is deemed to be
a separate regular session of the State legislature.
SEC. 204. ENSURING FOSTER YOUTH HAVE A BIRTH CERTIFICATE,
SOCIAL SECURITY CARD, HEALTH INSURANCE
INFORMATION, MEDICAL RECORDS, AND A BANK
ACCOUNT.
(a) Case Review System Requirement.--Section 475(5)(I) of
the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 675(5)(I)) is amended--
(1) by striking ``and receives assistance'' and inserting
``receives assistance''; and
(2) by inserting ``, and, unless the child has been in
foster care for less than 6 months or the child is being
discharged from care to be reunited with the family of the
child or to be adopted, is not discharged from care without
being provided with an official birth certificate of the
child, a social security card issued by the Commissioner of
Social Security, health insurance information and medical
records, and if the child has attained 18
[[Page H4525]]
years of age, a fee-free (or low-fee) transaction account (as
defined in section 19(b)(1)(C) of the Federal Reserve Act (12
U.S.C. 461(b)(1)(C))) established in the name of the child
name at an insured depository institution (as defined in
section 3 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C.
1813)) or an insured credit union (as defined in section 101
of the Federal Credit Union Act (12 U.S.C. 1752)), unless the
child, after consultation with the members of the case
planning team for the child selected by the child (if any),
elects to not have such an account established'' before the
period.
(b) Effective Date.--
(1) In general.--The amendments made by this section shall
take effect 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act.
(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 developed pursuant to 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 1st day of
the 1st calendar quarter beginning after the 1st regular
session of the State legislature that begins after the date
of the enactment of this Act. If the State has a 2-year
legislative session, each year of the session is deemed to be
a separate regular session of the State legislature.
TITLE III--IMPROVING DATA COLLECTION AND REPORTING ON CHILD SEX
TRAFFICKING
SEC. 301. INCLUDING SEX TRAFFICKING DATA IN THE ADOPTION AND
FOSTER CARE ANALYSIS AND REPORTING SYSTEM.
(a) In General.--Section 479(c)(3) of the Social Security
Act (42 U.S.C. 679(c)(3)) is amended--
(1) in subparagraph (C)(iii), by striking ``and'' after the
comma; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
``(E) the annual number of children in foster care who are
identified as victims of sex trafficking (as defined in
section 103(10) of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of
2000 (22 U.S.C. 7102(10))) or a severe form of trafficking in
persons described in section 103(9)(A) of such Act--
``(i) who were such victims before entering foster care;
and
``(ii) who were such victims while in foster care; and''.
(b) Report to Congress.--Beginning in fiscal year 2016, the
Secretary of Health and Human Services shall submit an annual
report to Congress that contains the annual aggregate number
of children in foster care who are identified as victims of
sex trafficking (as defined in section 103(10) of the
Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C.
7102(10))) or a severe form of trafficking in persons
described in section 103(9)(A) of such Act, together with
such other information as the Secretary determines
appropriate relating to the identification of, and provision
of services for, that population of children.
SEC. 302. INFORMATION ON CHILDREN IN FOSTER CARE IN ANNUAL
REPORTS USING AFCARS DATA; CONSULTATION.
Section 479A of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 679b) is
amended--
(1) by striking ``The Secretary'' and inserting the
following:
``(a) In General.--The Secretary'';
(2) in paragraph (5), by striking ``and'' after the
semicolon;
(3) in paragraph (6)(C), by striking the period at the end
and inserting a semicolon;
(4) by adding at the end the following:
``(7) include in the report submitted pursuant to paragraph
(5) for fiscal year 2016 or any succeeding fiscal year,
State-by-State data on children in foster care who have been
placed in a child care institution or other setting that is
not a foster family home, including--
``(A) the number of children in the placements and their
ages, including separately, the number and ages of children
who have a permanency plan of another planned permanent
living arrangement;
``(B) the duration of the placement in the settings
(including for children who have a permanency plan of another
planned permanent living arrangement);
``(C) the types of child care institutions used (including
group homes, residential treatment, shelters, or other
congregate care settings);
``(D) with respect to each child care institution or other
setting that is not a foster family home, the number of
children in foster care residing in each such institution or
non-foster family home;
``(E) any clinically diagnosed special need of such
children; and
``(F) the extent of any specialized education, treatment,
counseling, or other services provided in the settings; and
``(8) include in the report submitted pursuant to paragraph
(5) for fiscal year 2016 or any succeeding fiscal year,
State-by-State data on children in foster care who are
pregnant or parenting.''; and
(5) by adding at the end the following:
``(b) Consultation on Other Issues.--The Secretary shall
consult with States and organizations with an interest in
child welfare, including organizations that provide adoption
and foster care services, and shall take into account
requests from Members of Congress, in selecting other issues
to be analyzed and reported on under this section using data
available to the Secretary, including data reported by States
through the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting
System and to the National Youth in Transition Database.''.
