[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8713 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
118th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 8713
To amend parts B and E of title IV of the Social Security Act to remove
barriers and encourage kinship guardianship, foster, or adoptive
placements for children who cannot be safely cared for in their own
homes, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 12, 2024
Ms. Kamlager-Dove (for herself, Ms. Jackson Lee, and Ms. Brown)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Ways and Means
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend parts B and E of title IV of the Social Security Act to remove
barriers and encourage kinship guardianship, foster, or adoptive
placements for children who cannot be safely cared for in their own
homes, and for other purposes.
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 ``Promoting Permanency Through Kinship
Families Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
(1) Reunification with parents, permanent placement with
extended family members, and adoption are all permanency
options for children who are in, or at risk for entering or re-
entering, foster care.
(2) The estimated lifetime cost of foster youth who age out
of foster care is approximately $6.9 billion. On an annual
basis, approximately 23,000 youth age out of foster care (reach
the maximum age a State will support them without reunification
with family or being placed in a permanent home) with no legal
family ties. Over 20 percent of youth who age out of foster
care become homeless, 60 percent of sex trafficked youth come
from foster care, and 25 percent of youth become involved in
the criminal justice system within 2 years of aging out of
foster care. When family reunification and kinship
guardianship, foster, and adoptive placements are promoted and
supported, children's family connections and family
relationships can reverse such adverse adult outcomes.
(3) Foster care is intended to be temporary. The best
interests of children in safe, stable, and permanent placements
are paramount. At the same time, absent aggravating
circumstances, it is in the best interests of children for
parents to be provided individualized services, supports, and
time needed to address the reasons for foster care or other
temporary placements of their children.
(4) Where kinship placements can safely be made, extended
family members available for such placements often face
financial and other barriers related to access to health and
mental health services and supports, crisis stabilization
services, and other service supports.
(5) The United States has a unique and direct interest, as
trustee, in protecting the best interests of Indian children
including supporting safe and permanent placements that
preserve a child's sense of belonging and connection, including
to extended family when reunification with parents is not safe
or possible.
(b) Purpose.--The purposes of this Act are to promote kinship care
as an essential permanency option for children and youth, to remove
barriers to children's safe care by relatives and fictive kin when such
children cannot be safely cared for by their parents, and to support
the provision of resources and services to kin caregivers.
SEC. 3. PROMOTING PERMANENCY PLACEMENTS FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH.
(a) State Plan Requirement Relating to Provision of Child Welfare
Services.--Section 422(b)(7) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.
622(b)(7)) is amended by striking ``provide for the diligent
recruitment'' and inserting ``substantiate with clear and convincing
data and analysis that the agency administering or supervising the
administration of the plan is addressing disproportionality in the
State child welfare system, and disparities in access to community-
based services, array, and contracting, provide for locating and
involving relatives and fictive kin as a regular and ongoing part of
case planning, for addressing barriers to family involvement, and
provide for the diligent recruitment''.
(b) Foster Care and Adoption Assistance.--Section 471(a)(19) of
such Act (42 U.S.C. 671(a)(19)) is amended by striking ``shall
consider'' and inserting ``shall make and document prompt, active, and
continuous efforts to identify and locate relatives or fictive kin as a
potential kinship guardianship, foster or adoptive placement, and
family support resources, and must consider''.
(c) Case Review.--Section 475(5)(A) of such Act (42 U.S.C.
675(5)(A)) is amended--
(1) in clause (i), by striking ``, and'' and inserting a
semicolon;
(2) in clause (ii), by striking the comma at the end and
inserting a semicolon; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
``(iii) if the State determines that
kinship guardianship, foster, or adoptive
placement with any relative or fictive kin is
not in the child's best interest or that the
relative or fictive kin does not meet the
requirements of a relative caregiver, documents
the basis for that determination with clear and
convincing evidence;
``(iv) if the State determines that the
child requires placement in an environment
other than a home environment, ensures that the
State shall make prompt, active, and continuous
efforts to identify and locate relatives or
fictive kin to serve as visitation resources of
the child and potential future placement
resources;
``(v) if the State determines that efforts
to identify and locate relatives and fictive
kin would be futile or inconsistent with the
child's best interests, documents the basis of
its determination with clear and convincing
evidence; and
``(vi) if the child is residing in a
kinship placement, describes reasonable efforts
the State will make to maintain the child in
the kinship home and not remove the child from
the kinship home except to effectuate a
permanency goal of reunification or upon a
showing by clear and convincing evidence that
remaining in the kinship placement is contrary
to the welfare of the child.''.
