[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 6]
[House]
[Pages 8562-8570]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  PREVENTING SEX TRAFFICKING AND IMPROVING OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUTH IN 
                            FOSTER CARE ACT

  Mr. REICHERT. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 4058) to prevent and address sex trafficking of youth in 
foster care, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 4058

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

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Preventing Sex Trafficking 
     and Improving Opportunities for Youth in Foster Care Act''.

     SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS.

       The table of contents of this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title.
Sec. 2. Table of contents.
Sec. 3. Findings.

  TITLE I--IDENTIFYING AND PROTECTING YOUTH AT RISK OF SEX TRAFFICKING

Sec. 101. Identifying and screening youth at risk of sex trafficking.
Sec. 102. Documenting and reporting instances of sex trafficking.
Sec. 103. State plan requirement to locate and respond to children who 
              run away from foster care.
Sec. 104. Increasing information on youth in foster care to prevent sex 
              trafficking.

    TITLE II--IMPROVING OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUTH IN FOSTER CARE AND 
                         SUPPORTING PERMANENCY

Sec. 201. Supporting normalcy for children in foster care.
Sec. 202. Improvements to another planned permanent living arrangement 
              as a permanency option.
Sec. 203. Empowering foster youth age 14 and older in the development 
              of their own case plan and transition planning for a 
              successful adulthood.
Sec. 204. Ensuring foster youth have a birth certificate, Social 
              Security card, health insurance information, medical 
              records, and a bank account.

[[Page 8563]]

    TITLE III--IMPROVING DATA COLLECTION AND REPORTING ON CHILD SEX 
                              TRAFFICKING

Sec. 301. Including sex trafficking data in the Adoption and Foster 
              Care Analysis and Reporting System.
Sec. 302. Information on children in foster care in annual reports 
              using AFCARS data; consultation.

  TITLE IV--IMPROVING THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY TO INCREASE CHILD SUPPORT 
                              COLLECTIONS

Sec. 401. Required electronic processing of income withholding.

     SEC. 3. FINDINGS.

       The Congress makes the following findings:
       (1) Recent reports on sex trafficking estimate that 
     thousands of children are at risk for domestic sex 
     trafficking.
       (2) The risk is compounded every year for the up to 30,000 
     young people who are ``emancipated'' from foster care.
       (3) The current child welfare system does not effectively 
     identify, prevent, or intervene when a child presents as 
     trafficked or at risk for trafficking.
       (4) Within the foster care system, many young adults are 
     housed in congregate care facilities or group homes, which 
     often are targeted by traffickers.
       (5) Within the foster care system, children are routinely 
     denied the opportunity to participate in normal, age or 
     developmentally-appropriate activities such as joining 4-H 
     and other clubs, participating in school plays, playing 
     sports, going to camp, and visiting a friend.
       (6) A lack of normalcy and barriers to participation in age 
     or developmentally-appropriate activities contribute to 
     increased vulnerability to trafficking, homelessness, and 
     other negative outcomes for children in foster care.
       (7) The latest research in adolescent brain development 
     indicates that young people learn through experience and 
     through trial and error, and that as part of healthy brain 
     development young people need to take on increasing levels of 
     decisionmaking through their teenage years.
       (8) In order to combat domestic sex trafficking and to 
     improve outcomes for children in foster care, systemic 
     changes need to be made to the child welfare system that 
     focus on--
       (A) the reduction of children in long-term foster care;
       (B) greater child engagement in case planning while in 
     foster care;
       (C) improved efforts to locate and respond to children who 
     have run away from foster care and to reduce the number of 
     foster children who are on the run;
       (D) improved policies and procedures that encourage age or 
     developmentally-appropriate activities for children in foster 
     care and that permit more opportunities for such children to 
     make meaningful and permanent connections with caring adults; 
     and
       (E) with regard to domestic sex trafficking, improved 
     identification, prevention, and intervention by the child 
     welfare agency in collaboration with the courts, State and 
     local law enforcement agencies, schools, juvenile justice 
     agencies, and other social service providers.

  TITLE I--IDENTIFYING AND PROTECTING YOUTH AT RISK OF SEX TRAFFICKING

     SEC. 101. IDENTIFYING AND SCREENING YOUTH AT RISK OF SEX 
                   TRAFFICKING.

       Section 471(a)(9) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
     671(a)(9)) is amended--
       (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``and'';
       (2) in subparagraph (B), by inserting ``and'' after the 
     semicolon; and
       (3) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(C) not later than--
       ``(i) 1 year after the date of the enactment of this 
     subparagraph, demonstrate to the Secretary that the State 
     agency has developed, in consultation with organizations with 
     experience in dealing with at-risk youth, policies and 
     procedures for identifying and screening (including relevant 
     training for caseworkers), and for determining appropriate 
     State action and services with respect to--

       ``(I) any child over whom the State agency has 
     responsibility for placement, care, or supervision (including 
     children for whom a State child welfare agency has an open 
     case file but who have not been removed from the home and 
     youth who are not in foster care but are receiving services 
     under section 477 of this Act) who the State has reasonable 
     cause to believe--

       ``(aa) is a victim of sex trafficking (as defined in 
     section 103(10) of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 
     2000 (22 U.S.C. 7102(10))) or a severe form of trafficking in 
     persons described in section 103(9)(A) of such Act (22 U.S.C. 
     7102(9)(A)); or
       ``(bb) is at risk of being a victim of either kind of 
     trafficking; and

       ``(II) at the option of the State, any individual, without 
     regard to whether the individual is or was in foster care 
     under the responsibility of the State, who has not attained 
     26 years of age; and

       ``(ii) 2 years after such date of enactment, demonstrate to 
     the Secretary that the State agency is implementing, in 
     consultation with the child protective services agency or 
     unit for the State, the policies and procedures referred to 
     in clause (i).''.

     SEC. 102. DOCUMENTING AND REPORTING INSTANCES OF SEX 
                   TRAFFICKING.

       (a) State Plan Requirements.--Section 471(a) of the Social 
     Security Act (42 U.S.C. 671(a)) is amended--
       (1) by striking ``and'' at the end of paragraph (32);
       (2) by striking the period at the end of paragraph (33) and 
     inserting a semicolon; and
       (3) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(34) provides that, for each child over whom the State 
     agency has responsibility for placement, care, or supervision 
     (including any child for whom a State child welfare agency 
     has an open case file but who has not been removed from the 
     home, and any youth who is not in foster care but is 
     receiving services under section 477), the State agency 
     shall--
       ``(A) not later than 2 years after the date of the 
     enactment of this paragraph, identify and document 
     appropriately in agency records each child who is identified 
     as being a victim of sex trafficking (as defined in section 
     103(10) of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000) or 
     as being a victim of severe forms of trafficking in persons 
     described in section 103(9)(A) of such Act, as such a victim; 
     and
       ``(B) report immediately, and in no case later than 24 
     hours after receiving--
       ``(i) information on children who have been identified as 
     being victims of sex trafficking (as defined in subparagraph 
     (A) of this paragraph) to the law enforcement authorities; 
     and
       ``(ii) information on missing or abducted children to the 
     law enforcement authorities for entry into the National Crime 
     Information Center (NCIC) database of the Federal Bureau of 
     Investigation, established pursuant to section 534 of title 
     28, United States Code, and to the National Center for 
     Missing and Exploited Children; and
       ``(35) not later than 2 years after the date of the 
     enactment of this paragraph, contains a regularly updated 
     description, made available to the public on the Internet 
     website of the State agency, of the specific measures taken 
     by the State agency to protect and provide services to 
     children who are victims of sex trafficking (as defined in 
     section 103(10) of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 
     2000), or victims of severe forms of trafficking in persons 
     described in section 103(9)(A) of such Act, including efforts 
     to coordinate with State and local law enforcement, schools, 
     juvenile justice agencies, and social service agencies such 
     as runaway and homeless youth shelters and transitional and 
     other supportive housing providers to serve that 
     population.''.
       (b) Regulations.--The Secretary of Health and Human 
     Services shall promulgate regulations implementing the 
     amendments made by subsection (a) of this section and shall 
     provide uniform definitions for States to use for the reports 
     required under section 471(a)(34)(B) of the Social Security 
     Act, as added by such subsection (a).