TITLE IV--IMPROVING THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY TO INCREASE CHILD SUPPORT
COLLECTIONS
SEC. 401. REQUIRED ELECTRONIC PROCESSING OF INCOME
WITHHOLDING.
(a) In General.--Section 454A(g)(1) of the Social Security
Act (42 U.S.C. 654a(g)(1)(A)) is amended--
(1) by striking ``, to the maximum extent feasible,''; and
(2) in subparagraph (A)--
(A) by striking ``and'' at the end of clause (i);
(B) by adding ``and'' at the end of clause (ii); and
(C) by adding at the end the following:
``(iii) at the option of the employer, using the electronic
transmission methods prescribed by the Secretary;''.
(b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a)
shall take effect on October 1, 2017.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Washington (Mr. Reichert) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Doggett)
each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Washington.
General Leave
Mr. REICHERT. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks
and to include extraneous material on the subject of the bill under
consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Washington?
There was no objection.
Mr. REICHERT. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
I rise today to urge the support of H.R. 4058, the Preventing Sex
Trafficking and Improving Opportunities for Youth in Foster Care Act.
This is a bipartisan bill that I strongly believe will help end sex
trafficking, especially of children in foster care.
Madam Speaker, I don't know if you know or the other Members who may
be listening today or anyone else who may be listening know that, if
you are driving down the street and you see 10 young girls standing on
the street corner, that six of those 10 young girls who are in human
trafficking, six of those are in foster care--six out of 10--and those
are young children that the State, that the taxpayers, that we as
citizens of this community--of our communities--are responsible for,
and they are on the street.
I am pleased to have worked with my colleague and ranking member on
the Human Resources Subcommittee, Mr. Doggett. There are many
colleagues who have also supported this legislation.
Today, I am here. This is the beginning of my 10th year in Congress.
Prior to that, I was in law enforcement, for 33 years, in the King
County Sheriff's Office in Seattle, Washington.
For 19 of those years, there was a team created to go after the most
notorious serial killer that this country has ever seen. His name was
Ridgway. My quest in that case, to find Gary Ridgway, started in 1982.
I was a 31-year-old detective.
One body on August 12, two more bodies on August 15; I found a third
body on that same day, going down to the riverbank to recover the other
two bodies. These were 16-year-old girls.
This is a topic that we should be talking about here in Congress.
When I was 32 in 1982 and I started working on this case--and we
finally arrested Ridgway in 2001, so 1982 until 2001--Ridgway said he
killed 60 to 70 women. He pled guilty to 49. We closed 51 cases. I
collected the bodies. I collected the bodies of 15 and 16-year-old
girls.
They were buried in shallow graves or thrown in a river to drift
away. Madam Speaker, some of these victims were pregnant, thrown in a
grave along with their unborn child, their life cut short and taken. In
some weeks, we collected six bodies.
Can you imagine the horror of the children when they were abducted
and drawn into this killer's car or taken to his home? They knew they
were being killed. They were strangled, and they fought for their
lives.
Can you imagine the horror of the parents, the grandparents, the
aunts
[[Page H4526]]
and uncles, the brothers and sisters, and the children lost forever,
their life ripped away?
That is why we are here today. That is why we are discussing these
bills. This is about life; it is about death, and we can save lives.
Some Members here have mentioned that we can save lives today. I hope
the Senate has the courage to follow through on these bills. We are
doing our work here in the House of Representatives.
When I was on the banks of the Green River in 1982, I wondered who in
the world is there who cares; and after 15 years of working the case,
who cares, who cared about these young girls?
I can tell you, after talking to a number of those young women on the
street and girls and children, they were wondering, too: Does anybody
care? Does anybody even know I exist? Does anybody even know I am here
and what I am going through? I need love. I need help.
One of those girls that I found in early 1982, that was found in
1982, was a young woman named Wendy Coffield. Wendy Coffield was a
foster child. She had run away from home before; and this time, when
she ran away from home, nobody was looking for her. No one cared. She
disappeared, and no one cared, and then she was found, she was found
dead.
