[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 99 (Tuesday, June 21, 2016)]
[House]
[Pages H4028-H4042]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              FAMILY FIRST PREVENTION SERVICES ACT OF 2016

  Mr. BUCHANAN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 5456) to amend parts B and E of title IV of the Social 
Security Act to invest in funding prevention and family services to 
help keep children safe and supported at home, to ensure that children 
in foster care are placed in the least restrictive, most family-like, 
and appropriate settings, and for other purposes, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 5456

       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 ``Family First Prevention 
     Services Act of 2016''.

     SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS.

       The table of contents for this Act is as follows:

Sec. 1. Short title.
Sec. 2. Table of contents.

          TITLE I--INVESTING IN PREVENTION AND FAMILY SERVICES

Sec. 101. Purpose.

           Subtitle A--Prevention Activities Under Title IV-E

Sec. 111. Foster care prevention services and programs.
Sec. 112. Foster care maintenance payments for children with parents in 
              a licensed residential family-based treatment facility 
              for substance abuse.
Sec. 113. Title IV-E payments for evidence-based kinship navigator 
              programs.

             Subtitle B--Enhanced Support Under Title IV-B

Sec. 121. Elimination of time limit for family reunification services 
              while in foster care and permitting time-limited family 
              reunification services when a child returns home from 
              foster care.
Sec. 122. Reducing bureaucracy and unnecessary delays when placing 
              children in homes across State lines.
Sec. 123. Enhancements to grants to improve well-being of families 
              affected by substance abuse.

                       Subtitle C--Miscellaneous

Sec. 131. Reviewing and improving licensing standards for placement in 
              a relative foster family home.
Sec. 132. Development of a statewide plan to prevent child abuse and 
              neglect fatalities.
Sec. 133. Modernizing the title and purpose of title IV-E.
Sec. 134. Effective dates.

TITLE II--ENSURING THE NECESSITY OF A PLACEMENT THAT IS NOT IN A FOSTER 
                              FAMILY HOME

Sec. 201. Limitation on Federal financial participation for placements 
              that are not in foster family homes.
Sec. 202. Assessment and documentation of the need for placement in a 
              qualified residential treatment program.
Sec. 203. Protocols to prevent inappropriate diagnoses.
Sec. 204. Additional data and reports regarding children placed in a 
              setting that is not a foster family home.
Sec. 205. Effective dates; application to waivers.

      TITLE III--CONTINUING SUPPORT FOR CHILD AND FAMILY SERVICES

Sec. 301. Supporting and retaining foster families for children.
Sec. 302. Extension of child and family services programs.
Sec. 303. Improvements to the John H. Chafee Foster Care Independence 
              Program and related provisions.

TITLE IV--CONTINUING INCENTIVES TO STATES TO PROMOTE ADOPTION AND LEGAL 
                              GUARDIANSHIP

Sec. 401. Reauthorizing adoption and legal guardianship incentive 
              programs.

                     TITLE V--TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS

Sec. 501. Technical corrections to data exchange standards to improve 
              program coordination.
Sec. 502. Technical corrections to State requirement to address the 
              developmental needs of young children.

 TITLE VI--ENSURING STATES REINVEST SAVINGS RESULTING FROM INCREASE IN 
                          ADOPTION ASSISTANCE

Sec. 601. Delay of adoption assistance phase-in.
Sec. 602. GAO study and report on State reinvestment of savings 
              resulting from increase in adoption assistance.

          TITLE I--INVESTING IN PREVENTION AND FAMILY SERVICES

     SEC. 101. PURPOSE.

       The purpose of this title is to enable States to use 
     Federal funds available under parts B and E of title IV of 
     the Social Security Act to provide enhanced support to 
     children and families and prevent foster care placements 
     through the provision of mental health and substance abuse 
     prevention and treatment services, in-home parent skill-based 
     programs, and kinship navigator services.

           Subtitle A--Prevention Activities Under Title IV-E

     SEC. 111. FOSTER CARE PREVENTION SERVICES AND PROGRAMS.

       (a) State Option.--Section 471 of the Social Security Act 
     (42 U.S.C. 671) is amended--
       (1) in subsection (a)(1), by striking ``and'' and all that 
     follows through the semicolon and inserting ``, adoption 
     assistance in accordance with section 473, and, at the option 
     of the State, services or programs specified in subsection 
     (e)(1) of this section for children who are candidates for 
     foster care or who are pregnant or parenting foster youth and 
     the parents or kin caregivers of the children, in accordance 
     with the requirements of that subsection;''; and
       (2) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(e) Prevention and Family Services and Programs.--
       ``(1) In general.--Subject to the succeeding provisions of 
     this subsection, the Secretary may make a payment to a State 
     for providing the following services or programs for a child 
     described

[[Page H4029]]

     in paragraph (2) and the parents or kin caregivers of the 
     child when the need of the child, such a parent, or such a 
     caregiver for the services or programs are directly related 
     to the safety, permanence, or well-being of the child or to 
     preventing the child from entering foster care:
       ``(A) Mental health and substance abuse prevention and 
     treatment services.--Mental health and substance abuse 
     prevention and treatment services provided by a qualified 
     clinician for not more than a 12-month period that begins on 
     any date described in paragraph (3) with respect to the 
     child.
       ``(B) In-home parent skill-based programs.--In-home parent 
     skill-based programs for not more than a 12-month period that 
     begins on any date described in paragraph (3) with respect to 
     the child and that include parenting skills training, parent 
     education, and individual and family counseling.
       ``(2) Child described.--For purposes of paragraph (1), a 
     child described in this paragraph is the following:
       ``(A) A child who is a candidate for foster care (as 
     defined in section 475(13)) but can remain safely at home or 
     in a kinship placement with receipt of services or programs 
     specified in paragraph (1).
       ``(B) A child in foster care who is a pregnant or parenting 
     foster youth.
       ``(3) Date described.--For purposes of paragraph (1), the 
     dates described in this paragraph are the following:
       ``(A) The date on which a child is identified in a 
     prevention plan maintained under paragraph (4) as a child who 
     is a candidate for foster care (as defined in section 
     475(13)).
       ``(B) The date on which a child is identified in a 
     prevention plan maintained under paragraph (4) as a pregnant 
     or parenting foster youth in need of services or programs 
     specified in paragraph (1).
       ``(4) Requirements related to providing services and 
     programs.--Services and programs specified in paragraph (1) 
     may be provided under this subsection only if specified in 
     advance in the child's prevention plan described in 
     subparagraph (A) and the requirements in subparagraphs (B) 
     through (E) are met:
       ``(A) Prevention plan.--The State maintains a written 
     prevention plan for the child that meets the following 
     requirements (as applicable):
       ``(i) Candidates.--In the case of a child who is a 
     candidate for foster care described in paragraph (2)(A), the 
     prevention plan shall--

       ``(I) identify the foster care prevention strategy for the 
     child so that the child may remain safely at home, live 
     temporarily with a kin caregiver until reunification can be 
     safely achieved, or live permanently with a kin caregiver;
       ``(II) list the services or programs to be provided to or 
     on behalf of the child to ensure the success of that 
     prevention strategy; and
       ``(III) comply with such other requirements as the 
     Secretary shall establish.

       ``(ii) Pregnant or parenting foster youth.--In the case of 
     a child who is a pregnant or parenting foster youth described 
     in paragraph (2)(B), the prevention plan shall--

       ``(I) be included in the child's case plan required under 
     section 475(1);
       ``(II) list the services or programs to be provided to or 
     on behalf of the youth to ensure that the youth is prepared 
     (in the case of a pregnant foster youth) or able (in the case 
     of a parenting foster youth) to be a parent;
       ``(III) describe the foster care prevention strategy for 
     any child born to the youth; and
       ``(IV) comply with such other requirements as the Secretary 
     shall establish.

       ``(B) Trauma-informed.--The services or programs to be 
     provided to or on behalf of a child are provided under an 
     organizational structure and treatment framework that 
     involves understanding, recognizing, and responding to the 
     effects of all types of trauma and in accordance with 
     recognized principles of a trauma-informed approach and 
     trauma-specific interventions to address trauma's 
     consequences and facilitate healing.
       ``(C) Only services and programs provided in accordance 
     with promising, supported, or well-supported practices 
     permitted.--
       ``(i) In general.--Only State expenditures for services or 
     programs specified in subparagraph (A) or (B) of paragraph 
     (1) that are provided in accordance with practices that meet 
     the requirements specified in clause (ii) of this 
     subparagraph and that meet the requirements specified in 
     clause (iii), (iv), or (v), respectively, for being a 
     promising, supported, or well-supported practice, shall be 
     eligible for a Federal matching payment under section 
     474(a)(6)(A).
       ``(ii) General practice requirements.--The general practice 
     requirements specified in this clause are the following:

       ``(I) The practice has a book, manual, or other available 
     writings that specify the components of the practice protocol 
     and describe how to administer the practice.
       ``(II) There is no empirical basis suggesting that, 
     compared to its likely benefits, the practice constitutes a 
     risk of harm to those receiving it.
       ``(III) If multiple outcome studies have been conducted, 
     the overall weight of evidence supports the benefits of the 
     practice.
       ``(IV) Outcome measures are reliable and valid, and are 
     administrated consistently and accurately across all those 
     receiving the practice.
       ``(V) There is no case data suggesting a risk of harm that 
     was probably caused by the treatment and that was severe or 
     frequent.

       ``(iii) Promising practice.--A practice shall be considered 
     to be a `promising practice' if the practice is superior to 
     an appropriate comparison practice using conventional 
     standards of statistical significance (in terms of 
     demonstrated meaningful improvements in validated measures of 
     important child and parent outcomes, such as mental health, 
     substance abuse, and child safety and well-being), as 
     established by the results or outcomes of at least 1 study 
     that--

       ``(I) was rated by an independent systematic review for the 
     quality of the study design and execution and determined to 
     be well-designed and well-executed; and
       ``(II) utilized some form of control (such as an untreated 
     group, a placebo group, or a wait list study).

       ``(iv) Supported practice.--A practice shall be considered 
     to be a `supported practice' if--

       ``(I) the practice is superior to an appropriate comparison 
     practice using conventional standards of statistical 
     significance (in terms of demonstrated meaningful 
     improvements in validated measures of important child and 
     parent outcomes, such as mental health, substance abuse, and 
     child safety and well-being), as established by the results 
     or outcomes of at least 1 study that--

       ``(aa) was rated by an independent systematic review for 
     the quality of the study design and execution and determined 
     to be well-designed and well-executed;
       ``(bb) was a rigorous random-controlled trial (or, if not 
     available, a study using a rigorous quasi-experimental 
     research design); and
       ``(cc) was carried out in a usual care or practice setting; 
     and

       ``(II) the study described in subclause (I) established 
     that the practice has a sustained effect (when compared to a 
     control group) for at least 6 months beyond the end of the 
     treatment.

       ``(v) Well-supported practice.--A practice shall be 
     considered to be a `well-supported practice' if--

       ``(I) the practice is superior to an appropriate comparison 
     practice using conventional standards of statistical 
     significance (in terms of demonstrated meaningful 
     improvements in validated measures of important child and 
     parent outcomes, such as mental health, substance abuse, and 
     child safety and well-being), as established by the results 
     or outcomes of at least 2 studies that--

       ``(aa) were rated by an independent systematic review for 
     the quality of the study design and execution and determined 
     to be well-designed and well-executed;
       ``(bb) were rigorous random-controlled trials (or, if not 
     available, studies using a rigorous quasi-experimental 
     research design); and
       ``(cc) were carried out in a usual care or practice 
     setting; and

       ``(II) at least 1 of the studies described in subclause (I) 
     established that the practice has a sustained effect (when 
     compared to a control group) for at least 1 year beyond the 
     end of treatment.

       ``(D) Guidance on practices criteria and pre-approved 
     services and programs.--
       ``(i) In general.--Not later than October 1, 2018, the 
     Secretary shall issue guidance to States regarding the 
     practices criteria required for services or programs to 
     satisfy the requirements of subparagraph (C). The guidance 
     shall include a pre-approved list of services and programs 
     that satisfy the requirements.
       ``(ii) Updates.--The Secretary shall issue updates to the 
     guidance required by clause (i) as often as the Secretary 
     determines necessary.
       ``(E) Outcome assessment and reporting.--The State shall 
     collect and report to the Secretary the following information 
     with respect to each child for whom, or on whose behalf 
     mental health and substance abuse prevention and treatment 
     services or in-home parent skill-based programs are provided 
     during a 12-month period beginning on the date the child is 
     determined by the State to be a child described in paragraph 
     (2):
       ``(i) The specific services or programs provided and the 
     total expenditures for each of the services or programs.
       ``(ii) The duration of the services or programs provided.
       ``(iii) In the case of a child described in paragraph 
     (2)(A), the child's placement status at the beginning, and at 
     the end, of the 1-year period, respectively, and whether the 
     child entered foster care within 2 years after being 
     determined a candidate for foster care.
       ``(5) State plan component.--
       ``(A) In general.--A State electing to provide services or 
     programs specified in paragraph (1) shall submit as part of 
     the State plan required by subsection (a) a prevention 
     services and programs plan component that meets the 
     requirements of subparagraph (B).
       ``(B) Prevention services and programs plan component.--In 
     order to meet the requirements of this subparagraph, a 
     prevention services and programs plan component, with respect 
     to each 5-year period for which the plan component is in 
     operation in the State, shall include the following:
       ``(i) How providing services and programs specified in 
     paragraph (1) is expected to improve specific outcomes for 
     children and families.
       ``(ii) How the State will monitor and oversee the safety of 
     children who receive services and programs specified in 
     paragraph (1), including through periodic risk assessments 
     throughout the period in which the services and programs are 
     provided on behalf of a child and reexamination of the 
     prevention plan maintained for the child under paragraph (4) 
     for the provision of the services or programs if the State 
     determines the risk of the child entering foster care remains 
     high despite the provision of the services or programs.
       ``(iii) With respect to the services and programs specified 
     in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (1), information on 
     the specific promising, supported, or well-supported 
     practices the State plans to use to provide the services or 
     programs, including a description of--

       ``(I) the services or programs and whether the practices 
     used are promising, supported, or well-supported;
       ``(II) how the State plans to implement the services or 
     programs, including how implementation of the services or 
     programs will be continuously monitored to ensure fidelity to 
     the

[[Page H4030]]

     practice model and to determine outcomes achieved and how 
     information learned from the monitoring will be used to 
     refine and improve practices;
       ``(III) how the State selected the services or programs;
       ``(IV) the target population for the services or programs; 
     and
       ``(V) how each service or program provided will be 
     evaluated through a well-designed and rigorous process, which 
     may consist of an ongoing, cross-site evaluation approved by 
     the Secretary.

       ``(iv) A description of the consultation that the State 
     agencies responsible for administering the State plans under 
     this part and part B engage in with other State agencies 
     responsible for administering health programs, including 
     mental health and substance abuse prevention and treatment 
     services, and with other public and private agencies with 
     experience in administering child and family services, 
     including community-based organizations, in order to foster a 
     continuum of care for children described in paragraph (2) and 
     their parents or kin caregivers.
       ``(v) A description of how the State shall assess children 
     and their parents or kin caregivers to determine eligibility 
     for services or programs specified in paragraph (1).
       ``(vi) A description of how the services or programs 
     specified in paragraph (1) that are provided for or on behalf 
     of a child and the parents or kin caregivers of the child 
     will be coordinated with other child and family services 
     provided to the child and the parents or kin caregivers of 
     the child under the State plan under part B.
       ``(vii) Descriptions of steps the State is taking to 
     support and enhance a competent, skilled, and professional 
     child welfare workforce to deliver trauma-informed and 
     evidence-based services, including--

       ``(I) ensuring that staff is qualified to provide services 
     or programs that are consistent with the promising, 
     supported, or well-supported practice models selected; and
       ``(II) developing appropriate prevention plans, and 
     conducting the risk assessments required under clause (iii).