     SEC. 103. STATE PLAN REQUIREMENT TO LOCATE AND RESPOND TO 
                   CHILDREN WHO RUN AWAY FROM FOSTER CARE.

       Section 471(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
     671(a)), as amended by section 102 of this Act, is amended--
       (1) by striking ``and'' at the end of paragraph (34);
       (2) by striking the period at the end of paragraph (35) and 
     inserting ``; and''; and
       (3) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(36) provides that, not later than 1 year after the date 
     of the enactment of this paragraph, the State shall develop 
     and implement specific protocols for--
       ``(A) expeditiously locating any child missing from foster 
     care;
       ``(B) determining the primary factors that contributed to 
     the child's running away or otherwise being absent from care, 
     and to the extent possible and appropriate, responding to 
     those factors in current and subsequent placements;
       ``(C) determining the child's experiences while absent from 
     care, including screening the child to determine if he or she 
     is a possible victim of sex trafficking (as defined in 
     paragraph (9)(C)); and
       ``(D) reporting such related information as required by the 
     Secretary.''.

     SEC. 104. INCREASING INFORMATION ON YOUTH IN FOSTER CARE TO 
                   PREVENT SEX TRAFFICKING.

       Not later than 2 years after the date of the enactment of 
     this Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall 
     submit to the Congress a written report which summarizes the 
     following:
       (1) Information on children who run away from foster care 
     and their risk of becoming victims of sex trafficking, using 
     data reported by States under section 479 of the Social 
     Security Act and information collected by States related to 
     section 471(a)(36) of such Act, including--
       (A) characteristics of children who run away from foster 
     care;
       (B) potential factors associated with children running away 
     from foster care (such as reason for entry into care, length 
     of stay in care, type of placement, and other factors that 
     contributed to the child's running away);
       (C) information on children's experiences while absent from 
     care; and

[[Page 8564]]

       (D) trends in the number of children reported as runaways 
     in each fiscal year (including factors that may have 
     contributed to changes in such trends).
       (2) Information on State efforts to provide specialized 
     services, foster family homes, or child care institutions for 
     children who are victims of sex trafficking.
       (3) Information on State efforts to ensure children in 
     foster care form and maintain long-lasting connections to 
     caring adults, even when a child in foster care must move to 
     another foster family home or when the child is placed under 
     the supervision of a new caseworker.

    TITLE II--IMPROVING OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUTH IN FOSTER CARE AND 
                         SUPPORTING PERMANENCY

     SEC. 201. SUPPORTING NORMALCY FOR CHILDREN IN FOSTER CARE.

       (a) Reasonable and Prudent Parent Standard.--
       (1) Definitions relating to the standard.--Section 475 of 
     the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 675) is amended by adding 
     at the end the following:
       ``(9)(A) The term `reasonable and prudent parent standard' 
     means the standard characterized by careful and sensible 
     parental decisions that maintain the health, safety, and best 
     interests of a child while at the same time encouraging the 
     emotional and developmental growth of the child, that a 
     caregiver shall use when determining whether to allow a child 
     in foster care under the responsibility of the State to 
     participate in extracurricular, enrichment, cultural, and 
     social activities.
       ``(B) For purposes of subparagraph (A), the term 
     `caregiver' means a foster parent with whom a child in foster 
     care has been placed or a designated official for a child 
     care institution in which a child in foster care has been 
     placed.
       ``(10) The term `age or developmentally-appropriate' 
     means--
       ``(A) activities or items that are generally accepted as 
     suitable for children of the same chronological age or level 
     of maturity or that are determined to be developmentally-
     appropriate for a child, based on the development of 
     cognitive, emotional, physical, and behavioral capacities 
     that are typical for an age or age group; and
       ``(B) in the case of a specific child, activities or items 
     that are suitable for the child based on the developmental 
     stages attained by the child with respect to the cognitive, 
     emotional, physical, and behavioral capacities of the 
     child.''.
       (2) State plan requirement.--Section 471(a)(24) of such Act 
     (42 U.S.C. 671(a)(24)) is amended--
       (A) by striking ``include'' and inserting ``includes'';
       (B) by striking ``and that such preparation'' and inserting 
     ``that the preparation''; and
       (C) by inserting ``, and that the preparation shall include 
     knowledge and skills relating to the reasonable and prudent 
     parent standard for the participation of the child in age or 
     developmentally-appropriate activities, including knowledge 
     and skills relating to the developmental stages of the 
     cognitive, emotional, physical, and behavioral capacities of 
     a child, and knowledge and skills relating to applying the 
     standard to decisions such as whether to allow the child to 
     engage in social, extracurricular, enrichment, cultural, and 
     social activities, including sports, field trips, and 
     overnight activities lasting 1 or more days, and to decisions 
     involving the signing of permission slips and arranging of 
     transportation for the child to and from extracurricular, 
     enrichment, and social activities'' before the semicolon.
       (3) Technical assistance.--The Secretary of Health and 
     Human Services shall provide assistance to the States on best 
     practices for devising strategies to assist foster parents in 
     applying a reasonable and prudent parent standard in a manner 
     that protects child safety, while also allowing children to 
     experience normal and beneficial activities, including 
     methods for appropriately considering the concerns of the 
     biological parents of a child in decisions related to 
     participation of the child in activities (with the 
     understanding that those concerns should not necessarily 
     determine the participation of the child in any activity).
       (b) Normalcy for Children in Child Care Institutions.--
     Section 471(a)(10) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 671(a)(10)) is 
     amended to read as follows:
       ``(10) provides--
       ``(A) for the establishment or designation of a State 
     authority or authorities that shall be responsible for 
     establishing and maintaining standards for foster family 
     homes and child care institutions which are reasonably in 
     accord with recommended standards of national organizations 
     concerned with standards for the institutions or homes, 
     including standards related to admission policies, safety, 
     sanitation, and protection of civil rights, and which shall 
     permit use of the reasonable and prudent parenting standard;
       ``(B) that the standards established pursuant to 
     subparagraph (A) shall be applied by the State to any foster 
     family home or child care institution receiving funds under 
     this part or part B and shall require, as a condition of any 
     contract entered into by the State agency and a child care 
     institution, the presence on-site of at least 1 official who, 
     with respect to any child placed at the child care 
     institution, is designated to be the caregiver who is 
     authorized to apply the reasonable and prudent parent 
     standard to decisions involving the participation of the 
     child in age or developmentally-appropriate activities, and 
     who is provided with training in how to use and apply the 
     reasonable and prudent parent standard in the same manner as 
     prospective foster parents are provided the training pursuant 
     to paragraph (24);
       ``(C) that the standards established pursuant to 
     subparagraph (A) shall include policies related to the 
     liability of foster parents and private entities under 
     contract by the State involving the application of the 
     reasonable and prudent parent standard, to ensure appropriate 
     liability for caregivers when a child participates in an 
     approved activity and the caregiver approving the activity 
     acts in accordance with the reasonable and prudent parent 
     standard; and
       ``(D) that a waiver of any standards established pursuant 
     to subparagraph (A) may be made only on a case-by-case basis 
     for nonsafety standards (as determined by the State) in 
     relative foster family homes for specific children in 
     care;''.
       (c) Effective Date.--
       (1) In general.--The amendments made by this section shall 
     take effect on the date that is 1 year after the date of the 
     enactment of this Act, without regard to whether regulations 
     to implement the amendments have been promulgated by that 
     date.
       (2) Delay permitted if state legislation required.--If the 
     Secretary of Health and Human Services determines that State 
     legislation (other than legislation appropriating funds) is 
     required in order for a State plan developed pursuant to part 
     E of title IV of the Social Security Act to meet the 
     additional requirements imposed by the amendments made by 
     this section, the plan shall not be regarded as failing to 
     meet any of the additional requirements before the 1st day of 
     the 1st calendar quarter beginning after the 1st regular 
     session of the State legislature that begins after the date 
     of the enactment of this Act. If the State has a 2-year 
     legislative session, each year of the session is deemed to be 
     a separate regular session of the State legislature.