These are the kids we have to help. My bill focuses on foster kids.
Six out of 10 involved in human trafficking today are foster kids.
We had some hearings, of course, over the past few months, and there
were some courageous young women who came forward to tell their stories
in our subcommittee, and I want to mention their names because it took
a lot of courage to come forward and tell their stories about their
lives and what they went through and the feeling of nobody caring.
Withelma ``T'' Ortiz Walker Pettigrew is a sex trafficking survivor
who experienced 14 foster care placements and was exploited into the
sex trafficking trade as a child. This year, though, she was recognized
by Time magazine as one of the top 100 most influential people in 2014.
Talk about turning around your life and having an impact and influence
on other people. ``T'' Ortiz Pettigrew has done it.
Noel Gomez, Seattle Organization for Prostitution Survivors, Gomez
survived 15 years in the sex trafficking trade and is working to help
kids stay out and to get out of the sex trafficking trade.
{time} 1700
Mandy Urwiler, she entered foster care at the age of 15 and had
remained in care throughout her extended foster care program. She
testified about her personal experience in foster care and her exposure
to the sex trafficking world.
Talitha James, a former foster youth from California, was able to
leave the system at age 14 after her aunt gave her a stable home.
After hearing from her and many other experts, Mr. Doggett and myself
introduced bipartisan legislation to help every State better protect
youth in foster care from sex trafficking. This bill requires States to
identify victims and to provide them with the services they need to
heal. It would also improve data on instances of child trafficking.
On a preventative front, the bill makes sure that the youth can
participate in age appropriate activities so they are less vulnerable
to trafficking. It encourages States to move forward, moving children
out of foster care and into permanent, loving homes.
The approach we are taking is practical. It is bipartisan. It is
based on the State's experience. This bill incorporates a wide range of
ideas gleaned from bills introduced by members of the Ways and Means
Committee like Mr. Paulsen, as well as ideas from over 150 pages of
public comments that we received from our December discussion draft.
I am confident that this legislation will ensure that all States take
real steps to better understand the problem and keep kids safe while in
foster care. I urge all Members to support this legislation.
I want to thank Mr. Doggett, who joins me on the floor today. I want
to thank Chairman Camp for his support, Ranking Member Levin for his
support, and all those others who have signed on to the bill.
We are here today, as I said, to protect vulnerable children in
foster care and work to find them loving homes. That is why we are
here. We are here to save lives. Both parties have worked together.
We have received support for this bill from the American Bar
Association, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children,
the American Public Human Services Association, Children's Defense
Fund, the Human Rights Project for Girls, National Children's Alliance,
and eight others. They proudly indicated their support for this
important legislation.
I invite all Members to join us in supporting this important
bipartisan legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. DOGGETT. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Madam Speaker, I join in supporting this bill to combat sex
trafficking of children that are in the foster care system. When
children come into foster care, they are at risk for exploitation
because of the abuse and neglect that they have already suffered in
their original family and because of the sense of isolation that they
often feel when they have suddenly been removed from their home. Those
who prey on children, especially sex traffickers, know this and they
take advantage of these youth.
Children are removed from their home; they are bounced around from
one place to another often; and then, in my State, when they reach 18,
they are told they are on their own. That is a situation that invites,
especially for young women, the dangerous sex trafficking in which they
are exploited.
There is bipartisan support for this bill. It originated from a
thoughtful hearing, with some very strong witnesses describing the
problem. It is bipartisan. It is also a modest step forward. It is
redirecting our welfare agencies, our child welfare agencies around the
country, in what they do. I think that it will provide some modest help
in saving lives.
It would do even more if, instead of just new requirements for these
States, it were adding new resources. It adds very little in the way of
resources, but I think it will be helpful in directing the attention of
each of these agencies in the various States to focus on this very
serious problem, to give us the data to make the argument to do more in
the future.
Because so many of these young people will eventually age out of the
system after having been moved around from one home to another, it is
important that we help them be able to move into the workforce. In that
regard, there was a problem with the bill when one particular provision
was removed from the bill because it cost about a million dollars in
additional administrative expenses and there was apparently no way
found to cover that cost.
I believe that providing a young person who ages out at age 18 from
the foster care system with a birth certificate and a Social Security
card is a worthwhile thing to do. Chairman Reichert promised to work
with us on this in committee. He has. That provision has fortunately
been restored here in this bill. It has been restored, however, in a
way that really borrows from another provision that is also important
to our foster youth, and that is a provision called Family Connections.