       ``(viii) A description of how the State will provide 
     training and support for caseworkers in assessing what 
     children and their families need, connecting to the families 
     served, knowing how to access and deliver the needed trauma-
     informed and evidence-based services, and overseeing and 
     evaluating the continuing appropriateness of the services.
       ``(ix) A description of how caseload size and type for 
     prevention caseworkers will be determined, managed, and 
     overseen.
       ``(x) An assurance that the State will report to the 
     Secretary such information and data as the Secretary may 
     require with respect to the provision of services and 
     programs specified in paragraph (1), including information 
     and data necessary to determine the performance measures for 
     the State under paragraph (6) and compliance with paragraph 
     (7).
       ``(C) Reimbursement for services under the prevention plan 
     component.--
       ``(i) Limitation.--Except as provided in subclause (ii), a 
     State may not receive a Federal payment under this part for a 
     given promising, supported, or well-supported practice unless 
     (in accordance with subparagraph (B)(iii)(V)) the plan 
     includes a well-designed and rigorous evaluation strategy for 
     that practice.
       ``(ii) Waiver of limitation.--The Secretary may waive the 
     requirement for a well-designed and rigorous evaluation of 
     any well-supported practice if the Secretary deems the 
     evidence of the effectiveness of the practice to be 
     compelling and the State meets the continuous quality 
     improvement requirements included in subparagraph 
     (B)(iii)(II) with regard to the practice.
       ``(6) Prevention services measures.--
       ``(A) Establishment; annual updates.--Beginning with fiscal 
     year 2021, and annually thereafter, the Secretary shall 
     establish the following prevention services measures based on 
     information and data reported by States that elect to provide 
     services and programs specified in paragraph (1):
       ``(i) Percentage of candidates for foster care who do not 
     enter foster care.--The percentage of candidates for foster 
     care for whom, or on whose behalf, the services or programs 
     are provided who do not enter foster care, including those 
     placed with a kin caregiver outside of foster care, during 
     the 12-month period in which the services or programs are 
     provided and through the end of the succeeding 12-month-
     period.
       ``(ii) Per-child spending.--The total amount of 
     expenditures made for mental health and substance abuse 
     prevention and treatment services or in-home parent skill-
     based programs, respectively, for, or on behalf of, each 
     child described in paragraph (2).
       ``(B) Data.--The Secretary shall establish and annually 
     update the prevention services measures--
       ``(i) based on the median State values of the information 
     reported under each clause of subparagraph (A) for the 3 then 
     most recent years; and
       ``(ii) taking into account State differences in the price 
     levels of consumption goods and services using the most 
     recent regional price parities published by the Bureau of 
     Economic Analysis of the Department of Commerce or such other 
     data as the Secretary determines appropriate.
       ``(C) Publication of state prevention services measures.--
     The Secretary shall annually make available to the public the 
     prevention services measures of each State.
       ``(7) Maintenance of effort for state foster care 
     prevention expenditures.--
       ``(A) In general.--If a State elects to provide services 
     and programs specified in paragraph (1) for a fiscal year, 
     the State foster care prevention expenditures for the fiscal 
     year shall not be less than the amount of the expenditures 
     for fiscal year 2014.
       ``(B) State foster care prevention expenditures.--The term 
     `State foster care prevention expenditures' means the 
     following:
       ``(i) TANF; iv-b; ssbg.--State expenditures for foster care 
     prevention services and activities under the State program 
     funded under part A (including from amounts made available by 
     the Federal Government), under the State plan developed under 
     part B (including any such amounts), or under the Social 
     Services Block Grant Programs under subtitle A of title XX 
     (including any such amounts).
       ``(ii) Other state programs.--State expenditures for foster 
     care prevention services and activities under any State 
     program that is not described in clause (i) (other than any 
     State expenditures for foster care prevention services and 
     activities under the State program under this part (including 
     under a waiver of the program)).
       ``(C) State expenditures.--The term `State expenditures' 
     means all State or local funds that are expended by the State 
     or a local agency including State or local funds that are 
     matched or reimbursed by the Federal Government and State or 
     local funds that are not matched or reimbursed by the Federal 
     Government.
       ``(D) Determination of prevention services and 
     activities.--The Secretary shall require each State that 
     elects to provide services and programs specified in 
     paragraph (1) to report the expenditures specified in 
     subparagraph (B) for fiscal year 2014 and for such fiscal 
     years thereafter as are necessary to determine whether the 
     State is complying with the maintenance of effort requirement 
     in subparagraph (A). The Secretary shall specify the specific 
     services and activities under each program referred to in 
     subparagraph (B) that are `prevention services and 
     activities' for purposes of the reports.
       ``(8) Prohibition against use of state foster care 
     prevention expenditures and federal iv-e prevention funds for 
     matching or expenditure requirement.--A State that elects to 
     provide services and programs specified in paragraph (1) 
     shall not use any State foster care prevention expenditures 
     for a fiscal year for the State share of expenditures under 
     section 474(a)(6) for a fiscal year.
       ``(9) Administrative costs.--Expenditures described in 
     section 474(a)(6)(B)--
       ``(A) shall not be eligible for payment under subparagraph 
     (A), (B), or (E) of section 474(a)(3); and
       ``(B) shall be eligible for payment under section 
     474(a)(6)(B) without regard to whether the expenditures are 
     incurred on behalf of a child who is, or is potentially, 
     eligible for foster care maintenance payments under this 
     part.
       ``(10) Application.--The provision of services or programs 
     under this subsection to or on behalf of a child described in 
     paragraph (2) shall not be considered to be receipt of aid or 
     assistance under the State plan under this part for purposes 
     of eligibility for any other program established under this 
     Act.''.
       (b) Definition.--Section 475 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 675) is 
     amended by adding at the end the following:
       ``(13) The term `child who is a candidate for foster care' 
     means, a child who is identified in a prevention plan under 
     section 471(e)(4)(A) as being at imminent risk of entering 
     foster care (without regard to whether the child would be 
     eligible for foster care maintenance payments under section 
     472 or is or would be eligible for adoption assistance or 
     kinship guardianship assistance payments under section 473) 
     but who can remain safely in the child's home or in a kinship 
     placement as long as services or programs specified in 
     section 471(e)(1) that are necessary to prevent the entry of 
     the child into foster care are provided. The term includes a 
     child whose adoption or guardianship arrangement is at risk 
     of a disruption or dissolution that would result in a foster 
     care placement.''.
       (c) Payments Under Title IV-E.--Section 474(a) of such Act 
     (42 U.S.C. 674(a)) is amended--
       (1) in paragraph (5), by striking the period at the end and 
     inserting ``; plus''; and
       (2) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(6) subject to section 471(e)--
       ``(A) for each quarter--
       ``(i) subject to clause (ii)--

       ``(I) beginning after September 30, 2019, and before 
     October 1, 2025, an amount equal to 50 percent of the total 
     amount expended during the quarter for the provision of 
     services or programs specified in subparagraph (A) or (B) of 
     section 471(e)(1) that are provided in accordance with 
     promising, supported, or well-supported practices that meet 
     the applicable criteria specified for the practices in 
     section 471(e)(4)(C); and
       ``(II) beginning after September 30, 2025, an amount equal 
     to the Federal medical assistance percentage (which shall be 
     as defined in section 1905(b), in the case of a State other 
     than the District of Columbia, or 70 percent, in the case of 
     the District of Columbia) of the total amount expended during 
     the quarter for the provision of services or programs 
     specified in subparagraph (A) or (B) of section 471(e)(1) 
     that are provided in accordance with promising, supported, or 
     well-supported practices that meet the applicable criteria 
     specified for the practices in section 471(e)(4)(C) (or, with 
     respect to the payments made during the quarter under a 
     cooperative agreement or contract entered into by the State 
     and an Indian tribe, tribal organization, or tribal 
     consortium for the administration or payment of funds under 
     this part, an amount equal to the Federal medical assistance 
     percentage that would apply under section 479B(d) (in this 
     paragraph referred to as the `tribal FMAP') if the Indian 
     tribe, tribal organization, or tribal consortium made the 
     payments under a program operated under that section, unless 
     the tribal FMAP is less than the Federal medical assistance 
     percentage that applies to the State); except that

[[Page H4031]]

       ``(ii) not less than 50 percent of the total amount payable 
     to a State under clause (i) for a fiscal year shall be for 
     the provision of services or programs specified in 
     subparagraph (A) or (B) of section 471(e)(1) that are 
     provided in accordance with well-supported practices; plus
       ``(B) for each quarter specified in subparagraph (A), an 
     amount equal to the sum of the following proportions of the 
     total amount expended during the quarter:
       ``(i) 50 percent of so much of the expenditures as are 
     found necessary by the Secretary for the proper and efficient 
     administration of the State plan for the provision of 
     services or programs specified in section 471(e)(1), 
     including expenditures for activities approved by the 
     Secretary that promote the development of necessary processes 
     and procedures to establish and implement the provision of 
     the services and programs for individuals who are eligible 
     for the services and programs and expenditures attributable 
     to data collection and reporting; and
       ``(ii) 50 percent of so much of the expenditures with 
     respect to the provision of services and programs specified 
     in section 471(e)(1) as are for training of personnel 
     employed or preparing for employment by the State agency or 
     by the local agency administering the plan in the political 
     subdivision and of the members of the staff of State-licensed 
     or State-approved child welfare agencies providing services 
     to children described in section 471(e)(2) and their parents 
     or kin caregivers, including on how to determine who are 
     individuals eligible for the services or programs, how to 
     identify and provide appropriate services and programs, and 
     how to oversee and evaluate the ongoing appropriateness of 
     the services and programs.''.
       (d) Technical Assistance and Best Practices, Clearinghouse, 
     and Data Collection and Evaluations.--Section 476 of such Act 
     (42 U.S.C. 676) is amended by adding at the end the 
     following:
       ``(d) Technical Assistance and Best Practices, 
     Clearinghouse, Data Collection, and Evaluations Relating to 
     Prevention Services and Programs.--
       ``(1) Technical assistance and best practices.--The 
     Secretary shall provide to States and, as applicable, to 
     Indian tribes, tribal organizations, and tribal consortia, 
     technical assistance regarding the provision of services and 
     programs described in section 471(e)(1) and shall disseminate 
     best practices with respect to the provision of the services 
     and programs, including how to plan and implement a well-
     designed and rigorous evaluation of a promising, supported, 
     or well-supported practice.
       ``(2) Clearinghouse of promising, supported, and well-
     supported practices.--The Secretary shall, directly or 
     through grants, contracts, or interagency agreements, 
     evaluate research on the practices specified in clauses 
     (iii), (iv), and (v), respectively, of section 471(e)(4)(C), 
     and programs that meet the requirements described in section 
     427(a)(1), including culturally specific, or location- or 
     population-based adaptations of the practices, to identify 
     and establish a public clearinghouse of the practices that 
     satisfy each category described by such clauses. In addition, 
     the clearinghouse shall include information on the specific 
     outcomes associated with each practice, including whether the 
     practice has been shown to prevent child abuse and neglect 
     and reduce the likelihood of foster care placement by 
     supporting birth families and kinship families and improving 
     targeted supports for pregnant and parenting youth and their 
     children.
       ``(3) Data collection and evaluations.--The Secretary, 
     directly or through grants, contracts, or interagency 
     agreements, may collect data and conduct evaluations with 
     respect to the provision of services and programs described 
     in section 471(e)(1) for purposes of assessing the extent to 
     which the provision of the services and programs--
       ``(A) reduces the likelihood of foster care placement;
       ``(B) increases use of kinship care arrangements; or
       ``(C) improves child well-being.
       ``(4) Reports to congress.--
       ``(A) In general.--The Secretary shall submit to the 
     Committee on Finance of the Senate and the Committee on Ways 
     and Means of the House of Representatives periodic reports 
     based on the provision of services and programs described in 
     section 471(e)(1) and the activities carried out under this 
     subsection.
       ``(B) Public availability.--The Secretary shall make the 
     reports to Congress submitted under this paragraph publicly 
     available.
       ``(5) Appropriation.--Out of any money in the Treasury of 
     the United States not otherwise appropriated, there is 
     appropriated to the Secretary $1,000,000 for fiscal year 2016 
     and each fiscal year thereafter to carry out this 
     subsection.''.
       (e) Application to Programs Operated by Indian Tribal 
     Organizations.--
       (1) In general.--Section 479B of such Act (42 U.S.C. 679c) 
     is amended--
       (A) in subsection (c)(1)--
       (i) in subparagraph (C)(i)--

       (I) in subclause (II), by striking ``and'' after the 
     semicolon;
       (II) in subclause (III), by striking the period at the end 
     and inserting ``; and''; and
       (III) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(IV) at the option of the tribe, organization, or 
     consortium, services and programs specified in section 
     471(e)(1) to children described in section 471(e)(2) and 
     their parents or kin caregivers, in accordance with section 
     471(e) and subparagraph (E).''; and

       (ii) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(E) Prevention services and programs for children and 
     their parents and kin caregivers.--
       ``(i) In general.--In the case of a tribe, organization, or 
     consortium that elects to provide services and programs 
     specified in section 471(e)(1) to children described in 
     section 471(e)(2) and their parents or kin caregivers under 
     the plan, the Secretary shall specify the requirements 
     applicable to the provision of the services and programs. The 
     requirements shall, to the greatest extent practicable, be 
     consistent with the requirements applicable to States under 
     section 471(e) and shall permit the provision of the services 
     and programs in the form of services and programs that are 
     adapted to the culture and context of the tribal communities 
     served.
       ``(ii) Performance measures.--The Secretary shall establish 
     specific performance measures for each tribe, organization, 
     or consortium that elects to provide services and programs 
     specified in section 471(e)(1). The performance measures 
     shall, to the greatest extent practicable, be consistent with 
     the prevention services measures required for States under 
     section 471(e)(6) but shall allow for consideration of 
     factors unique to the provision of the services by tribes, 
     organizations, or consortia.''; and
       (B) in subsection (d)(1), by striking ``and (5)'' and 
     inserting ``(5), and (6)(A)''.
       (2) Conforming amendment.--The heading for subsection (d) 
     of section 479B of such Act (42 U.S.C. 679c) is amended by 
     striking ``for Foster Care Maintenance and Adoption 
     Assistance Payments''.

     SEC. 112. FOSTER CARE MAINTENANCE PAYMENTS FOR CHILDREN WITH 
                   PARENTS IN A LICENSED RESIDENTIAL FAMILY-BASED 
                   TREATMENT FACILITY FOR SUBSTANCE ABUSE.

       (a) In General.--Section 472 of the Social Security Act (42 
     U.S.C. 672) is amended--
       (1) in subsection (a)(2)(C), by striking ``or'' and 
     inserting ``, with a parent residing in a licensed 
     residential family-based treatment facility, but only to the 
     extent permitted under subsection (j), or in a''; and
       (2) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(j) Children Placed With a Parent Residing in a Licensed 
     Residential Family-based Treatment Facility for Substance 
     Abuse.--
       ``(1) In general.--Notwithstanding the preceding provisions 
     of this section, a child who is eligible for foster care 
     maintenance payments under this section, or who would be 
     eligible for the payments if the eligibility were determined 
     without regard to paragraphs (1)(B) and (3) of subsection 
     (a), shall be eligible for the payments for a period of not 
     more than 12 months during which the child is placed with a 
     parent who is in a licensed residential family-based 
     treatment facility for substance abuse, but only if--
       ``(A) the recommendation for the placement is specified in 
     the child's case plan before the placement;
       ``(B) the treatment facility provides, as part of the 
     treatment for substance abuse, parenting skills training, 
     parent education, and individual and family counseling; and
       ``(C) the substance abuse treatment, parenting skills 
     training, parent education, and individual and family 
     counseling is provided under an organizational structure and 
     treatment framework that involves understanding, recognizing, 
     and responding to the effects of all types of trauma and in 
     accordance with recognized principles of a trauma-informed 
     approach and trauma-specific interventions to address the 
     consequences of trauma and facilitate healing.
       ``(2) Application.--With respect to children for whom 
     foster care maintenance payments are made under paragraph 
     (1), only the children who satisfy the requirements of 
     paragraphs (1)(B) and (3) of subsection (a) shall be 
     considered to be children with respect to whom foster care 
     maintenance payments are made under this section for purposes 
     of subsection (h) or section 473(b)(3)(B).''.
       (b) Conforming Amendment.--Section 474(a)(1) of such Act 
     (42 U.S.C. 674(a)(1)) is amended by inserting ``subject to 
     section 472(j),'' before ``an amount equal to the Federal'' 
     the 1st place it appears.