     SEC. 202. IMPROVEMENTS TO ANOTHER PLANNED PERMANENT LIVING 
                   ARRANGEMENT AS A PERMANENCY OPTION.

       (a) Elimination of the Option for Children Under Age 16.--
       (1) In general.--Section 475(5)(C)(i) of the Social 
     Security Act (42 U.S.C. 675(5)(C)(i)) is amended by inserting 
     ``only in the case of a child who has attained 16 years of 
     age'' before ``(in cases where''.
       (2) Conforming amendment.--Section 422(b)(8)(A)(iii)(II) of 
     such Act (42 U.S.C. 622(b)(8)(A)(iii)(II)) is amended by 
     inserting ``, subject to the requirements of sections 
     475(5)(C) and 475A(a)'' after ``arrangement''.
       (b) Additional Requirements.--
       (1) In general.--Part E of title IV of such Act (42 U.S.C. 
     670 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 475 the 
     following:

     ``SEC. 475A. ADDITIONAL CASE PLAN AND CASE REVIEW SYSTEM 
                   REQUIREMENTS.

       ``(a) Requirements for Another Planned Permanent Living 
     Arrangement.--In the case of any child for whom another 
     planned permanent living arrangement is the permanency plan 
     for the child, the following requirements shall apply for 
     purposes of approving the case plan for the child and the 
     case system review procedure for the child:
       ``(1) Documentation of intensive, ongoing, unsuccessful 
     efforts for family placement.--At each permanency hearing 
     held with respect to the child, the State agency documents 
     the intensive, ongoing, and, as of the date of the hearing, 
     unsuccessful efforts made by the State agency to return the 
     child home or secure a placement for the child with a fit and 
     willing relative (including adult siblings), a legal 
     guardian, or an adoptive parent, including through efforts 
     that utilize search technology (including social media) to 
     find biological family members for children in the child 
     welfare system.
       ``(2) Redetermination of appropriateness of placement at 
     each permanency hearing.--The State agency shall implement 
     procedures to ensure that, at each permanency hearing held 
     with respect to the child, the court or administrative body 
     appointed or approved by the court conducting the hearing on 
     the permanency plan for the child does the following:
       ``(A) Ask the child about the desired permanency outcome 
     for the child.
       ``(B) Make a judicial determination explaining why, as of 
     the date of the hearing, another planned permanent living 
     arrangement is the best permanency plan for the child and 
     provide compelling reasons why it continues to not be in the 
     best interests of the child to--
       ``(i) return home;
       ``(ii) be placed for adoption;
       ``(iii) be placed with a legal guardian; or
       ``(iv) be placed with a fit and willing relative.
       ``(3) Demonstration of support for engaging in age or 
     developmentally-appropriate activities and social events.--At 
     each permanency hearing held with respect to the child, the 
     State agency shall document the steps the State agency is 
     taking to

[[Page 8565]]

     ensure the child's foster family home or child care 
     institution is following the reasonable and prudent parent 
     standard.''.
       (2) Conforming amendments.--
       (A) State plan requirements.--
       (i) Part b.--Section 422(b)(8)(A)(ii) of such Act (42 
     U.S.C. 622(b)(8)(A)(ii)) is amended by inserting ``and in 
     accordance with the requirements of section 475A'' after 
     ``section 475(5)''.
       (ii) Part e.--Section 471(a)(16) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 
     671(a)(16)) is amended--

       (I) by inserting ``and in accordance with the requirements 
     of section 475A'' after ``section 475(1)''; and
       (II) by striking ``section 475(5)(B)'' and inserting 
     ``sections 475(5) and 475A''.

       (B) Definitions.--Section 475 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 675) 
     is amended--
       (i) in paragraph (1), in the matter preceding subparagraph 
     (A), by inserting ``meets the requirements of section 475A 
     and'' after ``written document which''; and
       (ii) in paragraph (5)(C)--

       (I) by inserting ``, as of the date of the hearing,'' after 
     ``compelling reason for determining''; and
       (II) by inserting ``subject to section 475A(a),'' after 
     ``another planned permanent living arrangement,''.

       (c) Effective Date.--
       (1) In general.--The amendments made by this section shall 
     take effect on the date that is 1 year after the date of the 
     enactment of this Act.
       (2) Delay permitted if state legislation required.--If the 
     Secretary of Health and Human Services determines that State 
     legislation (other than legislation appropriating funds) is 
     required in order for a State plan developed pursuant to part 
     E of title IV of the Social Security Act to meet the 
     additional requirements imposed by the amendments made by 
     this section, the plan shall not be regarded as failing to 
     meet any of the additional requirements before the 1st day of 
     the 1st calendar quarter beginning after the 1st regular 
     session of the State legislature that begins after the date 
     of the enactment of this Act. If the State has a 2-year 
     legislative session, each year of the session is deemed to be 
     a separate regular session of the State legislature.

     SEC. 203. EMPOWERING FOSTER YOUTH AGE 14 AND OLDER IN THE 
                   DEVELOPMENT OF THEIR OWN CASE PLAN AND 
                   TRANSITION PLANNING FOR A SUCCESSFUL ADULTHOOD.