The Family Connection grants program is designed to try to connect
children with grandparents, with other family members to help in the
search for relatives of the foster children who might provide them a
home. It provides only about $15 million a year, which is hardly enough
to cover the need across the entire United States to provide better
connection. If this measure were fully adopted, there would no longer,
under the Republican budget rules, be a way to pay for the Family
Connections program, which is another vital way that we protect these
foster youth.
The Children's Defense Fund, which does support the bill, wrote to us
in committee to find a way to restore the provision that cost about a
million dollars a year and pointed out that the same day that the
committee would not provide a million dollars extra per year, it did
find a way under the same budget rules to find not a million, but $310
billion to cover corporate tax breaks.
I believe that this measure is helpful. It is a good step forward. It
is a modest
[[Page H4527]]
step forward that would have benefited from not taking from one in
order to help the other when it comes to foster children. We need to be
doing more for our foster youth, not only on sex trafficking, but in
other ways, more than we are able to accomplish under the strict budget
rules today. There is a real inconsistency in saying we cannot find
additional revenues to pay for something as serious as this when we can
afford to borrow up to $310 billion for various corporate tax breaks,
the first of which has already been approved here in the House in our
last week.
With that, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. REICHERT. Madam Speaker, I want to thank Mr. Doggett for his
support.
Just as we were listening to each other and talking to each other
regarding the issue that existed prior to bringing this bill to the
floor, I am interested in continuing to work with Mr. Doggett on the
other issues that he has mentioned in his opening statement.
Now I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. Black).
Mrs. BLACK. Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R.
4058, the Preventing Sex Trafficking and Improving Opportunities for
Youth in Foster Care Act, as well as each of the four additional
bipartisan sex trafficking bills being discussed today.
The statistics about sex trafficking are shocking, and it is not just
happening abroad. These heinous crimes are being committed right here
at home. In fact, the Federal Government reports that some 17,500
people are trafficked into the United States annually, making this a
$9.5 billion industry each year. Worse, 50 percent of the victims that
are trafficked into the United States are under the age of 18, with 60
percent of the trafficking happening in our foster care system.
Madam Speaker, these are children in our communities whose innocence
is being stolen away by the horrors of human trafficking. In just one
county in my district, there were more than 100 cases of sex
trafficking involving a minor in 2011, according to the Tennessee
Bureau of Investigation.
As a mother and a grandmother, my heart just breaks for those
impacted by this epidemic. I believe we have a responsibility to
reverse this unacceptable trend.
Madam Speaker, an act of Congress won't immediately stop all the
forms of this human trafficking, but we can do something. We can make
the penalty stiffer. We can put another wall between the innocent
victims and those who victimize them. We can pass H.R. 4058 and each of
those other bipartisan measures aimed at targeting sex trafficking
today. We can and we should.
Mr. DOGGETT. I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. REICHERT. Madam Speaker, I should have also mentioned that Mrs.
Black is a member of the Ways and Means Committee.
Now I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Roskam),
also a member of the Ways and Means Committee.
Mr. ROSKAM. Madam Speaker, I thank the chairman and the ranking
member.
It is not often that we get to see a major social movement bringing
us, both sides of the aisle, together, but that is absolutely happening
right now. There is a buoyancy to that, and there is a joy in that. The
joy is not about us, but it is recognizing that we as Members of
Congress and the communities that we represent can do an amazing amount
of good right now. The amazing amount of good is reflected in what is
happening all across the country.
In my constituency in the western suburbs of Chicago, there is an
organization called the West Chicagoland Anti-Trafficking Coalition.
These are people who have come together, focused in on this issue,
trying to bring attention to what is actually happening.
We have heard speaker after speaker regale against the trafficking
itself, but there is a brightness to us coming together. There is
something very good that is happening in my home State in Illinois.
Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez is a national leader in
her office, along with a member of her staff, Jack Blakey, who is the
chief of special prosecutions, who have come together to come up with
something that is known as the Chicago model.
What is the Chicago model? What they are doing is they are coming in
and they are saying that there has to be close coordination between
victim services, law enforcement, and prosecutors to the point where
victim service advocates are accompanying along on raids, coming
alongside to make sure that these young people are rescued. The
approach also uses evidentiary and prosecutorial methods that help
minimize a victim's exposure in the courtroom itself to minimize her
contact with her trafficker.