     SEC. 113. TITLE IV-E PAYMENTS FOR EVIDENCE-BASED KINSHIP 
                   NAVIGATOR PROGRAMS.

       Section 474(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
     674(a)), as amended by section 111(c), is amended--
       (1) in paragraph (6), by striking the period at the end and 
     inserting ``; plus''; and
       (2) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(7) an amount equal to 50 percent of the amounts expended 
     by the State during the quarter as the Secretary determines 
     are for kinship navigator programs that meet the requirements 
     described in section 427(a)(1) and that the Secretary 
     determines are operated in accordance with promising, 
     supported, or well-supported practices that meet the 
     applicable criteria specified for the practices in section 
     471(e)(4)(C), without regard to whether the expenditures are 
     incurred on behalf of children who are, or are potentially, 
     eligible for foster care maintenance payments under this 
     part.''.

             Subtitle B--Enhanced Support Under Title IV-B

     SEC. 121. ELIMINATION OF TIME LIMIT FOR FAMILY REUNIFICATION 
                   SERVICES WHILE IN FOSTER CARE AND PERMITTING 
                   TIME-LIMITED FAMILY REUNIFICATION SERVICES WHEN 
                   A CHILD RETURNS HOME FROM FOSTER CARE.

       (a) In General.--Section 431(a)(7) of the Social Security 
     Act (42 U.S.C. 629a(a)(7)) is amended--
       (1) in the paragraph heading, by striking ``Time-limited 
     family'' and inserting ``Family''; and
       (2) in subparagraph (A)--
       (A) by striking ``time-limited family'' and inserting 
     ``family'';
       (B) by inserting ``or a child who has been returned home'' 
     after ``child care institution''; and
       (C) by striking ``, but only during the 15-month period 
     that begins on the date that the child, pursuant to section 
     475(5)(F), is considered to have entered foster care'' and 
     inserting

[[Page H4032]]

     ``and to ensure the strength and stability of the 
     reunification. In the case of a child who has been returned 
     home, the services and activities shall only be provided 
     during the 15-month period that begins on the date that the 
     child returns home''.
       (b) Conforming Amendments.--
       (1) Section 430 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 629) is amended in 
     the matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking ``time-
     limited''.
       (2) Subsections (a)(4), (a)(5)(A), and (b)(1) of section 
     432 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 629b) are amended by striking 
     ``time-limited'' each place it appears.

     SEC. 122. REDUCING BUREAUCRACY AND UNNECESSARY DELAYS WHEN 
                   PLACING CHILDREN IN HOMES ACROSS STATE LINES.

       (a) State Plan Requirement.--Section 471(a)(25) of the 
     Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 671(a)(25)) is amended--
       (1) by striking ``provide'' and insert ``provides''; and
       (2) by inserting ``, which, not later than October 1, 2026, 
     shall include the use of an electronic interstate case-
     processing system'' before the 1st semicolon.
       (b) Grants for the Development of an Electronic Interstate 
     Case-processing System to Expedite the Interstate Placement 
     of Children in Foster Care or Guardianship, or for 
     Adoption.--Section 437 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 629g) is 
     amended by adding at the end the following:
       ``(g) Grants for the Development of an Electronic 
     Interstate Case-processing System to Expedite the Interstate 
     Placement of Children in Foster Care or Guardianship, or for 
     Adoption.--
       ``(1) Purpose.--The purpose of this subsection is to 
     facilitate the development of an electronic interstate case-
     processing system for the exchange of data and documents to 
     expedite the placements of children in foster, guardianship, 
     or adoptive homes across State lines.
       ``(2) Application requirements.--A State that desires a 
     grant under this subsection shall submit to the Secretary an 
     application containing the following:
       ``(A) A description of the goals and outcomes to be 
     achieved during the period for which grant funds are sought, 
     which goals and outcomes must result in--
       ``(i) reducing the time it takes for a child to be provided 
     with a safe and appropriate permanent living arrangement 
     across State lines;
       ``(ii) improving administrative processes and reducing 
     costs in the foster care system; and
       ``(iii) the secure exchange of relevant case files and 
     other necessary materials in real time, and timely 
     communications and placement decisions regarding interstate 
     placements of children.
       ``(B) A description of the activities to be funded in whole 
     or in part with the grant funds, including the sequencing of 
     the activities.
       ``(C) A description of the strategies for integrating 
     programs and services for children who are placed across 
     State lines.
       ``(D) Such other information as the Secretary may require.
       ``(3) Grant authority.--The Secretary may make a grant to a 
     State that complies with paragraph (2).
       ``(4) Use of funds.--A State to which a grant is made under 
     this subsection shall use the grant to support the State in 
     connecting with the electronic interstate case-processing 
     system described in paragraph (1).
       ``(5) Evaluations.--Not later than 1 year after the final 
     year in which grants are awarded under this subsection, the 
     Secretary shall submit to the Congress, and make available to 
     the general public by posting on a website, a report that 
     contains the following information:
       ``(A) How using the electronic interstate case-processing 
     system developed pursuant to paragraph (4) has changed the 
     time it takes for children to be placed across State lines.
       ``(B) The number of cases subject to the Interstate Compact 
     on the Placement of Children that were processed through the 
     electronic interstate case-processing system, and the number 
     of interstate child placement cases that were processed 
     outside the electronic interstate case-processing system, by 
     each State in each year.
       ``(C) The progress made by States in implementing the 
     electronic interstate case-processing system.
       ``(D) How using the electronic interstate case-processing 
     system has affected various metrics related to child safety 
     and well-being, including the time it takes for children to 
     be placed across State lines.
       ``(E) How using the electronic interstate case-processing 
     system has affected administrative costs and caseworker time 
     spent on placing children across State lines.
       ``(6) Data integration.--The Secretary, in consultation 
     with the Secretariat for the Interstate Compact on the 
     Placement of Children and the States, shall assess how the 
     electronic interstate case-processing system developed 
     pursuant to paragraph (4) could be used to better serve and 
     protect children that come to the attention of the child 
     welfare system, by--
       ``(A) connecting the system with other data systems (such 
     as systems operated by State law enforcement and judicial 
     agencies, systems operated by the Federal Bureau of 
     Investigation for the purposes of the Innocence Lost National 
     Initiative, and other systems);
       ``(B) simplifying and improving reporting related to 
     paragraphs (34) and (35) of section 471(a) regarding children 
     or youth who have been identified as being a sex trafficking 
     victim or children missing from foster care; and
       ``(C) improving the ability of States to quickly comply 
     with background check requirements of section 471(a)(20), 
     including checks of child abuse and neglect registries as 
     required by section 471(a)(20)(B).''.
       (c) Reservation of Funds to Improve the Interstate 
     Placement of Children.--Section 437(b) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 
     629g(b)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
       ``(4) Improving the interstate placement of children.--The 
     Secretary shall reserve $5,000,000 of the amount made 
     available for fiscal year 2017 for grants under subsection 
     (g), and the amount so reserved shall remain available 
     through fiscal year 2021.''.

     SEC. 123. ENHANCEMENTS TO GRANTS TO IMPROVE WELL-BEING OF 
                   FAMILIES AFFECTED BY SUBSTANCE ABUSE.

       Section 437(f) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
     629g(f)) is amended--
       (1) in the subsection heading, by striking ``Increase the 
     Well-Being of, and To Improve the Permanency Outcomes for, 
     Children Affected by'' and inserting ``Implement Iv-e 
     Prevention Services, and Improve the Well-being of, and 
     Improve Permanency Outcomes for, Children and Families 
     Affected by Heroin, Opioids, and Other'';
       (2) by striking paragraph (2) and inserting the following:
       ``(2) Regional partnership defined.--In this subsection, 
     the term `regional partnership' means a collaborative 
     agreement (which may be established on an interstate, State, 
     or intrastate basis) entered into by the following:
       ``(A) Mandatory partners for all partnership grants.--
       ``(i) The State child welfare agency that is responsible 
     for the administration of the State plan under this part and 
     part E.
       ``(ii) The State agency responsible for administering the 
     substance abuse prevention and treatment block grant provided 
     under subpart II of part B of title XIX of the Public Health 
     Service Act.
       ``(B) Mandatory partners for partnership grants proposing 
     to serve children in out-of-home placements.--If the 
     partnership proposes to serve children in out-of-home 
     placements, the Juvenile Court or Administrative Office of 
     the Court that is most appropriate to oversee the 
     administration of court programs in the region to address the 
     population of families who come to the attention of the court 
     due to child abuse or neglect.
       ``(C) Optional partners.--At the option of the partnership, 
     any of the following:
       ``(i) An Indian tribe or tribal consortium.
       ``(ii) Nonprofit child welfare service providers.
       ``(iii) For-profit child welfare service providers.
       ``(iv) Community health service providers, including 
     substance abuse treatment providers.
       ``(v) Community mental health providers.
       ``(vi) Local law enforcement agencies.
       ``(vii) School personnel.
       ``(viii) Tribal child welfare agencies (or a consortia of 
     the agencies).
       ``(ix) Any other providers, agencies, personnel, officials, 
     or entities that are related to the provision of child and 
     family services under a State plan approved under this 
     subpart.
       ``(D) Exception for regional partnerships where the lead 
     applicant is an indian tribe or tribal consortia.--If an 
     Indian tribe or tribal consortium enters into a regional 
     partnership for purposes of this subsection, the Indian tribe 
     or tribal consortium--
       ``(i) may (but is not required to) include the State child 
     welfare agency as a partner in the collaborative agreement;
       ``(ii) may not enter into a collaborative agreement only 
     with tribal child welfare agencies (or a consortium of the 
     agencies); and
       ``(iii) if the condition described in paragraph (2)(B) 
     applies, may include tribal court organizations in lieu of 
     other judicial partners.'';
       (3) in paragraph (3)--
       (A) in subparagraph (A)--
       (i) by striking ``2012 through 2016'' and inserting ``2017 
     through 2021''; and
       (ii) by striking ``$500,000 and not more than $1,000,000'' 
     and inserting ``$250,000 and not more than $1,000,000'';
       (B) in subparagraph (B)--
       (i) in the subparagraph heading, by inserting ``; 
     planning'' after ``approval'';
       (ii) in clause (i), by striking ``clause (ii)'' and 
     inserting ``clauses (ii) and (iii)''; and
       (iii) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(iii) Sufficient planning.--A grant awarded under this 
     subsection shall be disbursed in 2 phases: a planning phase 
     (not to exceed 2 years); and an implementation phase. The 
     total disbursement to a grantee for the planning phase may 
     not exceed $250,000, and may not exceed the total anticipated 
     funding for the implementation phase.''; and
       (C) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(D) Limitation on payment for a fiscal year.--No payment 
     shall be made under subparagraph (A) or (C) for a fiscal year 
     until the Secretary determines that the eligible partnership 
     has made sufficient progress in meeting the goals of the 
     grant and that the members of the eligible partnership are 
     coordinating to a reasonable degree with the other members of 
     the eligible partnership.'';
       (4) in paragraph (4)--
       (A) in subparagraph (B)--
       (i) in clause (i), by inserting ``, parents, and families'' 
     after ``children'';
       (ii) in clause (ii), by striking ``safety and permanence 
     for such children; and'' and inserting ``safe, permanent 
     caregiving relationships for the children;'';
       (iii) in clause (iii), by striking ``or'' and inserting 
     ``increase reunification rates for children who have been 
     placed in out of home care, or decrease''; and
       (iv) by redesignating clause (iii) as clause (v) and 
     inserting after clause (ii) the following:
       ``(iii) improve the substance abuse treatment outcomes for 
     parents including retention in treatment and successful 
     completion of treatment;
       ``(iv) facilitate the implementation, delivery, and 
     effectiveness of prevention services and programs under 
     section 471(e); and'';

[[Page H4033]]

       (B) in subparagraph (D), by striking ``where 
     appropriate,''; and
       (C) by striking subparagraphs (E) and (F) and inserting the 
     following:
       ``(E) A description of a plan for sustaining the services 
     provided by or activities funded under the grant after the 
     conclusion of the grant period, including through the use of 
     prevention services and programs under section 471(e) and 
     other funds provided to the State for child welfare and 
     substance abuse prevention and treatment services.
       ``(F) Additional information needed by the Secretary to 
     determine that the proposed activities and implementation 
     will be consistent with research or evaluations showing which 
     practices and approaches are most effective.'';
       (5) in paragraph (5)(A), by striking ``abuse treatment'' 
     and inserting ``use disorder treatment including medication 
     assisted treatment and in-home substance abuse disorder 
     treatment and recovery'';
       (6) in paragraph (7)--
       (A) by striking ``and'' at the end of subparagraph (C); and
       (B) by redesignating subparagraph (D) as subparagraph (E) 
     and inserting after subparagraph (C) the following:
       ``(D) demonstrate a track record of successful 
     collaboration among child welfare, substance abuse disorder 
     treatment and mental health agencies; and'';
       (7) in paragraph (8)--
       (A) in subparagraph (A)--
       (i) by striking ``establish indicators that will be'' and 
     inserting ``review indicators that are''; and
       (ii) by striking ``in using funds made available under such 
     grants to achieve the purpose of this subsection'' and 
     inserting ``and establish a set of core indicators related to 
     child safety, parental recovery, parenting capacity, and 
     family well-being. In developing the core indicators, to the 
     extent possible, indicators shall be made consistent with the 
     outcome measures described in section 471(e)(6)'';
       (B) in subparagraph (B)--
       (i) in the matter preceding clause (i), by inserting ``base 
     the performance measures on lessons learned from prior rounds 
     of regional partnership grants under this subsection, and'' 
     before ``consult''; and
       (ii) by striking clauses (iii) and (iv) and inserting the 
     following:
       ``(iii) Other stakeholders or constituencies as determined 
     by the Secretary.'';
       (8) in paragraph (9)(A), by striking clause (i) and 
     inserting the following:
       ``(i) Semiannual reports.--Not later than September 30 of 
     each fiscal year in which a recipient of a grant under this 
     subsection is paid funds under the grant, and every 6 months 
     thereafter, the grant recipient shall submit to the Secretary 
     a report on the services provided and activities carried out 
     during the reporting period, progress made in achieving the 
     goals of the program, the number of children, adults, and 
     families receiving services, and such additional information 
     as the Secretary determines is necessary. The report due not 
     later than September 30 of the last such fiscal year shall 
     include, at a minimum, data on each of the performance 
     indicators included in the evaluation of the regional 
     partnership.''; and
       (9) in paragraph (10), by striking ``2012 through 2016'' 
     and inserting ``2017 through 2021''.

                       Subtitle C--Miscellaneous

     SEC. 131. REVIEWING AND IMPROVING LICENSING STANDARDS FOR 
                   PLACEMENT IN A RELATIVE FOSTER FAMILY HOME.