       (a) In General.--Section 475(1)(B) of the Social Security 
     Act (42 U.S.C. 675(1)(B)) is amended by adding at the end the 
     following: ``With respect to a child who has attained 14 
     years of age, the plan developed for the child in accordance 
     with this paragraph, and any revision or addition to the 
     plan, shall be developed in consultation with the child and, 
     at the option of the child, with up to 2 members of the case 
     planning team who are chosen by the child and who are not a 
     foster parent of, or caseworker for, the child. A State may 
     reject an individual selected by a child to be a member of 
     the case planning team at any time if the State has good 
     cause to believe that the individual would not act in the 
     best interests of the child. One individual selected by a 
     child to be a member of the child's case planning team may be 
     designated to be the child's advisor and, as necessary, 
     advocate, with respect to the application of the reasonable 
     and prudent parent standard to the child.''.
       (b) Conforming Amendments to Include Children 14 and Older 
     in Transition Planning.--Section 475 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 
     675) is amended--
       (1) in paragraph (1)(D), by striking ``Where appropriate, 
     for a child age 16'' and inserting ``For a child who has 
     attained 14 years of age''; and
       (2) in paragraph (5)--
       (A) in subparagraph (C)--
       (i) by striking ``and'' at the end of clause (ii); and
       (ii) by adding at the end the following: ``and (iv) if a 
     child has attained 14 years of age, the permanency plan 
     developed for the child, and any revision or addition to the 
     plan, shall be developed in consultation with the child and, 
     at the option of the child, with not more than 2 members of 
     the permanency planning team who are selected by the child 
     and who are not a foster parent of, or caseworker for, the 
     child, except that the State may reject an individual so 
     selected by the child if the State has good cause to believe 
     that the individual would not act in the best interests of 
     the child, and 1 individual so selected by the child may be 
     designated to be the child's advisor and, as necessary, 
     advocate, with respect to the application of the reasonable 
     and prudent standard to the child;''; and
       (B) in subparagraph (I), by striking ``16'' and inserting 
     ``14''.
       (c) Transition Planning for a Successful Adulthood.--
     Paragraphs (1)(D), (5)(C)(i), and (5)(C)(iii) of section 475 
     of such Act (42 U.S.C. 675) are each amended by striking 
     ``independent living'' and inserting ``a successful 
     adulthood''.
       (d) List of Rights.--Section 475A of such Act, as added by 
     section 202(b)(1) of this Act, is amended by adding at the 
     end the following:
       ``(b) List of Rights.--The case plan for any child in 
     foster care under the responsibility of the State who has 
     attained 14 years of age shall include a document that 
     describes the rights of the child with respect to education, 
     health, visitation, and court participation, and to staying 
     safe and avoiding exploitation, and a signed acknowledgment 
     by the child that the child has been provided with a copy of 
     the document and that the rights contained in the document 
     have been explained to the child in an age-appropriate 
     way.''.
       (e) Report.--Not later than 2 years after the date of the 
     enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and Human 
     Services shall submit a report to Congress regarding the 
     implementation of the amendments made by this section. The 
     report shall include--
       (1) an analysis of how States are administering the 
     requirements of paragraphs (1)(B) and (5)(C) of section 475 
     of the Social Security Act, as amended by subsections (a) and 
     (b) of this section, that a child in foster care who has 
     attained 14 years of age be permitted to select up to 2 
     members of the case planning team or permanency planning team 
     for the child from individuals who are not a foster parent 
     of, or caseworker for, the child; and
       (2) a description of best practices of States with respect 
     to the administration of the requirements.
       (f) Effective Date.--
       (1) In general.--The amendments made by this section shall 
     take effect on the date that is 1 year after the date of the 
     enactment of this Act.
       (2) Delay permitted if state legislation required.--If the 
     Secretary of Health and Human Services determines that State 
     legislation (other than legislation appropriating funds) is 
     required in order for a State plan developed pursuant to part 
     E of title IV of the Social Security Act to meet the 
     additional requirements imposed by the amendments made by 
     this section, the plan shall not be regarded as failing to 
     meet any of the additional requirements before the 1st day of 
     the 1st calendar quarter beginning after the 1st regular 
     session of the State legislature that begins after the date 
     of the enactment of this Act. If the State has a 2-year 
     legislative session, each year of the session is deemed to be 
     a separate regular session of the State legislature.

     SEC. 204. ENSURING FOSTER YOUTH HAVE A BIRTH CERTIFICATE, 
                   SOCIAL SECURITY CARD, HEALTH INSURANCE 
                   INFORMATION, MEDICAL RECORDS, AND A BANK 
                   ACCOUNT.

       (a) Case Review System Requirement.--Section 475(5)(I) of 
     the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 675(5)(I)) is amended--
       (1) by striking ``and receives assistance'' and inserting 
     ``receives assistance''; and
       (2) by inserting ``, and, unless the child has been in 
     foster care for less than 6 months or the child is being 
     discharged from care to be reunited with the family of the 
     child or to be adopted, is not discharged from care without 
     being provided with an official birth certificate of the 
     child, a social security card issued by the Commissioner of 
     Social Security, health insurance information and medical 
     records, and if the child has attained 18 years of age, a 
     fee-free (or low-fee) transaction account (as defined in 
     section 19(b)(1)(C) of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 
     461(b)(1)(C))) established in the name of the child name at 
     an insured depository institution (as defined in section 3 of 
     the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1813)) or an 
     insured credit union (as defined in section 101 of the 
     Federal Credit Union Act (12 U.S.C. 1752)), unless the child, 
     after consultation with the members of the case planning team 
     for the child selected by the child (if any), elects to not 
     have such an account established'' before the period.
       (b) Effective Date.--
       (1) In general.--The amendments made by this section shall 
     take effect 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act.
       (2) Delay permitted if state legislation required.--If the 
     Secretary of Health and Human Services determines that State 
     legislation (other than legislation appropriating funds) is 
     required in order for a State plan developed pursuant to part 
     E of title IV of the Social Security Act to meet the 
     additional requirements imposed by the amendments made by 
     this section, the plan shall not be regarded as failing to 
     meet any of the additional requirements before the 1st day of 
     the 1st calendar quarter beginning after the 1st regular 
     session of the State legislature that begins after the date 
     of the enactment of this Act. If the State has a 2-year 
     legislative session, each year of the session is deemed to be 
     a separate regular session of the State legislature.

    TITLE III--IMPROVING DATA COLLECTION AND REPORTING ON CHILD SEX 
                              TRAFFICKING

     SEC. 301. INCLUDING SEX TRAFFICKING DATA IN THE ADOPTION AND 
                   FOSTER CARE ANALYSIS AND REPORTING SYSTEM.

       (a) In General.--Section 479(c)(3) of the Social Security 
     Act (42 U.S.C. 679(c)(3)) is amended--
       (1) in subparagraph (C)(iii), by striking ``and'' after the 
     comma; and
       (2) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(E) the annual number of children in foster care who are 
     identified as victims of sex trafficking (as defined in 
     section 103(10) of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of

[[Page 8566]]

     2000 (22 U.S.C. 7102(10))) or a severe form of trafficking in 
     persons described in section 103(9)(A) of such Act--
       ``(i) who were such victims before entering foster care; 
     and
       ``(ii) who were such victims while in foster care; and''.
       (b) Report to Congress.--Beginning in fiscal year 2016, the 
     Secretary of Health and Human Services shall submit an annual 
     report to Congress that contains the annual aggregate number 
     of children in foster care who are identified as victims of 
     sex trafficking (as defined in section 103(10) of the 
     Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 
     7102(10))) or a severe form of trafficking in persons 
     described in section 103(9)(A) of such Act, together with 
     such other information as the Secretary determines 
     appropriate relating to the identification of, and provision 
     of services for, that population of children.