Did you hear that? There is something incredible that is happening in
Chicago that is leading the way, and it is protecting people and
minimizing the exposure that victims have to traffickers. In other
words, building up a legal case that doesn't have the victim as the
focal point in terms of testimony, but creating these types of
evidentiary approaches.
We can do something significant. There is something significant that
is happening today, and we are all reflecting the mood and the desire
on the part of our constituents to be forthright and aggressive in
taking on this scandal.
Mr. DOGGETT. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to our colleague from
California (Ms. Bass), the chair of the Congressional Caucus on Foster
Youth, who worked so diligently on this around the country.
Ms. BASS. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 4058. I am
proud to have worked with Chairman Reichert and have become an original
cosponsor of the bill. I also want to acknowledge the leadership of
Chairman Camp, as well as Ranking Members Doggett and Levin, to pass
this important legislation, especially during National Foster Care
Month.
As cochair of the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth, I have
traveled throughout the country as part of a national listening tour.
It has been devastating to learn the children involved in the child
welfare system, particularly those who experience multiple placements,
are especially susceptible to coercion and manipulation by traffickers.
{time} 1715
In Los Angeles, where I am from, the Probation Department reports
that hundreds of young people, all minors, have been identified as
victims of sex trafficking. Sixty-one percent have been identified as
foster youth. The Los Angeles STAR Court, which specializes in serving
commercially sexually exploited youth, reports an even higher
percentage: 80 percent of the young people have been foster youth.
Unfortunately, the child welfare system as a whole has not truly
recognized trafficking as a crisis within the foster youth population,
nor incorporated protocols and systems to address the problem. Few
child welfare employees have been adequately trained and prepared to
identify or respond to child victims of trafficking. Fewer still have
incorporated policies, protocols, and case management techniques to
serve this population. Child welfare agencies are not documenting the
prevalence of trafficking within the foster care population. Therefore,
the scope of the challenge nationwide is unknown.
To address these gaps, the Preventing Sex Trafficking and Improving
Opportunities for Youth in Foster Care Act requires States to develop
plans to provide services to child victims of trafficking, as well as
to train case workers on how to identify victims and coordinate these
services. The bill would also ensure that agencies using existing data
collection mechanisms provide a national and State-by-State
understanding of the prevalence of this problem.
These are tremendous steps forward, and I look forward to continuing
working with my colleagues in a bipartisan fashion to move legislation
that will further prevent exploitation and protect foster youth and all
children from trafficking.
It is also significant that this bill helps to empower foster youth
by giving foster parents more authority to make day-to-day decisions
regarding their foster child's participation in age-appropriate
activities. Many foster youth can never attend a prom, can't
participate on a sports team, can't go
[[Page H4528]]
to sleepovers--normal activities that all of our children do. The bill
encourages States to more quickly move kids out of foster care and into
permanent families, provide older children with a greater say in the
development of their own case plans, and ensure that older foster youth
have access to critical documents.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. Black). The time of the gentlewoman has
expired.
Mr. DOGGETT. I yield an additional minute to the gentlewoman from
California.
Ms. BASS. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this bill, as
well as next week welcoming nearly 70 foster youth to the Hill for the
third annual Foster Youth Shadow Day.
Mr. REICHERT. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
Minnesota (Mr. Paulsen), who has introduced his own bill connected to
this issue, H.R. 3610, Stop Exploitation Through Trafficking Act. Mr.
Paulsen is also a member of the Ways and Means Committee.
Mr. PAULSEN. Madam Speaker, I want to thank the chairman for his
leadership, along with Ranking Member Doggett.
More than 100,000 children are at risk of being trafficked for
commercial sex in America. That is just according to the National
Center for Missing and Exploited Children, so it is probably a pretty
conservative number. Those most at risk of victimization are the
vulnerable, including children in our foster care system. These are
young girls age 12, 13, 14, 15.
These youth who have been involved in the foster care system are more
likely to become runaways or become homeless at a very early age. In
fact, a vast large majority, large percentage of sexual trafficking
victims are runaways. Law enforcement has said that. In fact, 60
percent of those runaways being trafficked were in the foster care
system at some point.
Madam Speaker, in order to help prevent these youth from becoming
victims--and that is what they are, victims, victims of sex
trafficking--we need better information also as to what is happening,
where, and to whom. We need to identify the trends and fill in the
gaps. There are provisions in this legislation that address those
shortfalls.