       (a) Identification of Reputable Model Licensing 
     Standards.--Not later than October 1, 2017, the Secretary of 
     Health and Human Services shall identify reputable model 
     licensing standards with respect to the licensing of foster 
     family homes (as defined in section 472(c)(1) of the Social 
     Security Act).
       (b) State Plan Requirement.--Section 471(a) of the Social 
     Security Act (42 U.S.C. 671(a)) is amended--
       (1) in paragraph (34)(B), by striking ``and'' after the 
     semicolon;
       (2) in paragraph (35)(B), by striking the period at the end 
     and inserting a semicolon; and
       (3) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(36) provides that, not later than April 1, 2018, the 
     State shall submit to the Secretary information addressing--
       ``(A) whether the State licensing standards are in accord 
     with model standards identified by the Secretary, and if not, 
     the reason for the specific deviation and a description as to 
     why having a standard that is reasonably in accord with the 
     corresponding national model standards is not appropriate for 
     the State;
       ``(B) whether the State has elected to waive standards 
     established in 471(a)(10)(A) for relative foster family homes 
     (pursuant to waiver authority provided by 471(a)(10)(D)), a 
     description of which standards the State most commonly 
     waives, and if the State has not elected to waive the 
     standards, the reason for not waiving these standards;
       ``(C) if the State has elected to waive standards specified 
     in subparagraph (B), how caseworkers are trained to use the 
     waiver authority and whether the State has developed a 
     process or provided tools to assist caseworkers in waiving 
     nonsafety standards per the authority provided in 
     471(a)(10)(D) to quickly place children with relatives; and
       ``(D) a description of the steps the State is taking to 
     improve caseworker training or the process, if any; and''.

     SEC. 132. DEVELOPMENT OF A STATEWIDE PLAN TO PREVENT CHILD 
                   ABUSE AND NEGLECT FATALITIES.

       Section 422(b)(19) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
     622(b)(19)) is amended to read as follows:
       ``(19) document steps taken to track and prevent child 
     maltreatment deaths by including--
       ``(A) a description of the steps the State is taking to 
     compile complete and accurate information on the deaths 
     required by Federal law to be reported by the State agency 
     referred to in paragraph (1), including gathering relevant 
     information on the deaths from the relevant organizations in 
     the State including entities such as State vital statistics 
     department, child death review teams, law enforcement 
     agencies, offices of medical examiners or coroners; and
       ``(B) a description of the steps the state is taking to 
     develop and implement of a comprehensive, statewide plan to 
     prevent the fatalities that involves and engages relevant 
     public and private agency partners, including those in public 
     health, law enforcement, and the courts.''.

     SEC. 133. MODERNIZING THE TITLE AND PURPOSE OF TITLE IV-E.

       (a) Part Heading.--The heading for part E of title IV of 
     the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 670 et seq.) is amended to 
     read as follows:

      ``PART E--FEDERAL PAYMENTS FOR FOSTER CARE, PREVENTION, AND 
                             PERMANENCY''.

       (b) Purpose.--The 1st sentence of section 470 of such Act 
     (42 U.S.C. 670) is amended--
       (1) by striking ``1995) and'' and inserting ``1995),'';
       (2) by inserting ``kinship guardianship assistance, and 
     prevention services or programs specified in section 
     471(e)(1),'' after ``needs,''; and
       (3) by striking ``(commencing with the fiscal year which 
     begins October 1, 1980)''.

     SEC. 134. EFFECTIVE DATES.

       (a) Effective Dates.--
       (1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (2), 
     subject to subsection (b), the amendments made by this title 
     shall take effect on October 1, 2016.
       (2) Exceptions.--The amendments made by sections 131 and 
     133 shall take effect on the date of enactment of this Act.
       (b) Transition Rule.--
       (1) In general.--In the case of a State plan under part B 
     or E of title IV of the Social Security Act which the 
     Secretary of Health and Human Services determines requires 
     State legislation (other than legislation appropriating 
     funds) in order for the plan to meet the additional 
     requirements imposed by the amendments made by this title, 
     the State plan shall not be regarded as failing to comply 
     with the requirements of such part solely on the basis of the 
     failure of the plan to meet such additional requirements 
     before the first day of the first calendar quarter beginning 
     after the close of the first regular session of the State 
     legislature that begins after the date of enactment of this 
     Act. For purposes of the previous sentence, in the case of a 
     State that has a 2-year legislative session, each year of the 
     session shall be deemed to be a separate regular session of 
     the State legislature.
       (2) Application to programs operated by indian tribal 
     organizations.--In the case of an Indian tribe, tribal 
     organization, or tribal consortium which the Secretary of 
     Health and Human Services determines requires time to take 
     action necessary to comply with the additional requirements 
     imposed by the amendments made by this title (whether the 
     tribe, organization, or tribal consortium has a plan under 
     section 479B of the Social Security Act or a cooperative 
     agreement or contract entered into with a State), the 
     Secretary shall provide the tribe, organization, or tribal 
     consortium with such additional time as the Secretary 
     determines is necessary for the tribe, organization, or 
     tribal consortium to take the action to comply with the 
     additional requirements before being regarded as failing to 
     comply with the requirements.

TITLE II--ENSURING THE NECESSITY OF A PLACEMENT THAT IS NOT IN A FOSTER 
                              FAMILY HOME

     SEC. 201. LIMITATION ON FEDERAL FINANCIAL PARTICIPATION FOR 
                   PLACEMENTS THAT ARE NOT IN FOSTER FAMILY HOMES.

       (a) Limitation on Federal Financial Participation.--
       (1) In general.--Section 472 of the Social Security Act (42 
     U.S.C. 672), as amended by section 112, is amended--
       (A) in subsection (a)(2)(C), by inserting ``, but only to 
     the extent permitted under subsection (k)'' after 
     ``institution''; and
       (B) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(k) Limitation on Federal Financial Participation.--
       ``(1) In general.--Beginning with the third week for which 
     foster care maintenance payments are made under this section 
     on behalf of a child placed in a child-care institution, no 
     Federal payment shall be made to the State under section 
     474(a)(1) for amounts expended for foster care maintenance 
     payments on behalf of the child unless--
       ``(A) the child is placed in a child-care institution that 
     is a setting specified in paragraph (2) (or is placed in a 
     licensed residential family-based treatment facility 
     consistent with subsection (j)); and
       ``(B) in the case of a child placed in a qualified 
     residential treatment program (as defined in paragraph (4)), 
     the requirements specified in paragraph (3) and section 
     475A(c) are met.
       ``(2) Specified settings for placement.--The settings for 
     placement specified in this paragraph are the following:
       ``(A) A qualified residential treatment program (as defined 
     in paragraph (4)).
       ``(B) A setting specializing in providing prenatal, post-
     partum, or parenting supports for youth.
       ``(C) In the case of a child who has attained 18 years of 
     age, a supervised setting in which the child is living 
     independently.
       ``(3) Assessment to determine appropriateness of placement 
     in a qualified residential treatment program.--

[[Page H4034]]

       ``(A) Deadline for assessment.--In the case of a child who 
     is placed in a qualified residential treatment program, if 
     the assessment required under section 475A(c)(1) is not 
     completed within 30 days after the placement is made, no 
     Federal payment shall be made to the State under section 
     474(a)(1) for any amounts expended for foster care 
     maintenance payments on behalf of the child during the 
     placement.
       ``(B) Deadline for transition out of placement.--If the 
     assessment required under section 475A(c)(1) determines that 
     the placement of a child in a qualified residential treatment 
     program is not appropriate, a court disapproves such a 
     placement under section 475A(c)(2), or a child who has been 
     in an approved placement in a qualified residential treatment 
     program is going to return home or be placed with a fit and 
     willing relative, a legal guardian, or an adoptive parent, or 
     in a foster family home, Federal payments shall be made to 
     the State under section 474(a)(1) for amounts expended for 
     foster care maintenance payments on behalf of the child while 
     the child remains in the qualified residential treatment 
     program only during the period necessary for the child to 
     transition home or to such a placement. In no event shall a 
     State receive Federal payments under section 474(a)(1) for 
     amounts expended for foster care maintenance payments on 
     behalf of a child who remains placed in a qualified 
     residential treatment program after the end of the 30-day 
     period that begins on the date a determination is made that 
     the placement is no longer the recommended or approved 
     placement for the child.
       ``(4) Qualified residential treatment program.--For 
     purposes of this part, the term `qualified residential 
     treatment program' means a program that--
       ``(A) has a trauma-informed treatment model that is 
     designed to address the needs, including clinical needs as 
     appropriate, of children with serious emotional or behavioral 
     disorders or disturbances and, with respect to a child, is 
     able to implement the treatment identified for the child by 
     the assessment of the child required under section 475A(c);
       ``(B) has registered or licensed nursing staff and other 
     licensed clinical staff who--
       ``(i) provide care within the scope of their practice as 
     defined by State law;
       ``(ii) are on-site during business hours; and
       ``(iii) are available 24 hours a day and 7 days a week;
       ``(C) to extent appropriate, and in accordance with the 
     child's best interests, facilitates participation of family 
     members in the child's treatment program;
       ``(D) facilitates outreach to the family members of the 
     child, including siblings, documents how the outreach is made 
     (including contact information), and maintains contact 
     information for any known biological family and fictive kin 
     of the child;
       ``(E) documents how family members are integrated into the 
     treatment process for the child, including post-discharge, 
     and how sibling connections are maintained;
       ``(F) provides discharge planning and family-based 
     aftercare support for at least 6 months post-discharge; and
       ``(G) is licensed in accordance with section 471(a)(10) and 
     is accredited by any of the following independent, not-for-
     profit organizations:
       ``(i) The Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation 
     Facilities (CARF).
       ``(ii) The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare 
     Organizations (JCAHO).
       ``(iii) The Council on Accreditation (COA).
       ``(iv) Any other independent, not-for-profit accrediting 
     organization approved by the Secretary.''.
       (2) Conforming amendment.--Section 474(a)(1) of the Social 
     Security Act (42 U.S.C. 674(a)(1)), as amended by section 
     112(b), is amended by striking ``section 472(j)'' and 
     inserting ``subsections (j) and (k) of section 472''.
       (b) Definition of Foster Family Home, Child-care 
     Institution.--Section 472(c) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 
     672(c)(1)) is amended to read as follows:
       ``(c) Definitions.--For purposes of this part:
       ``(1) Foster family home.--
       ``(A) In general.--The term `foster family home' means the 
     home of an individual or family--
       ``(i) that is licensed or approved by the State in which it 
     is situated as a foster family home that meets the standards 
     established for the licensing or approval; and
       ``(ii) in which a child in foster care has been placed in 
     the care of an individual, who resides with the child and who 
     has been licensed or approved by the State to be a foster 
     parent--

       ``(I) that the State deems capable of adhering to the 
     reasonable and prudent parent standard;
       ``(II) that provides 24-hour substitute care for children 
     placed away from their parents or other caretakers; and
       ``(III) that provides the care for not more than 6 children 
     in foster care.

       ``(B) State flexibility.--The number of foster children 
     that may be cared for in a home under subparagraph (A) may 
     exceed the numerical limitation in subparagraph (A)(ii)(III), 
     at the option of the State, for any of the following reasons:
       ``(i) To allow a parenting youth in foster care to remain 
     with the child of the parenting youth.
       ``(ii) To allow siblings to remain together.
       ``(iii) To allow a child with an established meaningful 
     relationship with the family to remain with the family.
       ``(iv) To allow a family with special training or skills to 
     provide care to a child who has a severe disability.
       ``(C) Rule of construction.--Subparagraph (A) shall not be 
     construed as prohibiting a foster parent from renting the 
     home in which the parent cares for a foster child placed in 
     the parent's care.
       ``(2) Child-care institution.--
       ``(A) In general.--The term `child-care institution' means 
     a private child-care institution, or a public child-care 
     institution which accommodates no more than 25 children, 
     which is licensed by the State in which it is situated or has 
     been approved by the agency of the State responsible for 
     licensing or approval of institutions of this type as meeting 
     the standards established for the licensing.
       ``(B) Supervised settings.--In the case of a child who has 
     attained 18 years of age, the term shall include a supervised 
     setting in which the individual is living independently, in 
     accordance with such conditions as the Secretary shall 
     establish in regulations.
       ``(C) Exclusions.--The term shall not include detention 
     facilities, forestry camps, training schools, or any other 
     facility operated primarily for the detention of children who 
     are determined to be delinquent.''.
       (c) Training for State Judges, Attorneys, and Other Legal 
     Personnel in Child Welfare Cases.--Section 438(b)(1) of such 
     Act (42 U.S.C. 629h(b)(1)) is amended in the matter preceding 
     subparagraph (A) by inserting ``shall provide for the 
     training of judges, attorneys, and other legal personnel in 
     child welfare cases on Federal child welfare policies and 
     payment limitations with respect to children in foster care 
     who are placed in settings that are not a foster family 
     home,'' after ``with respect to the child,''.
       (d) Assurance of Nonimpact on Juvenile Justice System.--
       (1) State plan requirement.--Section 471(a) of such Act (42 
     U.S.C. 671(a)), as amended by section 131, is further amended 
     by adding at the end the following:
       ``(37) includes a certification that, in response to the 
     limitation imposed under section 472(k) with respect to 
     foster care maintenance payments made on behalf of any child 
     who is placed in a setting that is not a foster family home, 
     the State will not enact or advance policies or practices 
     that would result in a significant increase in the population 
     of youth in the State's juvenile justice system.''.
       (2) GAO study and report.--The Comptroller General of the 
     United States shall evaluate the impact, if any, on State 
     juvenile justice systems of the limitation imposed under 
     section 472(k) of the Social Security Act (as added by 
     section 201(a)(1)) on foster care maintenance payments made 
     on behalf of any child who is placed in a setting that is not 
     a foster family home, in accordance with the amendments made 
     by subsections (a) and (b) of this section. In particular, 
     the Comptroller General shall evaluate the extent to which 
     children in foster care who also are subject to the juvenile 
     justice system of the State are placed in a facility under 
     the jurisdiction of the juvenile justice system and whether 
     the lack of available congregate care placements under the 
     jurisdiction of the child welfare systems is a contributing 
     factor to that result. Not later than December 31, 2023, the 
     Comptroller General shall submit to Congress a report on the 
     results of the evaluation.

     SEC. 202. ASSESSMENT AND DOCUMENTATION OF THE NEED FOR 
                   PLACEMENT IN A QUALIFIED RESIDENTIAL TREATMENT 
                   PROGRAM.