     SEC. 302. INFORMATION ON CHILDREN IN FOSTER CARE IN ANNUAL 
                   REPORTS USING AFCARS DATA; CONSULTATION.

       Section 479A of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 679b) is 
     amended--
       (1) by striking ``The Secretary'' and inserting the 
     following:
       ``(a) In General.--The Secretary'';
       (2) in paragraph (5), by striking ``and'' after the 
     semicolon;
       (3) in paragraph (6)(C), by striking the period at the end 
     and inserting a semicolon;
       (4) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(7) include in the report submitted pursuant to paragraph 
     (5) for fiscal year 2016 or any succeeding fiscal year, 
     State-by-State data on children in foster care who have been 
     placed in a child care institution or other setting that is 
     not a foster family home, including--
       ``(A) the number of children in the placements and their 
     ages, including separately, the number and ages of children 
     who have a permanency plan of another planned permanent 
     living arrangement;
       ``(B) the duration of the placement in the settings 
     (including for children who have a permanency plan of another 
     planned permanent living arrangement);
       ``(C) the types of child care institutions used (including 
     group homes, residential treatment, shelters, or other 
     congregate care settings);
       ``(D) with respect to each child care institution or other 
     setting that is not a foster family home, the number of 
     children in foster care residing in each such institution or 
     non-foster family home;
       ``(E) any clinically diagnosed special need of such 
     children; and
       ``(F) the extent of any specialized education, treatment, 
     counseling, or other services provided in the settings; and
       ``(8) include in the report submitted pursuant to paragraph 
     (5) for fiscal year 2016 or any succeeding fiscal year, 
     State-by-State data on children in foster care who are 
     pregnant or parenting.''; and
       (5) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(b) Consultation on Other Issues.--The Secretary shall 
     consult with States and organizations with an interest in 
     child welfare, including organizations that provide adoption 
     and foster care services, and shall take into account 
     requests from Members of Congress, in selecting other issues 
     to be analyzed and reported on under this section using data 
     available to the Secretary, including data reported by States 
     through the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting 
     System and to the National Youth in Transition Database.''.

  TITLE IV--IMPROVING THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY TO INCREASE CHILD SUPPORT 
                              COLLECTIONS

     SEC. 401. REQUIRED ELECTRONIC PROCESSING OF INCOME 
                   WITHHOLDING.

       (a) In General.--Section 454A(g)(1) of the Social Security 
     Act (42 U.S.C. 654a(g)(1)(A)) is amended--
       (1) by striking ``, to the maximum extent feasible,''; and
       (2) in subparagraph (A)--
       (A) by striking ``and'' at the end of clause (i);
       (B) by adding ``and'' at the end of clause (ii); and
       (C) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(iii) at the option of the employer, using the electronic 
     transmission methods prescribed by the Secretary;''.
       (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) 
     shall take effect on October 1, 2017.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Washington (Mr. Reichert) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Doggett) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Washington.


                             General Leave

  Mr. REICHERT. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks 
and to include extraneous material on the subject of the bill under 
consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Washington?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. REICHERT. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  I rise today to urge the support of H.R. 4058, the Preventing Sex 
Trafficking and Improving Opportunities for Youth in Foster Care Act.
  This is a bipartisan bill that I strongly believe will help end sex 
trafficking, especially of children in foster care.
  Madam Speaker, I don't know if you know or the other Members who may 
be listening today or anyone else who may be listening know that, if 
you are driving down the street and you see 10 young girls standing on 
the street corner, that six of those 10 young girls who are in human 
trafficking, six of those are in foster care--six out of 10--and those 
are young children that the State, that the taxpayers, that we as 
citizens of this community--of our communities--are responsible for, 
and they are on the street.
  I am pleased to have worked with my colleague and ranking member on 
the Human Resources Subcommittee, Mr. Doggett. There are many 
colleagues who have also supported this legislation.
  Today, I am here. This is the beginning of my 10th year in Congress. 
Prior to that, I was in law enforcement, for 33 years, in the King 
County Sheriff's Office in Seattle, Washington.
  For 19 of those years, there was a team created to go after the most 
notorious serial killer that this country has ever seen. His name was 
Ridgway. My quest in that case, to find Gary Ridgway, started in 1982. 
I was a 31-year-old detective.
  One body on August 12, two more bodies on August 15; I found a third 
body on that same day, going down to the riverbank to recover the other 
two bodies. These were 16-year-old girls.
  This is a topic that we should be talking about here in Congress.
  When I was 32 in 1982 and I started working on this case--and we 
finally arrested Ridgway in 2001, so 1982 until 2001--Ridgway said he 
killed 60 to 70 women. He pled guilty to 49. We closed 51 cases. I 
collected the bodies. I collected the bodies of 15 and 16-year-old 
girls.
  They were buried in shallow graves or thrown in a river to drift 
away. Madam Speaker, some of these victims were pregnant, thrown in a 
grave along with their unborn child, their life cut short and taken. In 
some weeks, we collected six bodies.
  Can you imagine the horror of the children when they were abducted 
and drawn into this killer's car or taken to his home? They knew they 
were being killed. They were strangled, and they fought for their 
lives.
  Can you imagine the horror of the parents, the grandparents, the 
aunts and uncles, the brothers and sisters, and the children lost 
forever, their life ripped away?
  That is why we are here today. That is why we are discussing these 
bills. This is about life; it is about death, and we can save lives. 
Some Members here have mentioned that we can save lives today. I hope 
the Senate has the courage to follow through on these bills. We are 
doing our work here in the House of Representatives.
  When I was on the banks of the Green River in 1982, I wondered who in 
the world is there who cares; and after 15 years of working the case, 
who cares, who cared about these young girls?
  I can tell you, after talking to a number of those young women on the 
street and girls and children, they were wondering, too: Does anybody 
care? Does anybody even know I exist? Does anybody even know I am here 
and what I am going through? I need love. I need help.
  One of those girls that I found in early 1982, that was found in 
1982, was a young woman named Wendy Coffield. Wendy Coffield was a 
foster child. She had run away from home before; and this time, when 
she ran away from home, nobody was looking for her. No one cared. She 
disappeared, and no one cared, and then she was found, she was found 
dead.
  These are the kids we have to help. My bill focuses on foster kids. 
Six out of 10 involved in human trafficking today are foster kids.
  We had some hearings, of course, over the past few months, and there

[[Page 8567]]

were some courageous young women who came forward to tell their stories 
in our subcommittee, and I want to mention their names because it took 
a lot of courage to come forward and tell their stories about their 
lives and what they went through and the feeling of nobody caring.
  Withelma ``T'' Ortiz Walker Pettigrew is a sex trafficking survivor 
who experienced 14 foster care placements and was exploited into the 
sex trafficking trade as a child. This year, though, she was recognized 
by Time magazine as one of the top 100 most influential people in 2014. 
Talk about turning around your life and having an impact and influence 
on other people. ``T'' Ortiz Pettigrew has done it.
  Noel Gomez, Seattle Organization for Prostitution Survivors, Gomez 
survived 15 years in the sex trafficking trade and is working to help 
kids stay out and to get out of the sex trafficking trade.