This bill is crucial for addressing the lack of reliable data and
reporting to law enforcement as it relates to runaway youth from the
child welfare system. The bottom line is we need to help these victims
before they become trafficked.
I want to thank Chairman Reichert for his leadership, along with
Ranking Member Doggett, for their bipartisan efforts to move this
legislation forward expeditiously.
I also want to thank Congresswoman Slaughter for helping author with
myself several of the provisions that were incorporated into this
legislation.
The good news, Madam Speaker, is this legislation is bipartisan.
Hopefully it is going to move forward bicamerally in the Senate as
well. It is absolutely an opportunity to save lives.
Mr. DOGGETT. Madam Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my
time.
Mr. REICHERT. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from
Missouri (Mrs. Hartzler).
Mrs. HARTZLER. Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Reichert and Mr. Doggett
for bringing this legislation to the floor and for their leadership on
this very, very important issue.
In 2013, the FBI conducted raids on sex trafficking operations in 70
U.S. cities. Perhaps the most startling finding in the aftermath of
these raids was that 60 percent of rescued child trafficking victims
had lived in foster care or group homes.
This finding has taught us a very important lesson: to
comprehensively address such horrific injustice, we must both improve
the state of children and family services, and increase the efforts in
the Justice Department.
This legislation works to address human trafficking by helping us to
ensure that the over 400,000 youth currently in foster care have the
security and resources they need to become fully integrated
contributors to American society.
Though human trafficking is a global issue, we must remember that it
is happening throughout America, sadly even in places like my home
State of Missouri. Just last November in Jefferson City, a 28-year-old
man was indicted for sex trafficking of a child under the age of 14.
Also, earlier this year, a Springfield man pleaded guilty to
trafficking of a 17-year-old girl with learning disabilities.
Stories like these remind us that this crime against humanity is a
real threat all across the U.S., one that is not limited to big cities
or high-crime areas.
Today's legislation proactively confronts one of the most disturbing
threats to the liberty and dignity of the American people. We cannot
afford to stand idly by while the innocent are being subjected to cruel
and dehumanizing treatment right here in our own country. Madam
Speaker, I urge the Members of this body to join this effort and help
end this form of enslavement and keep kids safe.
Mr. DOGGETT. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from
New York (Mrs. Maloney), who has already spoken eloquently this
afternoon about this problem in connection with another bill, to
address the issues raised by this bill and the serious problem of sex
trafficking.
Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong
support of this bill. It is extremely important.
I would like to underscore that there is no politics in sex
trafficking. This body is often described as being bitterly partisan.
But today that is not the case as voices on both sides of the aisle and
hard work on both sides of the aisle have joined to work to try to make
it better and try to stop this abuse.
We have already heard and know that trafficking in human beings is
nothing less than a modern form of slavery and that the incidence in
foster children is tremendously high.
A foster child named Angela came to my office one day and told me the
story that at 10 years old the boyfriend of her foster mother started
selling her as a prostitute, and her younger brother. She was horrified
one day when she saw a picture of herself and her younger brother in a
magazine advertising that they were for sale. She spoke out at school
to her counselor and they didn't believe her. When the authorities from
the welfare agency came to the home she told them she was being abused,
and they told her to be grateful to her foster parents--why is she
raising such problems.
So there is clearly a need for educating and involving States and
agencies in being more sensitive and identifying the victims of child
abuse and child sex trafficking. It is something we do not want to
acknowledge that it exists in our own country. But every time you see a
child on the street, a child prostitute, there is a tragic story behind
that young girl or boy of intense abuse. Regrettably, too many of them
come out of the American foster care system, a system that is supposed
to protect them.
This bill is incredibly needed. I congratulate Mr. Doggett and Ms.
Bass for their hard work on this.
Mr. REICHERT. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. DOGGETT. Madam Speaker, at this time, I yield 2 minutes to the
gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee), my colleague.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Reichert and Mr. Doggett
for this work, and the work of the Ways and Means Committee, which is a
vital component to this holistic approach that we have now embraced
dealing with human trafficking.
The foster care system that many of us have embraced that needs
overhaul, as a member of the foster care task force and caucus, as a
member and founder of the Congressional Children's Caucus, I have been
dealing with foster care children for a number of years. In fact, I
served as a cochair of the Foster Care Task Force in Houston, whose
purpose was to give relief to what was then called Foster Care
Grandparents, whose grandparents were involved in the foster care
system. That is the friendly side of foster care.