       Section 475A of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 675a) is 
     amended by adding at the end the following:
       ``(c) Assessment, Documentation, and Judicial Determination 
     Requirements for Placement in a Qualified Residential 
     Treatment Program.--In the case of any child who is placed in 
     a qualified residential treatment program (as defined in 
     section 472(k)(4)), 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)(A) Within 30 days of the start of each placement in 
     such a setting, a qualified individual (as defined in 
     subparagraph (D)) shall--
       ``(i) assess the strengths and needs of the child using an 
     age-appropriate, evidence-based, validated, functional 
     assessment tool approved by the Secretary;
       ``(ii) determine whether the needs of the child can be met 
     with family members or through placement in a foster family 
     home or, if not, which setting from among the settings 
     specified in section 472(k)(2) would provide the most 
     effective and appropriate level of care for the child in the 
     least restrictive environment and be consistent with the 
     short- and long-term goals for the child, as specified in the 
     permanency plan for the child; and
       ``(iii) develop a list of child-specific short- and long-
     term mental and behavioral health goals.
       ``(B)(i) The State shall assemble a family and permanency 
     team for the child in accordance with the requirements of 
     clauses (ii) and (iii). The qualified individual conducting 
     the assessment required under subparagraph (A) shall work in 
     conjunction with the family of, and permanency team for, the 
     child while conducting and making the assessment.
       ``(ii) The family and permanency team shall consist of all 
     appropriate biological family members, relative, and fictive 
     kin of the child, as well as, as appropriate, professionals 
     who are a resource to the family of the child, such as 
     teachers, medical or mental health providers who have treated 
     the child, or clergy. In the case of a child who has attained 
     age 14, the family and permanency team shall include the 
     members of the permanency planning team for the child that 
     are selected by the child in accordance with section 
     475(5)(C)(iv).
       ``(iii) The State shall document in the child's case plan--
       ``(I) the reasonable and good faith effort of the State to 
     identify and include all such individuals on the family of, 
     and permanency team for, the child;
       ``(II) all contact information for members of the family 
     and permanency team, as well as

[[Page H4035]]

     contact information for other family members and fictive kin 
     who are not part of the family and permanency team;
       ``(III) evidence that meetings of the family and permanency 
     team, including meetings relating to the assessment required 
     under subparagraph (A), are held at a time and place 
     convenient for family;
       ``(IV) if reunification is the goal, evidence demonstrating 
     that the parent from whom the child was removed provided 
     input on the members of the family and permanency team;
       ``(V) evidence that the assessment required under 
     subparagraph (A) is determined in conjunction with the family 
     and permanency team; and
       ``(VI) the placement preferences of the family and 
     permanency team relative to the assessment and, if the 
     placement preferences of the family and permanency team and 
     child are not the placement setting recommended by the 
     qualified individual conducting the assessment under 
     subparagraph (A), the reasons why the preferences of the team 
     and of the child were not recommended.
       ``(C) In the case of a child who the qualified individual 
     conducting the assessment under subparagraph (A) determines 
     should not be placed in a foster family home, the qualified 
     individual shall specify in writing the reasons why the needs 
     of the child cannot be met by the family of the child or in a 
     foster family home. A shortage or lack of foster family homes 
     shall not be an acceptable reason for determining that a 
     needs of the child cannot be met in a foster family home. The 
     qualified individual also shall specify in writing why the 
     recommended placement in a qualified residential treatment 
     program is the setting that will provide the child with the 
     most effective and appropriate level of care in the least 
     restrictive environment and how that placement is consistent 
     with the short- and long-term goals for the child, as 
     specified in the permanency plan for the child.
       ``(D)(i) Subject to clause (ii), in this subsection, the 
     term `qualified individual' means a trained professional or 
     licensed clinician who is not an employee of the State agency 
     and who is not connected to, or affiliated with, any 
     placement setting in which children are placed by the State.
       ``(ii) The Secretary may approve a request of a State to 
     waive any requirement in clause (i) upon a submission by the 
     State, in accordance with criteria established by the 
     Secretary, that certifies that the trained professionals or 
     licensed clinicians with responsibility for performing the 
     assessments described in subparagraph (A) shall maintain 
     objectivity with respect to determining the most effective 
     and appropriate placement for a child.
       ``(2) Within 60 days of the start of each placement in a 
     qualified residential treatment program, a family or juvenile 
     court or another court (including a tribal court) of 
     competent jurisdiction, or an administrative body appointed 
     or approved by the court, independently, shall--
       ``(A) consider the assessment, determination, and 
     documentation made by the qualified individual conducting the 
     assessment under paragraph (1);
       ``(B) determine whether the needs of the child can be met 
     through placement in a foster family home or, if not, whether 
     placement of the child in a qualified residential treatment 
     program provides the most effective and appropriate level of 
     care for the child in the least restrictive environment and 
     whether that placement is consistent with the short- and 
     long-term goals for the child, as specified in the permanency 
     plan for the child; and
       ``(C) approve or disapprove the placement.
       ``(3) The written documentation made under paragraph (1)(C) 
     and documentation of the determination and approval or 
     disapproval of the placement in a qualified residential 
     treatment program by a court or administrative body under 
     paragraph (2) shall be included in and made part of the case 
     plan for the child.
       ``(4) As long as a child remains placed in a qualified 
     residential treatment program, the State agency shall submit 
     evidence at each status review and each permanency hearing 
     held with respect to the child--
       ``(A) demonstrating that ongoing assessment of the 
     strengths and needs of the child continues to support the 
     determination that the needs of the child cannot be met 
     through placement in a foster family home, that the placement 
     in a qualified residential treatment program provides the 
     most effective and appropriate level of care for the child in 
     the least restrictive environment, and that the placement is 
     consistent with the short- and long-term goals for the child, 
     as specified in the permanency plan for the child;
       ``(B) documenting the specific treatment or service needs 
     that will be met for the child in the placement and the 
     length of time the child is expected to need the treatment or 
     services; and
       ``(C) documenting the efforts made by the State agency to 
     prepare the child to return home or to be placed with a fit 
     and willing relative, a legal guardian, or an adoptive 
     parent, or in a foster family home.
       ``(5) In the case of any child who is placed in a qualified 
     residential treatment program for more than 12 consecutive 
     months or 18 nonconsecutive months (or, in the case of a 
     child who has not attained age 13, for more than 6 
     consecutive or nonconsecutive months), the State agency shall 
     submit to the Secretary--
       ``(A) the most recent versions of the evidence and 
     documentation specified in paragraph (4); and
       ``(B) the signed approval of the head of the State agency 
     for the continued placement of the child in that setting.''.

     SEC. 203. PROTOCOLS TO PREVENT INAPPROPRIATE DIAGNOSES.

       (a) State Plan Requirement.--Section 422(b)(15)(A) of the 
     Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 622(b)(15)(A)) is amended--
       (1) in clause (vi), by striking ``and'' after the 
     semicolon;
       (2) by redesignating clause (vii) as clause (viii); and
       (3) by inserting after clause (vi) the following:
       ``(vii) the procedures and protocols the State has 
     established to ensure that children in foster care placements 
     are not inappropriately diagnosed with mental illness, other 
     emotional or behavioral disorders, medically fragile 
     conditions, or developmental disabilities, and placed in 
     settings that are not foster family homes as a result of the 
     inappropriate diagnoses; and''.
       (b) Evaluation.--Section 476 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 676), 
     as amended by section 111(d), is further amended by adding at 
     the end the following:
       ``(e) Evaluation of State Procedures and Protocols To 
     Prevent Inappropriate Diagnoses of Mental Illness or Other 
     Conditions.--The Secretary shall conduct an evaluation of the 
     procedures and protocols established by States in accordance 
     with the requirements of section 422(b)(15)(A)(vii). The 
     evaluation shall analyze the extent to which States comply 
     with and enforce the procedures and protocols and the 
     effectiveness of various State procedures and protocols and 
     shall identify best practices. Not later than January 1, 
     2019, the Secretary shall submit a report on the results of 
     the evaluation to Congress.''.

     SEC. 204. ADDITIONAL DATA AND REPORTS REGARDING CHILDREN 
                   PLACED IN A SETTING THAT IS NOT A FOSTER FAMILY 
                   HOME.

       Section 479A(a)(7)(A) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
     679b(a)(7)(A)) is amended by striking clauses (i) through 
     (vi) and inserting the following:
       ``(i) with respect to each such placement--

       ``(I) the type of the placement setting, including whether 
     the placement is shelter care, a group home and if so, the 
     range of the child population in the home, a residential 
     treatment facility, a hospital or institution providing 
     medical, rehabilitative, or psychiatric care, a setting 
     specializing in providing prenatal, post-partum or parenting 
     supports, or some other kind of child-care institution and if 
     so, what kind;
       ``(II) the number of children in the placement setting and 
     the age, race, ethnicity, and gender of each of the children;
       ``(III) for each child in the placement setting, the length 
     of the placement of the child in the setting, whether the 
     placement of the child in the setting is the first placement 
     of the child and if not, the number and type of previous 
     placements of the child, and whether the child has special 
     needs or another diagnosed mental or physical illness or 
     condition; and
       ``(IV) the extent of any specialized education, treatment, 
     counseling, or other services provided in the setting; and

       ``(ii) separately, the number and ages of children in the 
     placements who have a permanency plan of another planned 
     permanent living arrangement; and''.

     SEC. 205. EFFECTIVE DATES; APPLICATION TO WAIVERS.

       (a) Effective Dates.--
       (1) In general.--Subject to paragraph (2) and subsections 
     (b) and (c), the amendments made by this title shall take 
     effect on October 1, 2016.
       (2) Transition rule.--In the case of a State plan under 
     part B or E of title IV of the Social Security Act which the 
     Secretary of Health and Human Services determines requires 
     State legislation (other than legislation appropriating 
     funds) in order for the plan to meet the additional 
     requirements imposed by the amendments made by this title, 
     the State plan shall not be regarded as failing to comply 
     with the requirements of such part solely on the basis of the 
     failure of the plan to meet the additional requirements 
     before the first day of the first calendar quarter beginning 
     after the close of the first regular session of the State 
     legislature that begins after the date of enactment of this 
     Act. For purposes of the previous sentence, in the case of a 
     State that has a 2-year legislative session, each year of the 
     session shall be deemed to be a separate regular session of 
     the State legislature.
       (b) Limitation on Federal Financial Participation for 
     Placements That Are Not in Foster Family Homes and Related 
     Provisions.--The amendments made by sections 201(a), 201(b), 
     201(d), and 202 shall take effect on October 1, 2019.
       (c) Application to States With Waivers.--In the case of a 
     State that, on the date of enactment of this Act, has in 
     effect a waiver approved under section 1130 of the Social 
     Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1320a-9), the amendments made by this 
     title shall not apply with respect to the State before the 
     expiration (determined without regard to any extensions) of 
     the waiver to the extent the amendments are inconsistent with 
     the terms of the waiver.

      TITLE III--CONTINUING SUPPORT FOR CHILD AND FAMILY SERVICES

     SEC. 301. SUPPORTING AND RETAINING FOSTER FAMILIES FOR 
                   CHILDREN.

       (a) Supporting and Retaining Foster Parents as a Family 
     Support Service.--Section 431(a)(2)(B) of the Social Security 
     Act (42 U.S.C. 631(a)(2)(B)) is amended by redesignating 
     clauses (iii) through (vi) as clauses (iv) through (vii), 
     respectively, and inserting after clause (ii) the following:
       ``(iii) To support and retain foster families so they can 
     provide quality family-based settings for children in foster 
     care.''.
       (b) Support for Foster Family Homes.--Section 436 of such 
     Act (42 U.S.C. 629f) is amended by adding at the end the 
     following:
       ``(c) Support for Foster Family Homes.--Out of any money in 
     the Treasury of the United States not otherwise appropriated, 
     there are appropriated to the Secretary for fiscal year 2018, 
     $8,000,000 for the Secretary to make competitive grants to 
     States, Indian tribes, or tribal consortia to support the 
     recruitment and retention

[[Page H4036]]

     of high-quality foster families to increase their capacity to 
     place more children in family settings, focused on States, 
     Indian tribes, or tribal consortia with the highest 
     percentage of children in non-family settings. The amount 
     appropriated under this subparagraph shall remain available 
     through fiscal year 2022.''.

     SEC. 302. EXTENSION OF CHILD AND FAMILY SERVICES PROGRAMS.

       (a) Extension of Stephanie Tubbs Jones Child Welfare 
     Services Program.--Section 425 of the Social Security Act (42 
     U.S.C. 625) is amended by striking ``2012 through 2016'' and 
     inserting ``2017 through 2021''.
       (b) Extension of Promoting Safe and Stable Families Program 
     Authorizations.--
       (1) In general.--Section 436(a) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 
     629f(a)) is amended by striking all that follows 
     ``$345,000,000'' and inserting ``for each of fiscal years 
     2017 through 2021.''.
       (2) Discretionary grants.--Section 437(a) of such Act (42 
     U.S.C. 629g(a)) is amended by striking ``2012 through 2016'' 
     and inserting ``2017 through 2021''.
       (c) Extension of Funding Reservations for Monthly 
     Caseworker Visits and Regional Partnership Grants.--Section 
     436(b) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 629f(b)) is amended--
       (1) in paragraph (4)(A), by striking ``2012 through 2016'' 
     and inserting ``2017 through 2021''; and
       (2) in paragraph (5), by striking ``2012 through 2016'' and 
     inserting ``2017 through 2021''.
       (d) Reauthorization of Funding for State Courts.--
       (1) Extension of program.--Section 438(c)(1) of such Act 
     (42 U.S.C. 629h(c)(1)) is amended by striking ``2012 through 
     2016'' and inserting ``2017 through 2021''.
       (2) Extension of federal share.--Section 438(d) of such Act 
     (42 U.S.C. 629h(d)) is amended by striking ``2012 through 
     2016'' and inserting ``2017 through 2021''.
       (e) Repeal of Expired Provisions.--Section 438(e) of such 
     Act (42 U.S.C. 629h(e)) is repealed.

     SEC. 303. IMPROVEMENTS TO THE JOHN H. CHAFEE FOSTER CARE 
                   INDEPENDENCE PROGRAM AND RELATED PROVISIONS.

       (a) Authority to Serve Former Foster Youth Up To Age 23.--
     Section 477 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 677) is 
     amended--
       (1) in subsection (a)(5), by inserting ``(or 23 years of 
     age, in the case of a State with a certification under 
     subsection (b)(3)(A)(ii) to provide assistance and services 
     to youths who have aged out of foster care and have not 
     attained such age, in accordance with such subsection)'' 
     after ``21 years of age'';
       (2) in subsection (b)(3)(A)--
       (A) by inserting ``(i)'' before ``A certification'';
       (B) by striking ``children who have left foster care'' and 
     all that follows through the period and inserting ``youths 
     who have aged out of foster care and have not attained 21 
     years of age.''; and
       (C) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(ii) If the State has elected under section 475(8)(B) to 
     extend eligibility for foster care to all children who have 
     not attained 21 years of age, or if the Secretary determines 
     that the State agency responsible for administering the State 
     plans under this part and part B uses State funds or any 
     other funds not provided under this part to provide services 
     and assistance for youths who have aged out of foster care 
     that are comparable to the services and assistance the youths 
     would receive if the State had made such an election, the 
     certification required under clause (i) may provide that the 
     State will provide assistance and services to youths who have 
     aged out of foster care and have not attained 23 years of 
     age.''; and
       (3) in subsection (b)(3)(B), by striking ``children who 
     have left foster care'' and all that follows through the 
     period and inserting ``youths who have aged out of foster 
     care and have not attained 21 years of age (or 23 years of 
     age, in the case of a State with a certification under 
     subparagraph (A)(i) to provide assistance and services to 
     youths who have aged out of foster care and have not attained 
     such age, in accordance with subparagraph (A)(ii)).''.
       (b) Authority to Redistribute Unspent Funds.--Section 
     477(d) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 677(d)) is amended--
       (1) in paragraph (4), by inserting ``or does not expend 
     allocated funds within the time period specified under 
     section 477(d)(3)'' after ``provided by the Secretary''; and
       (2) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(5) Redistribution of unexpended amounts.--
       ``(A) Availability of amounts.--To the extent that amounts 
     paid to States under this section in a fiscal year remain 
     unexpended by the States at the end of the succeeding fiscal 
     year, the Secretary may make the amounts available for 
     redistribution in the 2nd succeeding fiscal year among the 
     States that apply for additional funds under this section for 
     that 2nd succeeding fiscal year.
       ``(B) Redistribution.--
       ``(i) In general.--The Secretary shall redistribute the 
     amounts made available under subparagraph (A) for a fiscal 
     year among eligible applicant States. In this subparagraph, 
     the term `eligible applicant State' means a State that has 
     applied for additional funds for the fiscal year under 
     subparagraph (A) if the Secretary determines that the State 
     will use the funds for the purpose for which originally 
     allotted under this section.
       ``(ii) Amount to be redistributed.--The amount to be 
     redistributed to each eligible applicant State shall be the 
     amount so made available multiplied by the State foster care 
     ratio, (as defined in subsection (c)(4), except that, in such 
     subsection, `all eligible applicant States (as defined in 
     subsection (d)(5)(B)(i))' shall be substituted for `all 
     States').
       ``(iii) Treatment of redistributed amount.--Any amount made 
     available to a State under this paragraph shall be regarded 
     as part of the allotment of the State under this section for 
     the fiscal year in which the redistribution is made.
       ``(C) Tribes.--For purposes of this paragraph, the term 
     `State' includes an Indian tribe, tribal organization, or 
     tribal consortium that receives an allotment under this 
     section.''.
       (c) Expanding and Clarifying the Use of Education and 
     Training Vouchers.--
       (1) In general.--Section 477(i)(3) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 
     677(i)(3)) is amended--
       (A) by striking ``on the date'' and all that follows 
     through ``23'' and inserting ``to remain eligible until they 
     attain 26''; and
       (B) by inserting ``, but in no event may a youth 
     participate in the program for more than 5 years (whether or 
     not consecutive)'' before the period.
       (2) Conforming amendment.--Section 477(i)(1) of such Act 
     (42 U.S.C. 677(i)(1)) is amended by inserting ``who have 
     attained 14 years of age'' before the period.
       (d) Other Improvements.--Section 477 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 
     677), as amended by subsections (a), (b), and (c), is 
     amended--
       (1) in the section heading, by striking ``independence 
     program'' and inserting ``program for successful transition 
     to adulthood'';
       (2) in subsection (a)--
       (A) in paragraph (1)--
       (i) by striking ``identify children who are likely to 
     remain in foster care until 18 years of age and to help these 
     children make the transition to self-sufficiency by providing 
     services'' and inserting ``support all youth who have 
     experienced foster care at age 14 or older in their 
     transition to adulthood through transitional services'';
       (ii) by inserting ``and post-secondary education'' after 
     ``high school diploma''; and
       (iii) by striking ``training in daily living skills, 
     training in budgeting and financial management skills'' and 
     inserting ``training and opportunities to practice daily 
     living skills (such as financial literacy training and 
     driving instruction)'';
       (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ``who are likely to 
     remain in foster care until 18 years of age receive the 
     education, training, and services necessary to obtain 
     employment'' and inserting ``who have experienced foster care 
     at age 14 or older achieve meaningful, permanent connections 
     with a caring adult'';
       (C) in paragraph (3), by striking ``who are likely to 
     remain in foster care until 18 years of age prepare for and 
     enter postsecondary training and education institutions'' and 
     inserting ``who have experienced foster care at age 14 or 
     older engage in age or developmentally appropriate 
     activities, positive youth development, and experiential 
     learning that reflects what their peers in intact families 
     experience''; and
       (D) by striking paragraph (4) and redesignating paragraphs 
     (5) through (8) as paragraphs (4) through (7);
       (3) in subsection (b)--
       (A) in paragraph (2)(D), by striking ``adolescents'' and 
     inserting ``youth''; and
       (B) in paragraph (3)--
       (i) in subparagraph (D)--