(d) Greater Flexibility for States and Families.--Section 475(5)(E)
of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 675(5)(E)) is amended to read as
follows:
``(E) in the case of a child who has been in foster
care under the responsibility of the State for 24
consecutive months, or, if a court of competent
jurisdiction has determined a child to be an abandoned
infant (as defined under State law) or has made a
determination that the parent has committed murder of
another child of the parent, committed voluntary
manslaughter of another child of the parent, aided or
abetted, attempted, conspired, or solicited to commit
such a murder or such a voluntary manslaughter, or
committed a felony assault that has resulted in serious
bodily injury to the child or to another child of the
parent, the State may file or join a petition for
modification or termination of parental rights and,
concurrently, identify, recruit, process, and approve a
qualified family (including the child's extended
family) for an adoption, only after demonstrating by
clear and convincing evidence that the State--
``(i) has demonstrated compelling reasons
why such modification or termination is in the
best interest of the child;
``(ii) has provided to the family of the
child such services, supports, and time needed
to address the reasons for the child's removal
and enable the family to safely reunify; and
``(iii) if the child is living with a
kinship (including fictive kinship) caregiver,
has provided a meaningful opportunity for such
caregiver to express an opinion as to whether
such modification or termination is in the best
interests of the child and has documented such
opinion in the case plan of the child;
except that, in the case of a child to whom this
subparagraph applies solely because the child has been
in foster care under the responsibility of the State
for 24 consecutive months, the State may not file or
join such a petition if a parent of the child is
actively engaged in services to address the reasons the
child entered care (including treatment for substance
use disorder, mental health concerns, or parenting
skills), if based principally on the incarceration of a
parent, or if based principally on the detention of the
parent by the Department of Homeland Security or the
deportation of the parent;''.
(e) Effective Date.--
(1) In general.--The amendments made by this section shall
take effect on the first day of the first fiscal year beginning
on or after the date of the enactment of this Act, and shall
apply to payments under subpart 1 of part B and part E of title
IV of the Social Security Act for calendar quarters beginning
on or after such 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
subpart 1 of part B or 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 first day of the first calendar quarter beginning after the
first regular session of the State legislature that begins
after the date of the enactment of this Act. For purposes of
the preceding sentence, 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.
(3) Application to programs operated by indian tribal
organizations.--In the case of an Indian tribe, tribal
organization, or tribal consortium which the Secretary of
Health and Human Services determines requires time to take
action necessary to comply with the additional requirements
imposed by the amendments made by this section (whether the
tribe, organization, or tribal consortium has a plan under
section 479B of the Social Security Act or a cooperative
agreement or contract entered into with a State), the Secretary
shall provide the tribe, organization, or tribal consortium
with such additional time as the Secretary determines is
necessary for the tribe, organization, or tribal consortium to
take the action to comply with the additional requirements
before being regarded as failing to comply with the
requirements.
SEC. 4. CRIMINAL RECORDS CHECKS OF ALL KINSHIP CAREGIVERS.
(a) In General.--Section 471(a)(20) of the Social Security Act (42
U.S.C. 671(a)(20)) is amended--
(1) in subparagraph (B)--
(A) in clause (ii), by striking ``and'' at the end;
(B) in clause (iii), by adding ``and'' at the end;
and
(C) by adding at the end the following:
``(iv) have in place procedures to ensure that
kinship placement is not denied based on past
allegations or findings of abuse or neglect against a
caregiver or household member in the absence of
particularized information demonstrating that the
caregiver poses a current safety threat to the child or
that placement of the child with the caregiver would be
contrary to the welfare of the child.'';
(2) in subparagraph (C), by striking ``on any relative
guardian, and for checks'' and all that follows through ``under
this part'' and inserting ``on any kinship caregiver, including
in the case of a kinship foster, guardianship, or adoptive
placement, and for checks described in subparagraph (B) of this
paragraph on any such kinship caregiver and any other adult
living in the home of any such kinship caregiver, before the
kinship caregiver may receive kinship guardianship assistance
payments on behalf of the child under the State plan under this
part unless the State reports to the Secretary the alternative
criminal records checks the State conducts on any adult kinship
caregiver, and why the checks specified in this subparagraph
are not appropriate for the State, and procedures to ensure
that a past criminal record does not serve as a bar to kinship
licensing in the absence of particularized information
demonstrating that the caregiver or household member poses a
current safety threat to the child or that placement of the
child with the caregiver would be contrary to the welfare of
the child.''; and
(3) by moving the margins for subparagraph (D) 2 ems to the
left.