But I think it is so very important to recognize that we are still
facing that large gap of those youngsters who age out, along with
youngsters who are 12, 13, and 14 who have been in the foster care
system all of their life. We have heard the stories that they go from
house to house, maybe some of them had 30 homes, places where they have
lived, for a period of time that they have been in foster care.
[[Page H4529]]
What I have seen as I have been on the streets of Houston when we
spend a night out on the streets going places where we knew children
and young people would be sleeping, that these were children who had
either aged out, who had in fact run away, or been in foster care on
the streets of Houston. They are a number one target for the dastardly
act of sex trafficking, child trafficking, and human trafficking.
So I rise today to support this legislation, again, as it adds to an
overall omnibus approach to going after anyone who wants to hide behind
the vulnerability of a child and take advantage of them. This bill
provides for full resources for foster care children so that they do
not find the most welcoming track someone's ugly words that, in fact,
are here to undermine them and to take them into this life.
I ask my colleagues to support this legislation because, in fact, it
stops those children from going into a life that will ruin their life
and to make them find a place where they can find solace.
Mr. REICHERT. Madam Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time is
remaining.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Washington has 3 minutes
remaining. The gentleman from Texas has 7\3/4\ minutes remaining.
Mr. REICHERT. Madam Speaker, at this time, I yield 1 minute to the
gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Huizenga).
Mr. HUIZENGA of Michigan. Madam Speaker, we know a lack of normalcy
and barriers to participation in sort of age-appropriate activities
increases vulnerability of trafficking, homelessness, and other
negative outcomes that kids that are in foster care experience. This
bill--and I appreciate the authors of this bill--would ensure that
youth and foster care can participate in more age-appropriate
activities and they are going to be better connected with their
communities and their friends and less vulnerable, therefore, to
becoming victims of sex trafficking.
In all this nastiness, negativity, and ugliness, I get to talk about
a little ray of hope, though, as well. Bethany Christian Services,
which is located in west Michigan and has operations in my district, is
an example of an effective child welfare organization that dramatically
improves outcomes for children in foster care.
Bethany comes alongside families who will walk with these kids at
this time of crisis and welcome them unconditionally into their loving,
caring homes. It is also an organizational model that has proven
successful. Foster parents work with staff from community agencies
toward identified goals for the children in their care, empowering
these foster parents to dramatically improve outcomes for those kids
that are in their care.
I thank the author of this, who is going to give this same
opportunity to all foster children.
Mr. DOGGETT. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Madam Speaker, I want to thank Chairman Reichert for his leadership
on this measure.
In this place, we need to make what progress we can under the
conditions that exist and make as much of it as possible. I hope that
the Senate will respond to this measure. But in order to provide an
effective response, we need to have the revenues to provide the
resources along with the requirements to meet the needs of our foster
youth.
A few weeks ago, I met with a number of attorneys in San Antonio who
work with foster youth, particularly those who are aging out, as well
as a number of community service groups, religious and nonreligious in
their orientation. They describe immense problems that our foster youth
face. When they age out at age 18, only about 2 percent of those young
people in the San Antonio area ever end up in college.
{time} 1730
Many of them do get a substantial taxpayer subsidy over their lives.
Unfortunately, it is a subsidy in our jails and in our penal system
after they are engaged in some harmful conduct.
This bill is one step that we can take to address the exploitation of
these young people, particularly of young women. There are broader
problems out there that need our attention, but I favor moving forward
with the progress that we can make today to address this one critical
problem.
I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. REICHERT. Madam Speaker, in closing, I do believe that this bill
can help end sex trafficking, especially when partnered with all of the
other legislation that we have been talking about today. It is a
holistic approach, and it touches on almost every one of the intricate
issues surrounding protecting young children from being victims of
human trafficking.
After we are done today, there will still be another bill, presented
by Mr. Smith, that will add to the power of the movement that we are
making today and that will add to the voice that we are expressing
today in support of young children, in support of families--in support
of protecting lives. We are going to save lives.
With these bills today, somebody does care. As I said in my opening
statement, when I was 31 years old and was on the banks of the rivers,
collecting the bodies of teenage girls, I wondered if anybody cared,
and their families wondered.
Today, that question has been answered. We care. All the way to the
United States Capitol, we care. We can make a difference. Our daughters
are not for sale, and the time is now.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Washington (Mr. Reichert) that the House suspend the
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 4058, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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