       (I) by inserting ``including training on youth 
     development'' after ``to provide training''; and
       (II) by striking ``adolescents preparing for independent 
     living'' and all that follows through the period and 
     inserting ``youth preparing for a successful transition to 
     adulthood and making a permanent connection with a caring 
     adult.'';

       (ii) in subparagraph (H), by striking ``adolescents'' each 
     place it appears and inserting ``youth''; and
       (iii) in subparagraph (K)--

       (I) by striking ``an adolescent'' and inserting ``a 
     youth''; and
       (II) by striking ``the adolescent'' each place it appears 
     and inserting ``the youth''; and

       (4) in subsection (f), by striking paragraph (2) and 
     inserting the following:
       ``(2) Report to congress.--Not later than October 1, 2017, 
     the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Ways and Means 
     of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Finance 
     of the Senate a report on the National Youth in Transition 
     Database and any other databases in which States report 
     outcome measures relating to children in foster care and 
     children who have aged out of foster care or left foster care 
     for kinship guardianship or adoption. The report shall 
     include the following:
       ``(A) A description of the reasons for entry into foster 
     care and of the foster care experiences, such as length of 
     stay, number of placement settings, case goal, and discharge 
     reason of 17-year-olds who are surveyed by the National Youth 
     in Transition Database and an analysis of the comparison of 
     that description with the reasons for entry and foster care 
     experiences of children of other ages who exit from foster 
     care before attaining age 17.
       ``(B) A description of the characteristics of the 
     individuals who report poor outcomes at ages 19 and 21 to the 
     National Youth in Transition Database.
       ``(C) Benchmarks for determining what constitutes a poor 
     outcome for youth who remain in or have exited from foster 
     care and plans the Executive branch will take to incorporate 
     these benchmarks in efforts to evaluate child welfare agency 
     performance in providing services to children transitioning 
     from foster care.
       ``(D) An analysis of the association between types of 
     placement, number of overall placements, time spent in foster 
     care, and other factors, and outcomes at ages 19 and 21.
       ``(E) An analysis of the differences in outcomes for 
     children in and formerly in foster care at age 19 and 21 
     among States.''.
       (e) Clarifying Documentation Provided to Foster Youth 
     Leaving Foster Care.--Section 475(5)(I) of such Act (42 
     U.S.C. 675(5)(I)) is

[[Page H4037]]

     amended by inserting after ``REAL ID Act of 2005'' the 
     following: ``, and any official documentation necessary to 
     prove that the child was previously in foster care''.

TITLE IV--CONTINUING INCENTIVES TO STATES TO PROMOTE ADOPTION AND LEGAL 
                              GUARDIANSHIP

     SEC. 401. REAUTHORIZING ADOPTION AND LEGAL GUARDIANSHIP 
                   INCENTIVE PROGRAMS.

       Section 473A of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 673b) is 
     amended--
       (1) in subsection (b)(4), by striking ``2013 through 2015'' 
     and inserting ``2016 through 2020'';
       (2) in subsection (h)(1)(D), by striking ``2016'' and 
     inserting ``2021''; and
       (3) in subsection (h)(2), by striking ``2016'' and 
     inserting ``2021''.

                     TITLE V--TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS

     SEC. 501. TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS TO DATA EXCHANGE STANDARDS TO 
                   IMPROVE PROGRAM COORDINATION.

       (a) In General.--Section 440 of the Social Security Act (42 
     U.S.C. 629m) is amended to read as follows:

     ``SEC. 440. DATA EXCHANGE STANDARDS FOR IMPROVED 
                   INTEROPERABILITY.

       ``(a) Designation.--The Secretary shall, in consultation 
     with an interagency work group established by the Office of 
     Management and Budget and considering State government 
     perspectives, by rule, designate data exchange standards to 
     govern, under this part--
       ``(1) necessary categories of information that State 
     agencies operating programs under State plans approved under 
     this part are required under applicable Federal law to 
     electronically exchange with another State agency; and
       ``(2) Federal reporting and data exchange required under 
     applicable Federal law.
       ``(b) Requirements.--The data exchange standards required 
     by paragraph (1) shall, to the extent practicable--
       ``(1) incorporate a widely accepted, non-proprietary, 
     searchable, computer-readable format, such as the eXtensible 
     Markup Language;
       ``(2) contain interoperable standards developed and 
     maintained by intergovernmental partnerships, such as the 
     National Information Exchange Model;
       ``(3) incorporate interoperable standards developed and 
     maintained by Federal entities with authority over 
     contracting and financial assistance;
       ``(4) be consistent with and implement applicable 
     accounting principles;
       ``(5) be implemented in a manner that is cost-effective and 
     improves program efficiency and effectiveness; and
       ``(6) be capable of being continually upgraded as 
     necessary.
       ``(c) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this subsection 
     shall be construed to require a change to existing data 
     exchange standards found to be effective and efficient.''.
       (b) Effective Date.--Not later than the date that is 24 
     months after the date of the enactment of this section, the 
     Secretary of Health and Human Services shall issue a proposed 
     rule that--
       (1) identifies federally required data exchanges, include 
     specification and timing of exchanges to be standardized, and 
     address the factors used in determining whether and when to 
     standardize data exchanges; and
       (2) specifies State implementation options and describes 
     future milestones.

     SEC. 502. TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS TO STATE REQUIREMENT TO 
                   ADDRESS THE DEVELOPMENTAL NEEDS OF YOUNG 
                   CHILDREN.

       Section 422(b)(18) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
     622(b)(18)) is amended by striking ``such children'' and 
     inserting ``all vulnerable children under 5 years of age''.

 TITLE VI--ENSURING STATES REINVEST SAVINGS RESULTING FROM INCREASE IN 
                          ADOPTION ASSISTANCE

     SEC. 601. DELAY OF ADOPTION ASSISTANCE PHASE-IN.

       Section 473(e)(1) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
     673(e)(1)) is amended--
       (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``fiscal year'' each 
     place it appears and inserting ``period''; and
       (2) in subparagraph (B)--
       (A) in the matter preceding the table, by striking ``fiscal 
     year'' and inserting ``period''; and
       (B) in the table--
       (i) by striking ``of fiscal year:'' and inserting ``of:'';
       (ii) by striking ``2010'' and inserting ``Fiscal year 
     2010'';
       (iii) by striking ``2011'' and inserting ``Fiscal year 
     2011'';
       (iv) by striking ``2012'' and inserting ``Fiscal year 
     2012'';
       (v) by striking ``2013'' and inserting ``Fiscal year 
     2013'';
       (vi) by striking ``2014'' and inserting ``Fiscal year 
     2014'';
       (vii) by striking ``2015'' and inserting ``Fiscal year 
     2015'';
       (viii) by striking ``2016'' and inserting ``October 1, 
     2015, through March 31, 2019'';
       (ix) by striking ``2017'' and inserting ``April 1, 2019, 
     through March 31, 2020''; and
       (x) by striking ``2018'' and inserting ``April 1, 2020,''.

     SEC. 602. GAO STUDY AND REPORT ON STATE REINVESTMENT OF 
                   SAVINGS RESULTING FROM INCREASE IN ADOPTION 
                   ASSISTANCE.

       (a) Study.--The Comptroller General of the United States 
     shall study the extent to which States are complying with the 
     requirements of section 473(a)(8) of the Social Security Act 
     relating to the effects of phasing out the AFDC income 
     eligibility requirements for adoption assistance payments 
     under section 473 of the Social Security Act, as enacted by 
     section 402 of the Fostering Connections to Success and 
     Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-351; 122 
     Stat. 3975) and amended by section 206 of the Preventing Sex 
     Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act (Public Law 113-
     183; 128 Stat. 1919). In particular, the Comptroller General 
     shall analyze the extent to which States are complying with 
     the following requirements under section 473(a)(8)(D) of the 
     Social Security Act:
       (1) The requirement to spend an amount equal to the amount 
     of the savings (if any) in State expenditures under part E of 
     title IV of the Social Security resulting from phasing out 
     the AFDC income eligibility requirements for adoption 
     assistance payments under section 473 of such Act to provide 
     to children of families any service that may be provided 
     under part B or E of title IV of such Act.
       (2) The requirement that a State shall spend not less than 
     30 percent of the amount of any savings described in 
     subparagraph (A) on post-adoption services, post-guardianship 
     services, and services to support and sustain positive 
     permanent outcomes for children who otherwise might enter 
     into foster care under the responsibility of the State, with 
     at least \2/3\ of the spending by the State to comply with 
     the 30 percent requirement being spent on post-adoption and 
     post-guardianship services.
       (b) Report.--The Comptroller General of the United States 
     shall submit to the Committee on Finance of the Senate, the 
     Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives, 
     and the Secretary of Health and Human Services a report that 
     contains the results of the study required by subsection (a), 
     including recommendations to ensure compliance with laws 
     referred to in subsection (a).

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Buchanan) and the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Levin) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Florida.


                             General Leave

  Mr. BUCHANAN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to 
include any extraneous material on H.R. 5456, currently under 
consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Florida?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. BUCHANAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  The Nation is in the grips of an opioid and heroin epidemic, which, 
according to States, is responsible for recent spikes in the need for 
out-of-home foster care placement after more than a decade of decline.
  Under current child welfare financing, when a family is struggling, 
the majority of Federal dollars are only available if the State removes 
a child from his or her biological and adoptive home and places that 
child in foster care.
  Even though it is often less expensive and more effective to keep a 
child safely at home, Federal support for these types of prevention 
services are extremely limited. Children who are raised by the State in 
foster care face increased risks of substance abuse, homelessness, teen 
pregnancy, and other negative outcomes.
  The Family First Prevention Services Act of 2016 will reverse the 
current trends by supporting early, evidence-based, cost-effective 
interventions to keep children safely at home. This will increase the 
likelihood of positive short-term and long-term outcomes for both 
children and their parents. Moreover, it will ensure that children who 
do not need foster care are appropriately placed with families whenever 
possible.
  Preliminary estimates are that the cost of the up-front prevention 
services to strengthen families will be more than fully offset by both 
reducing inappropriate placements into group homes for foster children, 
as well as briefly delaying additional adoption assistance to allow for 
a comprehensive GAO review to be completed.
  In May, the Human Resources Subcommittee heard about challenges and 
successes of those on the ground as they attempt to fight the opioid 
and heroin epidemic in their communities. Today, we will move forward 
to ensure more struggling families get the help they so vitally need.
  This bill is a result of a bipartisan, bicameral effort. So I would 
like to thank Ranking Member Levin and our Senate Finance Committee 
colleagues, Chairman Hatch and Ranking Member Wyden, for working so 
diligently on this effort.
  This bill also incorporates bipartisan efforts by Congressman Young 
and

[[Page H4038]]

Congressman Davis to improve the exchange of information across State 
lines to get foster children settled into homes more quickly.
  I would like to thank my fellow committee members, the bipartisan 
group of original cosponsors, and those on the committee who have also 
joined to sponsor this important legislation.
  Finally, I would like to recognize the overwhelming support we have 
received from the child welfare community who, I know, have been 
working on this issue for many, many years, some say as long as 30 
years, in terms of the prevention care for our kids.
  I include in the Record some of these more than 60 letters of support 
we have received so far on this bill.

