[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 41 (Tuesday, March 4, 2025)]
[House]
[Pages H962-H964]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
RECRUITING FAMILIES USING DATA ACT OF 2025
Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and
pass the bill (H.R. 579) to amend parts B and E of title IV of the
Social Security Act to improve foster and adoptive parent recruitment
and retention, and for other purposes.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 579
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 ``Recruiting Families Using
Data Act of 2025''.
SEC. 2. STATE PLAN AMENDMENT.
(a) In General.--Section 422 of the Social Security Act (42
U.S.C. 622) is amended--
(1) in subsection (b)(7), by inserting ``through the
development and implementation of a family partnership plan
which
[[Page H963]]
meets the requirements of subsection (d) for identification,
recruitment, screening, licensing, support, and retention of
foster and adoptive families'' after ``are needed''; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
``(d) Family Partnership Plan Requirements.--For purposes
of subsection (b)(7), the requirements for a family
partnership plan (in this subsection referred to as the
`plan') are the following:
``(1) The plan is developed in consultation with birth,
kinship, foster and adoptive families, community-based
service providers, technical assistance providers, and youth
with lived experience with foster care and adoption.
``(2) The plan describes--
``(A) how the State plans to identify, notify, engage, and
support relatives (and others connected to the child) as
potential placement resources for children;
``(B) how the State plans to develop and implement child-
specific recruitment plans for every child in or entering
foster care who needs a foster or adoptive family;
``(C) how the State plans to authentically engage children
and youth in recruitment efforts on their behalf;
``(D) how the State plans to use data to establish goals,
assess needs, measure progress, reduce unnecessary placements
in congregate care, increase permanency, improve placement
stability, increase the rate of kinship placements, improve
recruitment and retention of families for teens, sibling
groups, and other special populations, and align the
composition of foster and adoptive families with the needs of
children in or entering foster care; and
``(E) how that State will stand up or support foster family
advisory boards for the purpose of improving recruitment and
retention of foster and adoptive families.
``(3) The plan provides that, not less than annually, the
State shall collect and report on the State's actual foster
family capacity and congregate care utilization, including
the number, demographics, and characteristics of licensed
foster families, including prospective adoptive families, the
number of such families that haven't received a placement or
are not being fully utilized and the reasons therefor, and
the number, demographics, and characteristics of children
placed in congregate care in-State and out-of-State.
``(4) The plan includes, and shall update not less than
annually, a summary of the most recent feedback from foster
and adoptive parents and youth regarding licensure, training,
support, and reasons why parents stop fostering or why
adoptive or legal guardianship placements out of foster care
fail or foster and such adoptive of legal guardianship
families struggle to meet children's needs.
``(5) The plan includes, and shall update annually, a
report on the State's analysis of specific challenges or
barriers to recruiting, licensing, and utilizing families who
reflect the racial and ethnic background of children in
foster care in the State, and the State's efforts to overcome
those challenges and barriers.
``(6) The plan includes such other information relating to
foster and adoptive parent recruitment and retention as the
Secretary may require.''.
(b) Effective Date.--
(1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (2), the
amendment made by this subsection shall take effect on
October 1, 2026.
(2) Delay permitted if state legislation required.--In the
case of a State plan approved under subpart 1 of part B 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 this subsection, 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 subsection. For purposes of the
previous sentence, in the case of a State that has a 2-year
legislative session, each year of such session shall be
deemed to be a separate regular session of the State
legislature.
SEC. 3. INCLUSION OF INFORMATION ON FOSTER AND ADOPTIVE
FAMILIES IN ANNUAL CHILD WELFARE OUTCOMES
REPORT TO CONGRESS.
Section 479A(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.
679b(a)) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (6)(C), by striking ``and'' after the
semicolon;
(2) in paragraph (7)(B), by striking the period and
inserting ``; and''; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
``(8) include in the report submitted pursuant to paragraph
(5) for fiscal year 2025 or any succeeding fiscal year--
``(A) State-by-State data on the number, demographics, and
characteristics of foster and adoptive families in the State,
and the number of potential foster and adoptive families not
being utilized in the State and the reasons why;
``(B) a summary of the challenges of, and barriers to,
being a foster or adoptive parent, including with respect to
recruitment, licensure, engagement, retention, and why
parents stop fostering, adoptions disrupt or dissolve, or
foster or adoptive families struggle, as reported by States
based on surveys of foster and adoptive parents; and
``(C) a summary of the challenges and barriers States
reported on efforts to recruit a pool of families that
reflect the racial and ethnic background of children in
foster care in the State, and efforts to overcome those
barriers.''.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Missouri (Mr. Smith) and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Missouri.
General Leave
Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all
Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their
remarks and submit extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Missouri?
There was no objection.
Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the Recruiting Families Using
Data Act introduced by my Ways and Means colleagues, Representatives
Randy Feenstra and Brendan Boyle. This bill would make a relatively
straightforward but needed update to current law to promote State-level
recruitment of foster care families.
Thousands of loving parents open their homes every year to offer care
and support for children in need. By doing so, they provide shelter for
children who would otherwise be forced to stay in caseworker offices,
hospitals, or hotels. However, many of these same parents, for any
number of reasons, stop serving as foster families after only 1 year.
In short, there is a dire need for more foster families in our
communities. Much of the foster care system is coordinated at the State
level, which means we need to enlist the States in helping expand the
number of foster families.
Under current law, States are required, as a condition of receiving
funding, to have a plan in place to recruit foster and adoptive
families, but we know, based on an analysis by the Department of Health
and Human Services, that many States continue to face challenges.
This bill would build on existing law by calling on States receiving
Federal funding to develop family partnership plans that lay out their
specific process for finding potential foster families and recruiting
and retaining them in the foster care system.
The legislation also authorizes the evaluation of key data to ensure
we identify what efforts have been successful in expanding the
availability of foster families.
I thank Representatives Feenstra and Boyle for introducing this
legislation and for their bipartisan leadership on this issue.
Mr. Speaker, I encourage all my colleagues to support this
commonsense piece of legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 579,
the Recruiting Families Using Data Act.
This legislation is a good example of Congress doing the work our
constituents sent us here to do. Last Congress, my former colleague,
Dan Kildee, worked closely with Representative Feenstra to introduce
this bipartisan bill, which is based on solid research and the
fundamental principle that if we want to know what is best for foster
youth and their families, we should ask them.
The result was this bill, which would require States to create a new
family partnership plan to explain how they are identifying, screening,
engaging, and supporting foster and adoptive families, in consultation
with people with lived experience.
To me, one of the most critical aspects of this will be engaging with
the child's family, whether it is by placing foster children with
family members directly or making space for kin who can't be foster
parents to still support the child and the foster parents.
Last Congress, we marked up this bill in the Ways and Means Committee
and sent it to the floor with our unanimous consent. While it passed
the House on a strong bipartisan vote, I was disappointed that the bill
did not become law. I am glad to support it again. I believe it is a
strong complement to the
[[Page H964]]
bipartisan legislation we enacted last year reauthorizing child welfare
services, which included many good ideas from both sides of the aisle.
As we continue to hear that Elon Musk and his band of hackers are
rampaging through Federal agencies, including the Department of Health
and Human Services, firing policy experts, falsely accusing Americans
of fraud, freezing and terminating investments that were directed by
Congress, I hope we can return to the kind of partnership and genuine
concern for vulnerable Americans that sparked both bills.
Move fast and break stuff might be a good model for technology
companies, but it is wrong for the programs we have created to protect
children.
Mr. Speaker, I support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my
time.
Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may
consume to the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Feenstra).
Mr. FEENSTRA. Mr. Speaker, as a father of four, I believe that every
child deserves a safe and loving home.
Unfortunately, many vulnerable children in our foster care system
lack a family that they can call their own due to the shortage of
foster families.
This must change, and that is what this bill does.
My bill, the Recruiting Families Using Data Act, would help States
uphold and strengthen their diligent recruitment plans by improving
their processes with concrete facts and information that identifies,
recruits, and retains qualified foster care homes.
If we are going to address the problems facing the foster care
system, we need better data on those that are having a problem. That is
why this bill is so important.
This legislation would also establish a family advisory board to
share best practices, highlight financial obstacles facing foster
families, and keep foster families at the center of the systematic
changes for improvement.
With the right tools and right resources, we can find a caring home
for every child in our foster care program. That is why this bill is so
important.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to stand with me for foster
families, and support our children and vote for this wonderful bill.
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to
support this good bill to help ensure that children in foster care are
in safe, appropriate homes.
I further urge my colleagues to work with us to stop these
indiscriminate, illegal layoffs and funding cuts which threaten to
undermine the good bipartisan work we have done on behalf of vulnerable
children.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
{time} 1415
Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, nearly 400,000 American children
today are in the Nation's child welfare system and counting on us to
help them secure access to a permanent, loving, and stable home. At the
same time, thousands of parents across the Nation are ready and willing
to provide that love and shelter for kids in need. However, more must
be done to link those children with those families who will volunteer
to help.
The Recruiting Families Using Data Act will give States the tools and
incentives to grow the number of foster families able to care for kids
who might otherwise remain stuck in other parts of our welfare system.
It is a vote of confidence in the generosity and kindness of potential
foster families, and I encourage all of my colleagues to support this
legislation.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Crawford). The question is on the motion
offered by the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Smith) that the House
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 579.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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