(b) No Effect on Character Investigations Under the Indian Child
Protection and Family Violence Prevention Act.--Nothing in this Act or
the amendments made by this Act shall be construed to modify the
requirements relating to character investigations of kin or extended
family under the Indian Child Protection and Family Violence Prevention
Act.
SEC. 5. PROHIBITION ON IMPOSITION OF UPPER AGE LIMIT FOR KINSHIP
CAREGIVERS.
Section 471(a) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 671(a)) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (36), by striking ``and'' at the end;
(2) in paragraph (37), by striking the period at the end
and inserting ``; and''; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
``(38) provides that the State shall have in effect such
laws and procedures as are necessary to ensure that the age of
an individual who has attained 18 years of age is disregarded
in determining--
``(A) whether the individual is qualified to be a
kinship caregiver for a child; and
``(B) the appropriate placement for a child for
whom placement with a kinship caregiver may be an
appropriate option.''.
SEC. 6. MANDATORY PARTICIPATION IN KINSHIP GUARDIANSHIP ASSISTANCE
PROGRAM.
(a) In General.--Section 471(a)(28) of such Act (42 U.S.C.
671(a)(28)) is amended by striking ``at the option of the State,''.
(b) Eligibility.--Section 473(d)(3)(A)(i)(II) of the Social
Security Act (42 U.S.C. 673(d)(3)(A)(i)(II)) is amended by striking
``at least 6 consecutive months'' and inserting ``at least 3
consecutive months''.
SEC. 7. ELIMINATION OF THE AFDC ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENT FOR FOSTER CARE
MAINTENANCE PAYMENTS FOR CHILDREN PLACED IN A FOSTER
FAMILY HOME.
Section 472(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 14 672(a)) is
amended--
(1) in paragraph (1), in the matter preceding subparagraph
(A), by striking ``Each State'' and inserting ``Subject to
paragraph (5), each State''; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
``(5) Elimination of the afdc eligibility requirement for
children placed in a foster family home.--Beginning on the
first day of the first fiscal year beginning on or after the
date of the enactment of the Promoting Permanency Through
Kinship Families Act, the AFDC eligibility requirement of
paragraph (3) shall no longer apply with respect to a child who
has been removed from the home of a relative or a caretaker
into foster care and placed in a foster family home. On and
after such date, each State with a plan approved under this
part shall make foster care maintenance payments on behalf of
each child who has been removed from the home of a relative or
caretaker into foster care and placed in a foster family home
(without regard to whether such removal and placement occurred
before, on, or after such date of enactment, if the removal and
foster care placement met, and continues to meet, the
requirements of paragraph (2).''.
SEC. 8. PROMOTING SAFE AND STABLE FAMILIES THROUGH KINSHIP PLACEMENT
SUPPORT SERVICES PROGRAMS.
(a) Addition of Kinship Placement Support Services to the Promoting
Safe and Stable Families Program.--Section 431(a) of the Social
Security Act (42 U.S.C. 629a(a)) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking ``(including adoptive and
extended families)'' and inserting ``(including kinship
guardians, adoptive, and extended families).''; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
``(10) Kinship placement support services.--
``(A) In general.--The term `kinship placement
support services' means the services and activities
described in subparagraph (B) that are provided on
behalf of children and youth in kinship care
arrangements, including kinship guardianship
placements, who are in, or at risk of entering or re-
entering, foster care.
``(B) Services and activities des