                                        Children's Home Society of


                                                      America,

                                       Chicago, IL, June 14, 2016.
     Hon. Kevin Brady,
     Chairman, Committee on Ways and Means, House of Congress, 
         Washington, DC.
     Hon. Sandy Levin,
     Ranking Member, Committee on Ways and Means, House of 
         Congress, Washington, DC.
       Dear Chairman Brady and Ranking Member Levin: As a 
     nationwide membership organization comprised of many of the 
     most long standing and respected child and family 
     organizations in the country, Children's Home Society of 
     America is writing in support of your efforts to promote and 
     improve outcomes for many of the hundreds of thousands of 
     children and youth who come to the attention of the child 
     welfare system each year, including children in foster care. 
     Over the decades the House Ways and Means Committee, with 
     bipartisan support, has taken significant steps forward on 
     behalf of our most vulnerable children and the Family First 
     Prevention Services Act of 2016 continues those efforts.
       Allowing funds under Title IV-E of the Social Security Act, 
     currently used primarily for out-of-home care for children, 
     to be used for the first time for prevention services to help 
     keep children at risk of placement in foster care safely at 
     home with their parents or with kin is a significant move in 
     the right direction. Kinship caregivers play a critical role 
     in protecting children temporarily while their parents are 
     not able to and also in ensuring new permanent families for 
     children who cannot return home.
       We strongly support the bill's recognition of the 
     importance of quality services for these children, which are 
     evidence-based and trauma-informed and the importance of 
     accountability in tracking the provision of services and 
     their benefits for children. States at different stages in 
     reforming their systems will also have help training staff 
     for the development and delivery of these new services and 
     putting in place the infrastructure needed to administer and 
     oversee their delivery and child outcomes.
       The Family First Prevention Services Act over time also 
     will take important steps to ensure children who need to 
     enter foster care will be placed in the least restrictive 
     setting appropriate to their needs, by targeting federal 
     dollars only on smaller family-foster homes and on other care 
     settings for children and youth with special treatment needs 
     or those in special circumstances, such as pregnant and 
     parenting teens or older youth in independent living 
     settings. A number of states already have undertaken special 
     efforts to reduce the number of children in congregate care 
     and to preserve group care settings for children with special 
     treatment needs.
       Children and society pay a high cost when the current 
     systems fail to adequately address the needs of the children 
     who come to the attention of our child welfare systems, 
     nearly 80 percent of whom are victims of neglect. We believe 
     that the specific changes proposed will go far in encouraging 
     state and local child welfare systems, private providers, the 
     courts and youth and families who have been involved in the 
     system to work together to achieve significant change for 
     children over the next decade.
       We look forward to working with you to ensure these new 
     child welfare finance reforms will truly benefit children who 
     come to the attention of the child welfare system and to 
     continue to explore additional improvements on their behalf 
     to ensure they all have safe, permanent families. Thank you 
     for your continuing leadership on behalf of these children.
           Sincerely,
                                                   Sharon Osborne,
     Board Chair.
                                  ____

                                            Children's Hospital of


                                                    Wisconsin,

                                                    Milwaukee, WI.
     Hon. Vern Buchanan,
     Chairman, Human Resources Subcommittee, House Committee on 
         Ways & Means, Washington DC.
       Dear Chairman Buchanan: Children's Hospital of Wisconsin 
     strongly supports the Family First Prevention Services Act of 
     2016 (H.R. 5456). We applaud your leadership on this 
     important issue.
       Children's Hospital of Wisconsin (Children's) is the 
     region's only independent health care system dedicated solely 
     to the health and well-being of children. We serve children 
     from every county in the state and are recognized as one of 
     the leading pediatric health care centers in the United 
     States. In addition, Children's is the largest not-for-
     profit, community-based child and family serving agency in 
     Wisconsin. Through our Community Services work, we provide a 
     continuum of care to more than 15,000 children and families 
     annually. This includes family preservation and support, 
     child and family counseling, child welfare, child advocacy 
     and protection, and foster care and adoption services.
       We strongly support the Family First Prevention Services 
     Act that would allow funds under Title IV-E of the Social 
     Security Act to be used for the first time for evidence-based 
     prevention services to help keep children at risk of 
     placement in foster care safely at home with their parents or 
     with kin. The legislation represents a significant and 
     meaningful shift in child welfare policy by prioritizing up-
     front, evidence-based services to keep families together. We 
     know from experience and empirical research that this is 
     important for the healthy development of children.
       The bill also makes significant advancements to integrate 
     interventions and measures focused on child well-being into 
     the child welfare system. Children's believes that 
     prioritizing and providing accountability for child well-
     being, in addition to safety and permanency, is critical to 
     achieving better outcomes for children and society and 
     positioning children to thrive into adulthood.
       Children's is committed to improving the health and well-
     being of children and families. We believe the Family First 
     Prevention Services Act will enable the child welfare system 
     to better serve our most vulnerable children and families.
           Sincerely,
                                                       Amy Herbst,
     Vice President, Child Well-Being.
                                  ____


        [From the American Academy of Pediatrics, June 13, 2016]

   AAP Statement Supporting the Family First Prevention Services Act

                    (By Benard P. Dreyer, MD, FAAP)

       ``The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) commends House 
     Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Tex) and 
     Ranking Member Sander Levin (D-Mich) and Senate Finance 
     Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Ranking Member 
     Ron Wyden (D-Ore) for releasing the Family First Prevention 
     Services Act of 2016, a comprehensive, bipartisan effort to 
     improve how the child welfare system serves children and 
     families in adversity. This bill represents a pivotal 
     opportunity for a major federal policy shift that moves away 
     from placing children in out-of-home care and toward keeping 
     families together.
       ``Children in or at-risk for entering foster care are 
     especially vulnerable, they are more likely to be exposed to 
     trauma and often have complex medical needs. This bill not 
     only recognizes the unique needs of children and families in 
     adversity, but also makes great strides to meet them in a way 
     that pediatricians can stand behind through evidence-based, 
     prevention-focused approaches. The bill offers states much-
     needed federal funding to support mental health, substance 
     abuse and in-home parenting skills programs for families of 
     children at-risk of entering foster care. This policy rewards 
     state efforts to preserve and strengthen families by 
     providing federal funds to administer prevention programs in 
     a way that is steeped in science.
       ``Children fare best when they are raised in families 
     equipped to meet their needs. Congregate care, when 
     necessary, should be of high-quality for the shortest 
     possible duration and reserved for instances in which it is 
     absolutely essential. The AAP supports the bill's emphasis on 
     ensuring that children are only placed in a non-family 
     setting if they have a demonstrated need for the services 
     available in that setting. The AAP also appreciates that 
     congregate care facilities must be accredited and have 
     licensed clinical and nursing staff to ensure they are 
     capable of caring for vulnerable children and meeting their 
     complex health needs.
       ``Fixing the shortcomings in our child welfare system will 
     require continued investment across both state and federal 
     governments. The Family First Prevention Services Act does 
     just what its name says--it puts families first. This bill 
     represents major, meaningful progress toward protecting 
     children and supporting their families in creating safe and 
     stable homes. Pediatricians look forward to continuing to 
     work alongside bipartisan members of Congress to advance the 
     bill toward a vote as soon as possible.''

[[Page H4039]]

     
                                  ____
                                  Children and Family Futures,

                                   Lake Forest, CA, June 13, 2016.
     Hon. Kevin Brady,
     Chairman, Committee on Ways and Means, House Representatives.
     Hon. Orrin Hatch,
     Chairman, Committee on Finance,
     U.S. Senate.
     Hon. Vern Buchanan,
     Chairman, Human Resources Subcommittee, Committee on Ways and 
         Means, House of Representatives.
     Hon. Sandy Levin,
     Ranking Member, Committee on Ways and Means, House of 
         Representatives.
     Hon. Ron Wyden,
     Ranking Member, Committee on Finance,
     U.S. Senate.
     Hon. Lloyd Doggett,
     Ranking Member, Human Resources Subcommittee, Committee on 
         Ways and Means, House of Representatives.
       Dear Ways and Means and Senate Finance Committee Chairmen 
     Brady and Hatch, Ranking Members Levin and Wyden and Human 
     Resources Subcommittee Chairman Buchanan and Ranking Member 
     Doggett: On behalf of Children and Family Futures, I am 
     pleased to share our support for the Family First Prevention 
     Services Act (H.R. 5456) introduced today by House Ways and 
     Means Human Resources Subcommittee Chairman Vern Buchanan (R-
     FL) and joined by eleven other bi-partisan original co-
     sponsors.
       Children and Family Futures, a national nonprofit 
     organization based in Lake Forest, California, has more than 
     20 years of experience in improving outcomes for children at 
     the intersection of child welfare and substance use disorder 
     treatment agencies and family courts. We recently had the 
     opportunity to testify at Senate Finance and Senate Homeland 
     Security and Governmental Affairs Hearings on the effects of 
     opioids on our nation's child welfare agencies. As you may 
     know, there are 8.3 million children--almost 11% of America's 
     children--who live with a parent who is alcoholic or needs 
     treatment for illicit drug abuse. About two-thirds of the 
     children who enter the child welfare system are affected by 
     parents with substance use disorders, and when we ask 
     children and youth in foster care what they need the most, 
     they often ask for substance abuse treatment for their 
     parents so that their family can stay together. Quality 
     substance abuse prevention and treatment is one of the 
     cornerstones of a strong and effective child welfare system.
       H.R. 5456 takes several critical steps to ensure that 
     parents and children receive the full range of supportive 
     services they need to heal and thrive. By allowing federal 
     IV-E dollars to be used in a time-limited way for evidence-
     based prevention services, including mental health, substance 
     abuse prevention and in-home skill-based programs, the 
     proposed legislation provides an unprecedented opportunity 
     for child welfare agencies to expand the services parents 
     need to continue to care for their children safely without 
     unnecessary foster care placements.
       In addition, allowing states to draw down Title IV-E foster 
     care maintenance payments on behalf of children who are 
     placed in residential family treatment settings with a parent 
     who is receiving treatment is another effective way to ensure 
     that families can stay together while getting the services 
     and supports they need to get back on their feet. For 
     children whose parents struggle with alcohol and illicit drug 
     abuse, the elimination of the time limit to allow family 
     reunification services to be provided to any child in foster 
     care and for up to 15 months after a child is reunited with 
     his or her biological family will allow children of parents 
     who are still in the very first stages of recovery to get the 
     ongoing help they need to maintain both stability and 
     sobriety.
       CFF also strongly supports H.R. 5456's reauthorization of 
     the Regional Partnership Grant program that provides funding 
     to state and regional grantees seeking to provide evidence-
     based services to prevent child abuse and neglect related to 
     substance abuse and revised grant requirements based on 
     lessons learned from the most effective past grants. In 
     addition to updating the program to specifically address the 
     opioid and heroin epidemic, the proposal legislation 
     leverages what has been learned to ensure that new foster 
     care prevention funding provided under the bill is used 
     effectively.
       In addition to providing much-needed attention to 
     prevention services for children and families who come to the 
     attention of the child welfare system, the legislation's 
     provisions to reduce the over-reliance on group care 
     facilities are an equally important step in supporting 
     children and keeping families together. The legislation's 
     current approach to reducing unnecessary care while enhancing 
     the protections and oversight for Qualified Residential 
     Treatment Programs (QRTP) will ensure that young people who 
     are struggling with their own substance use disorder or 
     mental health issues have full access to clinically 
     appropriate residential treatment options and that a 
     continuum of quality services are available to help them 
     transition back home to their families. Moreover, improving 
     and expediting an effective assessment process and increasing 
     judicial oversight of placement decisions on an ongoing basis 
     also represent significant progress in connecting young 
     people with the right services on a timely basis while also 
     maintaining positive family and community connections.
       Untreated substance use disorders are among the most 
     critical and devastating crises facing the nation's children 
     and families. Thanks to the leadership and bipartisanship 
     demonstrated by members of the House Ways and Means and 
     Senate Finance Committees, H.R. 5456 offers a range of 
     innovative solutions designed to keep children and families 
     together and provide the services and supports they need to 
     lead healthy and productive lives. We are deeply appreciative 
     of your collective work on this bill and are confident that, 
     if passed, it will continue to help thousands children and 
     families, now and for years to come.
           Sincerely,
     Nancy K. Young, Ph.D.,
       Director.
     Sidney L. Gardner, M.P.A.,
       President.
                                  ____

                                               Alliance for Strong


                                     Families and Communities,

                                    Washington, DC, June 14, 2016.
     Hon. Kevin Brady, Chair,
     Ways and Means Committee,
     House of Representatives.
     Hon. Vern Buchanan, Chair,
     Human Resources Subcommittee,
     House of Representatives.
     Hon. Orrin Hatch, Chair,
     Senate Finance Committee,
     U.S. Senate.
     Hon. Sander Levin, Ranking Member,
     Ways and Means Committee,
     House of Representatives.
     Hon. Lloyd Doggett, Ranking Member,
     Human Resources Subcommittee,
     House of Representatives.
     Hon. Ron Wyden, Ranking Member,
     Senate Finance Committee,
     U.S. Senate.
       Dear Chairman Brady and Ranking Member Levin, Chairman 
     Buchanan and Ranking Member Doggett, and Chairman Hatch and 
     Ranking Member Wyden: The Alliance for Strong Families and 
     Communities thanks you for your leadership and for 
     introducing the Family First Prevention Services Act of 2016. 
     The legislation promotes numerous policy priorities that are 
     consistent with our network's guiding principles for 
     improving child and family safety, permanency and well-being.
       We appreciate efforts you have made to address past 
     concerns and to include components that are informed by 
     effective practices in states and localities, technology 
     updates, and current research. These include:
       Permitting the use of federal funds to pay for programs 
     across the evidence-based spectrum, and to continue knowledge 
     formation in what works;
       Making Title IV-B funds available to states so that they 
     may modernize their Interstate Compact on the Placement of 
     Children (ICPC) services so that so that children may be more 
     quickly and effectively placed in appropriate homes across 
     state lines;
       Supporting the National Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse 
     and Neglect Fatalities' recommendation that a 21st Century 
     Child Welfare system require states to develop a statewide 
     plan to prevent child abuse and neglect fatalities;
       Requiring the use of an age-appropriate, evidence-based, 
     validated needs assessment to help determine a child's need 
     for behavioral health support through a therapeutic 
     residential treatment setting; and
       Engaging families in a child's residentially-based trauma-
     informed behavioral health treatment to strengthen the 
     likelihood of their success, including establishing a family 
     and permanency team in the initial needs assessment and 
     ongoing progress monitoring.
       We are very pleased with the bipartisan, bicameral effort 
     to address child welfare reforms, and specifically, the 
     longstanding policy priority to expand Title IV-E for 
     prevention so that children and parents/caregivers may have 
     access to services and interventions that ensure child safety 
     and build family stability.
       While the Alliance enthusiastically supports the Family 
     First Prevention Services Act of 2016, we do believe we have 
     identified a significant technical misalignment within the 
     definition of the Qualified Residential Treatment Program 
     (QRTP) that, if addressed, would strengthen the bill, 
     increase its effectiveness and mitigate against what we 
     believe to be unintended consequences for children to whom we 
     want to receive the right treatment, at the right time in the 
     most appropriate setting. We fully support the requirement 
     for a QRTP to use a trauma-informed treatment model, but are 
     concerned about the rigid aspects of the language for QRTP 
     staffing. The prescription of nursing and clinical staff 
     being onsite during business hours is not consistent with 
     Congress' desire to use evidence in its requirements on 
     states and moves further away from a system that is child- 
     and family-centered and community-based. We believe that 
     QRTPs must abide by the fidelity elements of the approved, 
     trauma-informed treatment model that they elect to use in 
     accordance with the requirements in the bill and that the 
     current language regarding staffing is inconsistent with the 
     bill's treatment model requirement.
       For example, if the fidelity elements of the selected 
     treatment model require licensed or registered nurses to be 
     onsite during business hours and available 24/7, then a QRTP 
     must meet that requirement. Likewise, if fidelity to an 
     approved model requires a different staffing composition and 
     pattern, then the QRTP must meet that model's requirements 
     and needs the flexibility to do so.

[[Page H4040]]

       Therefore, rather than requiring the staff to be onsite 
     during business hours, we recommend an amendment that aligns 
     the treatment model requirement with the staffing 
     requirement. The amendment would require staff to be onsite 
     according to the trauma-informed treatment model being used 
     by the QRTP. Our commonsense amendment acknowledges that high 
     quality trauma-informed treatment models prescribe staffing 
     patterns that are designed to achieve the outcomes proven by 
     the program model. And, it strengthens the bill's 
     effectiveness toward the greatest chance of success and 
     normalcy for children provided in the most family-like 
     settings possible.
       The Alliance's wholehearted support of the Family First 
     Prevention Services Act of 2016 is unqualified and not 
     contingent upon inclusion of the recommended amendment but, 
     if the bill is passed without this amendment we intend to 
     work to build a coalition to change this aspect of the QRTP 
     requirements prior to implementation of these provisions in 
     Title II in 2019.
       Thank you very much for your hard work. We look forward to 
     working with you and encourage you to contact Marlo Nash, 
     Senior Vice President of Public Policy and Mobilization at 
     [email protected] with questions or to request additional 
     information.
           Sincerely,
                                                    Susan Dreyfus,
                                                President and CEO.