                              {time}  1700

  Mandy Urwiler, she entered foster care at the age of 15 and had 
remained in care throughout her extended foster care program. She 
testified about her personal experience in foster care and her exposure 
to the sex trafficking world.
  Talitha James, a former foster youth from California, was able to 
leave the system at age 14 after her aunt gave her a stable home.
  After hearing from her and many other experts, Mr. Doggett and myself 
introduced bipartisan legislation to help every State better protect 
youth in foster care from sex trafficking. This bill requires States to 
identify victims and to provide them with the services they need to 
heal. It would also improve data on instances of child trafficking.
  On a preventative front, the bill makes sure that the youth can 
participate in age appropriate activities so they are less vulnerable 
to trafficking. It encourages States to move forward, moving children 
out of foster care and into permanent, loving homes.
  The approach we are taking is practical. It is bipartisan. It is 
based on the State's experience. This bill incorporates a wide range of 
ideas gleaned from bills introduced by members of the Ways and Means 
Committee like Mr. Paulsen, as well as ideas from over 150 pages of 
public comments that we received from our December discussion draft.
  I am confident that this legislation will ensure that all States take 
real steps to better understand the problem and keep kids safe while in 
foster care. I urge all Members to support this legislation.
  I want to thank Mr. Doggett, who joins me on the floor today. I want 
to thank Chairman Camp for his support, Ranking Member Levin for his 
support, and all those others who have signed on to the bill.
  We are here today, as I said, to protect vulnerable children in 
foster care and work to find them loving homes. That is why we are 
here. We are here to save lives. Both parties have worked together.
  We have received support for this bill from the American Bar 
Association, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, 
the American Public Human Services Association, Children's Defense 
Fund, the Human Rights Project for Girls, National Children's Alliance, 
and eight others. They proudly indicated their support for this 
important legislation.
  I invite all Members to join us in supporting this important 
bipartisan legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. DOGGETT. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Madam Speaker, I join in supporting this bill to combat sex 
trafficking of children that are in the foster care system. When 
children come into foster care, they are at risk for exploitation 
because of the abuse and neglect that they have already suffered in 
their original family and because of the sense of isolation that they 
often feel when they have suddenly been removed from their home. Those 
who prey on children, especially sex traffickers, know this and they 
take advantage of these youth.
  Children are removed from their home; they are bounced around from 
one place to another often; and then, in my State, when they reach 18, 
they are told they are on their own. That is a situation that invites, 
especially for young women, the dangerous sex trafficking in which they 
are exploited.
  There is bipartisan support for this bill. It originated from a 
thoughtful hearing, with some very strong witnesses describing the 
problem. It is bipartisan. It is also a modest step forward. It is 
redirecting our welfare agencies, our child welfare agencies around the 
country, in what they do. I think that it will provide some modest help 
in saving lives.
  It would do even more if, instead of just new requirements for these 
States, it were adding new resources. It adds very little in the way of 
resources, but I think it will be helpful in directing the attention of 
each of these agencies in the various States to focus on this very 
serious problem, to give us the data to make the argument to do more in 
the future.
  Because so many of these young people will eventually age out of the 
system after having been moved around from one home to another, it is 
important that we help them be able to move into the workforce. In that 
regard, there was a problem with the bill when one particular provision 
was removed from the bill because it cost about a million dollars in 
additional administrative expenses and there was apparently no way 
found to cover that cost.
  I believe that providing a young person who ages out at age 18 from 
the foster care system with a birth certificate and a Social Security 
card is a worthwhile thing to do. Chairman Reichert promised to work 
with us on this in committee. He has. That provision has fortunately 
been restored here in this bill. It has been restored, however, in a 
way that really borrows from another provision that is also important 
to our foster youth, and that is a provision called Family Connections.
  The Family Connection grants program is designed to try to connect 
children with grandparents, with other family members to help in the 
search for relatives of the foster children who might provide them a 
home. It provides only about $15 million a year, which is hardly enough 
to cover the need across the entire United States to provide better 
connection. If this measure were fully adopted, there would no longer, 
under the Republican budget rules, be a way to pay for the Family 
Connections program, which is another vital way that we protect these 
foster youth.
  The Children's Defense Fund, which does support the bill, wrote to us 
in committee to find a way to restore the provision that cost about a 
million dollars a year and pointed out that the same day that the 
committee would not provide a million dollars extra per year, it did 
find a way under the same budget rules to find not a million, but $310 
billion to cover corporate tax breaks.
  I believe that this measure is helpful. It is a good step forward. It 
is a modest step forward that would have benefited from not taking from 
one in order to help the other when it comes to foster children. We 
need to be doing more for our foster youth, not only on sex 
trafficking, but in other ways, more than we are able to accomplish 
under the strict budget rules today. There is a real inconsistency in 
saying we cannot find additional revenues to pay for something as 
serious as this when we can afford to borrow up to $310 billion for 
various corporate tax breaks, the first of which has already been 
approved here in the House in our last week.
  With that, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. REICHERT. Madam Speaker, I want to thank Mr. Doggett for his 
support.
  Just as we were listening to each other and talking to each other 
regarding the issue that existed prior to bringing this bill to the 
floor, I am interested in continuing to work with Mr. Doggett on the 
other issues that he has mentioned in his opening statement.
  Now I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. Black).

[[Page 8568]]


  Mrs. BLACK. Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 
4058, the Preventing Sex Trafficking and Improving Opportunities for 
Youth in Foster Care Act, as well as each of the four additional 
bipartisan sex trafficking bills being discussed today.
  The statistics about sex trafficking are shocking, and it is not just 
happening abroad. These heinous crimes are being committed right here 
at home. In fact, the Federal Government reports that some 17,500 
people are trafficked into the United States annually, making this a 
$9.5 billion industry each year. Worse, 50 percent of the victims that 
are trafficked into the United States are under the age of 18, with 60 
percent of the trafficking happening in our foster care system.
  Madam Speaker, these are children in our communities whose innocence 
is being stolen away by the horrors of human trafficking. In just one 
county in my district, there were more than 100 cases of sex 
trafficking involving a minor in 2011, according to the Tennessee 
Bureau of Investigation.
  As a mother and a grandmother, my heart just breaks for those 
impacted by this epidemic. I believe we have a responsibility to 
reverse this unacceptable trend.
  Madam Speaker, an act of Congress won't immediately stop all the 
forms of this human trafficking, but we can do something. We can make 
the penalty stiffer. We can put another wall between the innocent 
victims and those who victimize them. We can pass H.R. 4058 and each of 
those other bipartisan measures aimed at targeting sex trafficking 
today. We can and we should.
  Mr. DOGGETT. I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. REICHERT. Madam Speaker, I should have also mentioned that Mrs. 
Black is a member of the Ways and Means Committee.
  Now I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Roskam), 
also a member of the Ways and Means Committee.
  Mr. ROSKAM. Madam Speaker, I thank the chairman and the ranking 
member.
  It is not often that we get to see a major social movement bringing 
us, both sides of the aisle, together, but that is absolutely happening 
right now. There is a buoyancy to that, and there is a joy in that. The 
joy is not about us, but it is recognizing that we as Members of 
Congress and the communities that we represent can do an amazing amount 
of good right now. The amazing amount of good is reflected in what is 
happening all across the country.
  In my constituency in the western suburbs of Chicago, there is an 
organization called the West Chicagoland Anti-Trafficking Coalition. 
These are people who have come together, focused in on this issue, 
trying to bring attention to what is actually happening.
  We have heard speaker after speaker regale against the trafficking 
itself, but there is a brightness to us coming together. There is 
something very good that is happening in my home State in Illinois.
  Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez is a national leader in 
her office, along with a member of her staff, Jack Blakey, who is the 
chief of special prosecutions, who have come together to come up with 
something that is known as the Chicago model.
  What is the Chicago model? What they are doing is they are coming in 
and they are saying that there has to be close coordination between 
victim services, law enforcement, and prosecutors to the point where 
victim service advocates are accompanying along on raids, coming 
alongside to make sure that these young people are rescued. The 
approach also uses evidentiary and prosecutorial methods that help 
minimize a victim's exposure in the courtroom itself to minimize her 
contact with her trafficker.
  Did you hear that? There is something incredible that is happening in 
Chicago that is leading the way, and it is protecting people and 
minimizing the exposure that victims have to traffickers. In other 
words, building up a legal case that doesn't have the victim as the 
focal point in terms of testimony, but creating these types of 
evidentiary approaches.
  We can do something significant. There is something significant that 
is happening today, and we are all reflecting the mood and the desire 
on the part of our constituents to be forthright and aggressive in 
taking on this scandal.
  Mr. DOGGETT. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to our colleague from 
California (Ms. Bass), the chair of the Congressional Caucus on Foster 
Youth, who worked so diligently on this around the country.
  Ms. BASS. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 4058. I am 
proud to have worked with Chairman Reichert and have become an original 
cosponsor of the bill. I also want to acknowledge the leadership of 
Chairman Camp, as well as Ranking Members Doggett and Levin, to pass 
this important legislation, especially during National Foster Care 
Month.
  As cochair of the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth, I have 
traveled throughout the country as part of a national listening tour. 
It has been devastating to learn the children involved in the child 
welfare system, particularly those who experience multiple placements, 
are especially susceptible to coercion and manipulation by traffickers.

