[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Pages 8684-8685]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                CHILD PROTECTION AND FAMILY SUPPORT ACT

  Mr. DAINES. Madam President, I am honored today to announce 
legislation that Senator Peters and I have introduced that provides 
another option for children in the foster care system in Montana and 
across the country.
  I worked with a host of Montana groups to develop the Child 
Protection and Family Support Act of 2017, including a handful of 
nonprofit organizations focused on foster youth, the Montana attorney 
general, Indian Tribes, and individual constituents. I am pleased to 
have their support on this legislation.
  Montana is in the midst of a child welfare crisis. We have a record 
3,400 children in foster care, and about a third of those children are 
there because of methamphetamine use by their parents.
  Montana state law requires the Office of the Child and Family 
Ombudsman to investigate circumstances surrounding child fatalities 
when the child was involved with the Montana Department of Public 
Health and Human Services Child and Family Services Division within 12 
months of the date of the child's death.
  Last December, the Montana Department of Justice issued a report and 
the findings were devastating: It detailed 14 child deaths that met 
these parameters.
  Of the 14 cases reviewed, 11 involved children 2 years old or 
younger. In nine of those cases, the children were 1 year old or 
younger. Eleven cases included allegations of drug use, four of which 
indicated methamphetamine use. Six cases indicated issues of domestic 
violence, and eight cases involved parents who received child 
protective services in Montana when they themselves were children. I 
have been told that at least seven children have met a similar fate in 
the first 5 months of 2017 alone. The death of one child is too many.
  Under current Federal policy, a child must be removed from the home 
of a parent and, after removal, cannot be living with the parent, in 
order to be eligible for a title IV-E foster care maintenance payment. 
My bill would permit title IV-E foster care maintenance payment 
support, for up to 12 months, for a child in foster care who is placed 
with a parent in a licensed residential family-based treatment 
facility. This would allow the parent to get the help they need while 
keeping the family intact.

[[Page 8685]]

  Secondly, the bill would reauthorize the Administration for Children 
and Families' Regional Partnership Grant, RPG, Program. These 
competitive grants reduce the risk of foster care due to parental 
substance abuse, an issue of utmost importance to Montana. Since their 
inception in 2006, two Montana grantees have utilized and benefited 
from RPGs: the Center for Children and Families in Billings, MT, and 
the Apsaalooke Nation Housing Authority in Crow Agency.
  My bill reauthorizes and strengthens this grant program with modest 
improvements. For example, it encourages the use of RPGs to address the 
needs of children and families affected by methamphetamine, heroin, and 
opioid substance use disorders, help implement effective title IV-E 
prevention services, and focus on improved outcomes for families, 
including children and their parents. The bill further requires that, 
in addition to the State child welfare agency, every funded partnership 
must include the State agency that administers the Federal substance 
abuse prevention and treatment block grant and, if the partnership 
intends to serve children placed in out-of-home care, the court that 
handles child abuse and neglect proceedings in the region.
  Among the long list of eligible grant applicants and partners, Native 
American Tribes, Tribal consortiums, and Tribal organizations are all 
eligible grantees, and I hope they will increasingly utilize RPGs, 
especially given the unique foster care challenges in Indian 
communities.
  As a U.S. Senator, as a person of faith, as a father, and as an 
American, I believe in helping the most vulnerable in our society--in 
this case, innocent children.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this legislation.

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