  Mr. BUCHANAN. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  The bill before us today, the Family First Prevention Services Act, 
has a very simple goal: improve the lives of our most vulnerable 
children. We worked across the aisle on this legislation because we 
recognize the importance of ensuring that kids grow up in safe, loving, 
and stable homes.
  I mentioned that we worked together on this. Mr. Buchanan, who is the 
chairman of our committee, others on the Republican side, and Mr. 
Doggett, Mr. Davis of Illinois, Ms. Bass, and others worked so hard on 
this, and I think it has improved this legislation.
  Our foster care system provides an essential safe haven for abused 
and neglected children. However, when it comes to our system today, it 
is clear that Federal funding has been stacked against prevention 
efforts. That means our Federal dollars aren't being used to 
effectively help families and prevent child abuse and neglect in homes. 
In fact, less than 10 percent of dedicated child welfare funding goes 
toward prevention.
  This bill is intended to make sure families receive the help they 
needed before a child goes into foster care, not after, as our current 
system largely functions. This bill would provide substance abuse 
treatment for parents, support efforts to improve parenting skills and 
expand access to mental health care.
  The Children's Defense Fund, which tirelessly advocates for our most 
vulnerable children, offered its full support for this bill, and it is 
my privilege to quote the Children's Defense Fund under its so esteemed 
leader: ``It takes historic and long overdue steps to direct Federal 
child welfare dollars to improve outcomes for vulnerable children and 
families.''
  Simply put, this bill would help keep kids throughout our country 
safe and in their homes instead of placing them in a foster care system 
that we should use only when clearly necessary. It would be preferable 
if the bill's key provisions on prevention started sooner to help 
States facing immediate crises.
  Furthermore, this legislation certainly does not address every 
problem facing our child welfare system, including the need to recruit 
more foster family homes; but, indeed, this bill is an important step 
forward in strengthening our Nation's child welfare system in the long-
term. In fact, as we have seen, more than 50 organizations dedicated to 
advocating for vulnerable children have come out in support of this 
legislation, including, as mentioned, the Children's Defense Fund, the 
American Academy of Pediatrics, Prevent Child Abuse America, the 
American Psychological Association, Voice for Adoption, and the North 
American Council on Adoptable Children. This bill has also been 
endorsed by the national association representing State child welfare 
agency directors.
  This legislation represents an effort to find important common ground 
in the House and also in the Senate with the leadership of Senators 
Hatch and Wyden. We have more work to do. We have more work to do, 
indeed, to ensure our children have the opportunities and support they 
need to thrive, but this bill would take a very important step on that 
path.
  So, once again, I would like to thank my colleagues on the Republican 
side and on the Democratic side. I would like to thank the staff on our 
side and, I am sure, the same has been true of the Republican side for 
all of their diligent and impassioned work on this important issue.
  I reserve the balance of my time, and I ask unanimous consent that 
the balance of my time be governed and managed by the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Doggett).
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Michigan?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. BUCHANAN. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 5 minutes.
  Each day in America, as many as eight children die at the hands of 
those who are supposed to be caring for them. Three out of four of 
these children are under the age of three. Half of them will never 
reach their first birthday, and countless others of all ages will 
forever be scarred by abuse and by neglect.
  The legislation that we consider tonight is all that remains of a 
comprehensive child safety bill offered by Senator Ron Wyden and 
offered by me here in the House last year. I salute his leadership 
then, and I accept his decision to settle for a small bit of what we 
sought to accomplish rather than no bit at all.
  This year, Senator Wyden put a fraction of our original bill into a 
proposal to which Senator Orrin Hatch agreed, a bipartisan Family First 
draft proposal. Today's bill is a fraction of a fraction of our 
original initiative.

                              {time}  1930

  Despite the valiant efforts of many local groups and individuals 
across Texas, we have a child abuse crisis there. As The Dallas Morning 
News reported last month: ``Staggering number of Texas children in 
imminent danger neglected by CPS''--Child Protective Services--
``investigation shows.''
  And the same is true in one State after another. In short, the 
Republican answer in this bill is to do absolutely nothing with regard 
to child prevention services in additional resources now, to 
essentially do nothing about this crisis now, to continue neglecting 
the neglected this year, next year, and the year after that.
  Adoption has proven one way that we can keep children out of the 
foster care system and in a loving family. I know this is not Mr. 
Buchanan's personal view, but the only way that House Republicans would 
agree for us to fund additional preventive services for these children 
to avoid child abuse--even though that takes 3 long, painful years of 
delay--is by our cutting about $700 million from adoption.
  The other source of funding is congregate or group care. I believe we 
do need a change in group care, but while agreeing, I note that in 
Texas last month there were over 60 foster care youth. The only place 
they could find to sleep was in the State offices of Child Protective 
Services, and one has to ask about this bill the question of where 
these children will go if those group facilities are no longer 
available.
  This measure was approved on the same day that the Committee on Ways 
and Means approved barring over $50 billion for additional tax breaks, 
and yet not another dime of additional resources to prevent child abuse 
this year. They demanded that there could be no resources going into 
child abuse unless it was paid for from other human resources, 
essentially robbing Peter to pay Paul.
  One important aspect of the bill is the kinship provision, that 
assisting relatives who are willing to raise a child, keep them in a 
family home so they won't be bounced around from one place to another, 
that they get some support. I think it is a worthy approach, but it 
also shows how this House Republican proposal has slashed relief.
  This year's bipartisan recommendation by Senators Wyden and Hatch was 
estimated to cost $1.7 billion for kinship. Today we have a mere 8 
percent--8 percent--of what they recommended, hardly worthy of a 
celebration. The major focus of this bill is to provide a

[[Page H4041]]

Federal incentive for the States to invest in prevention and early 
intervention to ensure the safety of children. For too long we 
backloaded everything. We responded to abuse after it occurred instead 
of trying to prevent it at the beginning.
  We offer assistance now through this bill eventually, and we should 
be focused on it. I agree fully with that focus. That is why I plan to 
vote, reluctantly, for this proposal. But this bill would give the 
States an incentive through what is called Title IV-E, where the 
Federal Government would put up 50 percent, 50 cents on the dollar that 
is expended, and the States would put up 50 cents.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
  Mr. DOGGETT. I yield myself an additional 30 seconds.
  Unfortunately, this bill provides no immediate relief for children 
who are in danger right now. No additional funds for 3 years. In Texas, 
with the opioid crisis, and in other States, these children need help 
now. It has gotten so bad that Federal courts are beginning to declare 
these systems unconstitutional. We could have done better by these 
children. We have the capacity to do better. We have not had the will 
to do better in this Congress.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. BUCHANAN. Mr. Speaker, having no other speakers, I reserve the 
balance of my time.
  Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Danny K. Davis), one of the members of our committee who 
has been a real advocate for children suffering from abuse.
  Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my 
colleague from Texas for yielding.
  Child welfare advocates have used the adjectives ``landmark,'' 
``historic,'' and ``trailblazing'' to describe this bill. I 
wholeheartedly agree with them. I am pleased to be a cosponsor of this 
legislation that begins a fundamental shift in Federal child welfare 
policy to preserving families rather than separating them.
  I am deeply grateful to Ranking Member Levin, Chairman Brady, 
Chairman Buchanan, Ranking Member Wyden, and Chairman Hatch for 
including many provisions for which I have advocated, provisions that 
will substantially strengthen families in Chicago, in Illinois, and 
throughout the Nation. I am equally grateful to Ranking Member Doggett 
for his tireless efforts to secure additional resources for prevention.
  My congressional district has the highest percentage of children 
living with grandparent caregivers in the Nation, followed closely by 
two other congressional districts in Illinois. We know that substance 
abuse and addiction underlie a substantial percentage of child welfare 
cases and separates families.
  When I ask foster youth what policymakers could do to make child 
welfare better, they almost always say: You could have helped my mom 
and dad.
  That is exactly what we are doing here today. The Family First 
Prevention Services Act invests in addressing key reasons that families 
struggle by providing evidence-based mental health, substance abuse, 
and parenting services to strengthen families so they can avoid the 
child welfare system. I am especially pleased that the bill includes my 
work to improve the effectiveness of child abuse and neglect prevention 
related to substance abuse by modernizing the Regional Partnership 
Grants.
  Coupled with the prevention services, the extension of the Kinship 
Navigator program, the improved licensing standards to address barriers 
for relative caregivers, the extension of adoption and legal 
guardianship incentive payments, the new services for pregnant and 
parenting foster youth, the investment in electronic systems to improve 
interstate placement of youth, and the funding to support children in 
staying with their parents in residential treatment all promise to 
improve permanency and well-being for youth and kinship caregivers.

  I want to thank the chairperson of my Child Welfare Task Force, Dr. 
Annetta Wilson, for sharing her expertise on how to improve policies to 
support children and families. I also want to thank Pam Rodriguez and 
George Williams with TASC in Chicago as well as Nancy Young with 
Children and Family Futures for sharing their expertise about what 
policies work to support parents affected by substance abuse so that we 
can strengthen families.
  Finally, this is not a perfect bill, but it is a historic bill and a 
unique opportunity to strengthen families. I look forward to continuing 
to work with my colleagues to enact additional supports for kinship 
caregivers, enhance services for expectant and parenting foster youth, 
and to protect the Social Security benefits of foster youth.
  I attended a high school graduation last Friday, and the young lady 
who got the biggest applause was one whose mother and grandmothers both 
had died within the last 3 years. She also has given birth to two 
children. But she graduated with honors, and it is the assistance and 
help that we give to these young people who really prove that we can 
have an effective welfare help system for young people who need the 
help.
  Mr. BUCHANAN. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, how much time do I have remaining?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Texas has 5 minutes 
remaining.
  Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Bass), who, though not a formal member of our 
committee, has been a very active participant in our subcommittee and 
who chairs the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth, among others.
  Ms. BASS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 5456. I 
believe this is a very positive step forward to reforming the child 
welfare system in our country.
  H.R. 5456 takes into account what has been learned from years of 
county and State efforts at reform in the form of waivers. We have 
learned a lot. We have learned that we can safely reduce the numbers of 
children in care by providing services up front, prevention services 
that, until now, could not be supported with Federal dollars unless the 
State or county had a waiver.
  What do we know?
  We know that the main reason why children are in foster care is 
because of child neglect, and the main reason for this is substance 
abuse and mental illness. For example, there are programs, such as 
SHIELDS for Families in Los Angeles, that have been able to reduce the 
number of children in care by providing substance abuse services for 
families for 12 months.
  The problem with H.R. 5456, however, is that services would be cut 
off after 12 months, and one of the features of addiction is relapse.
  So what happens to a family if the individual relapses on the 11th 
month? Will the children automatically be removed and placed into care?
  I think during the implementation phase, we need to consider 
flexibility with cutting off services at the end of 12 months.
  The same thing applies to mental health services. The Chafee Grant is 
another thing that is a positive feature of H.R. 5456. Chafee grants 
help young people transition to adulthood. I am pleased that H.R. 5456 
includes my language to extend time to 23 years old for a young person 
to receive prevention services. What these services are are essentially 
services that help a young person transition to adulthood, such as 
housing, counseling, job training, et cetera. Chafee is also extended 
in H.R. 5456 to the age of 26 for educational grants.
  I want to applaud my State of California, where reforms are underway. 
We have passed legislation in California that long recognizes the need 
for housing to transition young people out of care, but in California 
we have had the insight and foresight to understand that children 16 
years old sometimes want to transition out of the foster care system. 
Unfortunately, H.R. 5456 eliminates funding for children who are 16 
years old.
  I am concerned that the bill might have some unintended consequences. 
I think we would all agree that it would be best to keep a child in a 
family setting when they are 16 years old. However, many young people 
wind up running away from foster homes. Unfortunately, they wind up 
suffering from abuse, again, in a foster home, and

[[Page H4042]]

they need to be transitioned into adulthood.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentlewoman has expired.
  Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 15 seconds to the 
gentlewoman.
  Ms. BASS. I am hoping H.R. 5456 will take into consideration 
unintended consequences and not contribute to homelessness amongst 
youth.
  Mr. BUCHANAN. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, 4 years ago I authored and passed into law the Protect 
our Kids Act. It became law with the help of former Ways and Means 
Republican Chair Dave Camp, and it established a commission to 
eliminate child abuse and neglect fatalities. It is a mark of the 
progress--or the lack of progress that this year, when that commission 
came forward with its report, Republicans on our committee would not 
permit a hearing to accept the modest findings of the commission.
  And so we have reached tonight. I was offered in the traditional 
Washington way an opportunity to put my name on this legislation. It 
has some meritorious provisions that eventually come into effect, but I 
could not do that and face my constituents in Texas saying that I had 
done something to address this crisis when I know, in fact, we are not 
doing what needs to be done to address this crisis.

                              {time}  1945

  I advanced one of many alternatives to provide the dollars to deal 
with this crisis now. That was a proposal not for new taxes, but it was 
a proposal for tax compliance that would have fully funded the 
bipartisan agreement from the Senate.
  But for the ideological commitment to oppose any new resources going 
to address child abuse, we would have those dollars. We wouldn't be 
taking the money out of good adoption programs. We wouldn't be delaying 
a response for 3 years. We would be doing something now to address the 
challenges that are out there for the children who face abuse and 
neglect today.
  That is what should be happening. That is what today's bill fails to 
do, though it offers us the promise of eventual action to do what we 
should be doing right now.
  And why wait three years to respond to this crisis? Because the 
Republican-controlled Ways and Means Committee that vulnerable children 
can receive federal relief only from money taken from other children or 
other portions of initiatives within the jurisdiction of the Human 
Resources Subcommittee. Republicans rejected the use of any additional 
resources to prevent child abuse, including a simple tax compliance 
measure that would require the filing of a 1099 for alimony payments to 
ensure that those payments were being reported as income, which federal 
law has long required. That modest requirement would have provided more 
than $2 billion of resources, without raising a dime of taxes.
  Because taking money from adoption and congregate care fails to fully 
fund even today's delayed response, Republicans must also today waive a 
Budget point of order, since this bill does not comply with their own 
Budget rules.
  Finally, this bill makes wholly unjustified and discriminatory cuts 
to adoption assistance. The sole reason for these cuts is budgetary--
that was apparently the easiest way to find funds instead of adding the 
necessary revenue. This bill is paid for, in part, by delaying funding 
for children under the age of 4 to be adopted out of foster care, for 
those children with special needs, physical or mental, who are the 
hardest to adopt. According to a law Congress passed in 2008, those 
adopting 2- and 3-years-olds, who would otherwise have been entering 
foster care, would have been eligible in October for modest federal 
assistance; infants and 1-year-olds would have been eligible next year. 
Now, that funding will be delayed 2\1/2\ years, to pay for new 
services, none of which become available until 2020. The only excuse 
given for taking almost $700 million that otherwise would have 
supported adoptions is that some states are failing to reinvest in 
foster children the money that they save in foster care costs for each 
child who is adopted. There is no example of fraud or abuse, only the 
all too typical diversion by some states for other public services. 
Some states like Texas, which so regularly ignores the needs of its 
children, reinvested only a dime of every dollar of adoption savings in 
foster care. Others like Florida followed federal law and reinvested 
every dollar of their savings. This bill discriminates against Florida 
and similar states.
  And what does this bill propose to do to crack down on this state 
diversion of savings from adoption? It asks for a government report. In 
2014, Congress enacted provisions of the Preventing Sex Trafficking and 
Strengthening Families Act to prevent diversion. The Administration 
should enforce that Act. Requesting that the Government Accountability 
Office provide information already available from the U.S. Department 
of Health and Human Services adds nothing not already known. But if all 
we wanted was a report, we could get that report just by writing a 
letter to the GAO. Seeking another report represents cover for taking 
away resources that would otherwise have benefitted blameless infants 
and toddlers.
  We have a serious problem that deserves a serious state-federal, 
bipartisan solution. I am not opposing today's bill, but it does far 
less than it could and should have. It is a true missed opportunity to 
help some of our most vulnerable Americans. Today's bill does 
something, someday. We ought to be responding fully and effectively 
this day.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. BUCHANAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Again, this is bipartisan, bicameral legislation. It takes important 
steps to keep more children safely at home and out of foster care.
  Under the current law, most Federal funding for child welfare is 
directed toward reimbursing States after they place a child in foster 
care. This is the least desirable outcome.
  This legislation turns this around by putting resources towards 
preventative services to keep children safely with their parents or 
relatives. Most importantly, this bill will help ensure that more 
children grow up in a safe home surrounded by a stable family.
  Strong families make for a strong community. I urge my colleagues to 
support the Family First Prevention Services Act.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Buchanan) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 5456, 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.

                          ____________________