                              {time}  1715

  In Los Angeles, where I am from, the Probation Department reports 
that hundreds of young people, all minors, have been identified as 
victims of sex trafficking. Sixty-one percent have been identified as 
foster youth. The Los Angeles STAR Court, which specializes in serving 
commercially sexually exploited youth, reports an even higher 
percentage: 80 percent of the young people have been foster youth.
  Unfortunately, the child welfare system as a whole has not truly 
recognized trafficking as a crisis within the foster youth population, 
nor incorporated protocols and systems to address the problem. Few 
child welfare employees have been adequately trained and prepared to 
identify or respond to child victims of trafficking. Fewer still have 
incorporated policies, protocols, and case management techniques to 
serve this population. Child welfare agencies are not documenting the 
prevalence of trafficking within the foster care population. Therefore, 
the scope of the challenge nationwide is unknown.
  To address these gaps, the Preventing Sex Trafficking and Improving 
Opportunities for Youth in Foster Care Act requires States to develop 
plans to provide services to child victims of trafficking, as well as 
to train case workers on how to identify victims and coordinate these 
services. The bill would also ensure that agencies using existing data 
collection mechanisms provide a national and State-by-State 
understanding of the prevalence of this problem.
  These are tremendous steps forward, and I look forward to continuing 
working with my colleagues in a bipartisan fashion to move legislation 
that will further prevent exploitation and protect foster youth and all 
children from trafficking.
  It is also significant that this bill helps to empower foster youth 
by giving foster parents more authority to make day-to-day decisions 
regarding their foster child's participation in age-appropriate 
activities. Many foster youth can never attend a prom, can't 
participate on a sports team, can't go to sleepovers--normal activities 
that all of our children do. The bill encourages States to more quickly 
move kids out of foster care and into permanent families, provide older 
children with a greater say in the development of their own case plans, 
and ensure that older foster youth have access to critical documents.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. Black). The time of the gentlewoman has 
expired.
  Mr. DOGGETT. I yield an additional minute to the gentlewoman from 
California.
  Ms. BASS. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this bill, as 
well as next week welcoming nearly 70 foster youth to the Hill for the 
third annual Foster Youth Shadow Day.
  Mr. REICHERT. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from

[[Page 8569]]

Minnesota (Mr. Paulsen), who has introduced his own bill connected to 
this issue, H.R. 3610, Stop Exploitation Through Trafficking Act. Mr. 
Paulsen is also a member of the Ways and Means Committee.
  Mr. PAULSEN. Madam Speaker, I want to thank the chairman for his 
leadership, along with Ranking Member Doggett.
  More than 100,000 children are at risk of being trafficked for 
commercial sex in America. That is just according to the National 
Center for Missing and Exploited Children, so it is probably a pretty 
conservative number. Those most at risk of victimization are the 
vulnerable, including children in our foster care system. These are 
young girls age 12, 13, 14, 15.
  These youth who have been involved in the foster care system are more 
likely to become runaways or become homeless at a very early age. In 
fact, a vast large majority, large percentage of sexual trafficking 
victims are runaways. Law enforcement has said that. In fact, 60 
percent of those runaways being trafficked were in the foster care 
system at some point.
  Madam Speaker, in order to help prevent these youth from becoming 
victims--and that is what they are, victims, victims of sex 
trafficking--we need better information also as to what is happening, 
where, and to whom. We need to identify the trends and fill in the 
gaps. There are provisions in this legislation that address those 
shortfalls.
  This bill is crucial for addressing the lack of reliable data and 
reporting to law enforcement as it relates to runaway youth from the 
child welfare system. The bottom line is we need to help these victims 
before they become trafficked.
  I want to thank Chairman Reichert for his leadership, along with 
Ranking Member Doggett, for their bipartisan efforts to move this 
legislation forward expeditiously.
  I also want to thank Congresswoman Slaughter for helping author with 
myself several of the provisions that were incorporated into this 
legislation.
  The good news, Madam Speaker, is this legislation is bipartisan. 
Hopefully it is going to move forward bicamerally in the Senate as 
well. It is absolutely an opportunity to save lives.
  Mr. DOGGETT. Madam Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my 
time.
  Mr. REICHERT. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from 
Missouri (Mrs. Hartzler).
  Mrs. HARTZLER. Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Reichert and Mr. Doggett 
for bringing this legislation to the floor and for their leadership on 
this very, very important issue.
  In 2013, the FBI conducted raids on sex trafficking operations in 70 
U.S. cities. Perhaps the most startling finding in the aftermath of 
these raids was that 60 percent of rescued child trafficking victims 
had lived in foster care or group homes.
  This finding has taught us a very important lesson: to 
comprehensively address such horrific injustice, we must both improve 
the state of children and family services, and increase the efforts in 
the Justice Department.
  This legislation works to address human trafficking by helping us to 
ensure that the over 400,000 youth currently in foster care have the 
security and resources they need to become fully integrated 
contributors to American society.
  Though human trafficking is a global issue, we must remember that it 
is happening throughout America, sadly even in places like my home 
State of Missouri. Just last November in Jefferson City, a 28-year-old 
man was indicted for sex trafficking of a child under the age of 14. 
Also, earlier this year, a Springfield man pleaded guilty to 
trafficking of a 17-year-old girl with learning disabilities.
  Stories like these remind us that this crime against humanity is a 
real threat all across the U.S., one that is not limited to big cities 
or high-crime areas.
  Today's legislation proactively confronts one of the most disturbing 
threats to the liberty and dignity of the American people. We cannot 
afford to stand idly by while the innocent are being subjected to cruel 
and dehumanizing treatment right here in our own country. Madam 
Speaker, I urge the Members of this body to join this effort and help 
end this form of enslavement and keep kids safe.
  Mr. DOGGETT. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from 
New York (Mrs. Maloney), who has already spoken eloquently this 
afternoon about this problem in connection with another bill, to 
address the issues raised by this bill and the serious problem of sex 
trafficking.
  Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong 
support of this bill. It is extremely important.
  I would like to underscore that there is no politics in sex 
trafficking. This body is often described as being bitterly partisan. 
But today that is not the case as voices on both sides of the aisle and 
hard work on both sides of the aisle have joined to work to try to make 
it better and try to stop this abuse.
  We have already heard and know that trafficking in human beings is 
nothing less than a modern form of slavery and that the incidence in 
foster children is tremendously high.
  A foster child named Angela came to my office one day and told me the 
story that at 10 years old the boyfriend of her foster mother started 
selling her as a prostitute, and her younger brother. She was horrified 
one day when she saw a picture of herself and her younger brother in a 
magazine advertising that they were for sale. She spoke out at school 
to her counselor and they didn't believe her. When the authorities from 
the welfare agency came to the home she told them she was being abused, 
and they told her to be grateful to her foster parents--why is she 
raising such problems.
  So there is clearly a need for educating and involving States and 
agencies in being more sensitive and identifying the victims of child 
abuse and child sex trafficking. It is something we do not want to 
acknowledge that it exists in our own country. But every time you see a 
child on the street, a child prostitute, there is a tragic story behind 
that young girl or boy of intense abuse. Regrettably, too many of them 
come out of the American foster care system, a system that is supposed 
to protect them.
  This bill is incredibly needed. I congratulate Mr. Doggett and Ms. 
Bass for their hard work on this.
  Mr. REICHERT. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. DOGGETT. Madam Speaker, at this time, I yield 2 minutes to the 
gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee), my colleague.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Reichert and Mr. Doggett 
for this work, and the work of the Ways and Means Committee, which is a 
vital component to this holistic approach that we have now embraced 
dealing with human trafficking.
  The foster care system that many of us have embraced that needs 
overhaul, as a member of the foster care task force and caucus, as a 
member and founder of the Congressional Children's Caucus, I have been 
dealing with foster care children for a number of years. In fact, I 
served as a cochair of the Foster Care Task Force in Houston, whose 
purpose was to give relief to what was then called Foster Care 
Grandparents, whose grandparents were involved in the foster care 
system. That is the friendly side of foster care.
  But I think it is so very important to recognize that we are still 
facing that large gap of those youngsters who age out, along with 
youngsters who are 12, 13, and 14 who have been in the foster care 
system all of their life. We have heard the stories that they go from 
house to house, maybe some of them had 30 homes, places where they have 
lived, for a period of time that they have been in foster care.
  What I have seen as I have been on the streets of Houston when we 
spend a night out on the streets going places where we knew children 
and young people would be sleeping, that these were children who had 
either aged out, who had in fact run away, or been in foster care on 
the streets of Houston. They are a number one target for the dastardly 
act of sex trafficking, child trafficking, and human trafficking.
  So I rise today to support this legislation, again, as it adds to an 
overall

[[Page 8570]]

omnibus approach to going after anyone who wants to hide behind the 
vulnerability of a child and take advantage of them. This bill provides 
for full resources for foster care children so that they do not find 
the most welcoming track someone's ugly words that, in fact, are here 
to undermine them and to take them into this life.
  I ask my colleagues to support this legislation because, in fact, it 
stops those children from going into a life that will ruin their life 
and to make them find a place where they can find solace.
  Mr. REICHERT. Madam Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time is 
remaining.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Washington has 3 minutes 
remaining. The gentleman from Texas has 7\3/4\ minutes remaining.
  Mr. REICHERT. Madam Speaker, at this time, I yield 1 minute to the 
gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Huizenga).
  Mr. HUIZENGA of Michigan. Madam Speaker, we know a lack of normalcy 
and barriers to participation in sort of age-appropriate activities 
increases vulnerability of trafficking, homelessness, and other 
negative outcomes that kids that are in foster care experience. This 
bill--and I appreciate the authors of this bill--would ensure that 
youth and foster care can participate in more age-appropriate 
activities and they are going to be better connected with their 
communities and their friends and less vulnerable, therefore, to 
becoming victims of sex trafficking.
  In all this nastiness, negativity, and ugliness, I get to talk about 
a little ray of hope, though, as well. Bethany Christian Services, 
which is located in west Michigan and has operations in my district, is 
an example of an effective child welfare organization that dramatically 
improves outcomes for children in foster care.
  Bethany comes alongside families who will walk with these kids at 
this time of crisis and welcome them unconditionally into their loving, 
caring homes. It is also an organizational model that has proven 
successful. Foster parents work with staff from community agencies 
toward identified goals for the children in their care, empowering 
these foster parents to dramatically improve outcomes for those kids 
that are in their care.
  I thank the author of this, who is going to give this same 
opportunity to all foster children.
  Mr. DOGGETT. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Madam Speaker, I want to thank Chairman Reichert for his leadership 
on this measure.
  In this place, we need to make what progress we can under the 
conditions that exist and make as much of it as possible. I hope that 
the Senate will respond to this measure. But in order to provide an 
effective response, we need to have the revenues to provide the 
resources along with the requirements to meet the needs of our foster 
youth.
  A few weeks ago, I met with a number of attorneys in San Antonio who 
work with foster youth, particularly those who are aging out, as well 
as a number of community service groups, religious and nonreligious in 
their orientation. They describe immense problems that our foster youth 
face. When they age out at age 18, only about 2 percent of those young 
people in the San Antonio area ever end up in college.

                              {time}  1730

  Many of them do get a substantial taxpayer subsidy over their lives. 
Unfortunately, it is a subsidy in our jails and in our penal system 
after they are engaged in some harmful conduct.
  This bill is one step that we can take to address the exploitation of 
these young people, particularly of young women. There are broader 
problems out there that need our attention, but I favor moving forward 
with the progress that we can make today to address this one critical 
problem.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. REICHERT. Madam Speaker, in closing, I do believe that this bill 
can help end sex trafficking, especially when partnered with all of the 
other legislation that we have been talking about today. It is a 
holistic approach, and it touches on almost every one of the intricate 
issues surrounding protecting young children from being victims of 
human trafficking.
  After we are done today, there will still be another bill, presented 
by Mr. Smith, that will add to the power of the movement that we are 
making today and that will add to the voice that we are expressing 
today in support of young children, in support of families--in support 
of protecting lives. We are going to save lives.
  With these bills today, somebody does care. As I said in my opening 
statement, when I was 31 years old and was on the banks of the rivers, 
collecting the bodies of teenage girls, I wondered if anybody cared, 
and their families wondered.
  Today, that question has been answered. We care. All the way to the 
United States Capitol, we care. We can make a difference. Our daughters 
are not for sale, and the time is now.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Washington (Mr. Reichert) that the House suspend the 
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 4058, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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