Federal

Protecting Sibling Relationships in Foster Care Act

Source: Congress.gov · 919 words in original text

What This Bill Does

This bill creates a competitive grant program to help develop specialized foster care programs for groups of siblings who are hard to place together. The Secretary of Health and Human Services will award grants to qualified organizations during a five-year period. These programs must focus on groups of three or more siblings, siblings with large age differences, and siblings with complex needs.

Who It Affects

State child welfare agencies, State and local agencies, tribal agencies, faith-based organizations, community-based organizations, and nonprofit organizations that run foster care programs. Children in the foster care system who are siblings and need placement together.

Key Provisions

- The Secretary will award no more than five grants to eligible organizations to develop specialized foster care programs (Sec. 2(a)) - Grant recipients must design programs that identify available placements and place sibling groups together, and these programs must be based on evidence and proven to increase joint placements (Sec. 2(d)) - Eligible organizations must include a State child welfare agency, State/tribal/local agency, faith-based organization, community-based organization, or nonprofit organization with expertise and demonstrated experience in foster care (Sec. 2(b)) - Grant recipients must submit written reports describing the number of children served, the size of sibling groups, placement methods used, and outcomes of placements (Sec. 2(e)) - Applications must describe how funds will be used to place sibling groups together and provide data on placement challenges (Sec. 2(c))

What Changes

Organizations that receive grants will be able to develop new specialized foster care programs specifically designed to keep sibling groups together, even when siblings have complex needs or large age differences.

Important Definitions

"Complex needs" means a youth exhibits challenging or risky behaviors that could cause serious harm to themselves or others, has severe mental health issues that impair daily life, has a disability, or has an illness requiring continuous monitoring or that is life-threatening. Complex needs also include issues from siblings having different parents in foster care or trauma history (Sec. 2(a)).

Effective Date

Not specified in bill text

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 755 To encourage the development of specialized foster care programs designed specifically for large sibling groups, sibling groups with a wide age range, and sibling groups with complex needs. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 2, 2023 Mr. BACON (for himself, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Mr. NUNN of Iowa, and Ms. SCANLON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce A BILL To encourage the development of specialized foster care pro- grams designed specifically for large sibling groups, sib- ling groups with a wide age range, and sibling groups with complex needs. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Sibling Re- 4 lationships in Foster Care Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:42 Feb 23, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H755.IH H755 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 755 IH SEC. 2. COMPETITIVE GRANT PILOT PROGRAM TO ENCOUR- 1 AGE THE DEVELOPMENT OF SPECIALIZED 2 FOSTER CARE PROGRAMS DESIGNED SPE- 3 CIFICALLY FOR LARGE SIBLING GROUPS, SIB- 4 LING GROUPS WITH A WIDE AGE RANGE, AND 5 SIBLING GROUPS WITH COMPLEX NEEDS. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 7 Human Services (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Sec- 8 retary’’) shall establish a competitive grant pilot program 9 under which, during the 5-year period that begins with 10 the date of the enactment of this section, the Secretary 11 shall make not more than 5 grants to eligible entities who 12 have applied therefor to encourage the development of spe- 13 cialized foster care programs designed specifically for 14 groups of 3 or more siblings, sibling groups with a wide 15 age range, and sibling groups with, or that include a youth 16 with, complex needs. For purposes of the preceding sen- 17 tence, a youth has complex needs if the youth exhibits 18 challenging or risky behaviors that could cause themself 19 or others serious harm, has mental health needs of such 20 severity that the participation of the youth in daily life 21 may be impaired either with or without services being ren- 22 dered to help, has a disability (as defined under the Ameri- 23 cans with Disabilities Act), or has an illness that requires 24 continuous monitoring or is life-threatening, and complex 25 needs include issues that may arise from siblings in foster 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:42 Feb 23, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H755.IH H755 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 755 IH care with a different parent, which could impact the ability 1 of the siblings to be placed together, or from a youth with 2 a history of trauma. 3 (b) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—In this section, the term ‘‘el- 4 igible entity’’ means a State child welfare agency, a State, 5 tribal, or local agency, a faith- or community-based orga- 6 nization, or a nonprofit organization that has expertise 7 and demonstrated experience, as well as state supervision, 8 in administering a foster care program. 9 (c) APPLICATIONS.—An eligible entity that desires to 10 receive a grant under this section shall submit to the Sec- 11 retary an application that includes— 12 (1) a description of how funds received under 13 the grant will be used to place together sibling 14 groups described in subsection (a); 15 (2) a description of the specialized foster care 16 program involved, and how the program is designed 17 for the placement of sibling groups described in sub- 18 section (a); 19 (3) data describing the challenges of placing, 20 and number of, sibling groups described in sub- 21 section (a) that are awaiting placements; and 22 (4) such other information as the Secretary 23 may reasonably require. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:42 Feb 23, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H755.IH H755 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 755 IH (d) USE OF FUNDS.—A recipient of a grant under 1 this section may use the grant funds only to develop spe- 2 cialized foster care programs which are— 3 (1) designed to identify available placements 4 for, and place together, sibling groups described in 5 subsection (a); and 6 (2) evidence-based, and proven to substantially 7 increase joint sibling placements. 8 (e) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—As a condition of 9 receiving a grant under this section, the grant recipient 10 shall submit to the Secretary a written report on the num- 11 ber of children in the specialized foster care program in- 12 volved, the size of the sibling groups served by the pro- 13 gram, the methods used to place children with their sib- 14 lings under the program, and the outcomes of the place- 15 ments. 16 (f) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary may prescribe 17 such regulations as may be necessary to carry out this 18 section. 19 (g) LIMITATIONS ON AUTHORIZATION OF APPRO- 20 PRIATIONS.—To carry out this section, there are author- 21 ized to be appropriated to the Secretary not more than 22 $10,000,000, which is authorized to remain available dur- 23 ing the 5-year period referred to in subsection (a). 24 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:42 Feb 23, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H755.IH H755 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB

Important: This plain English summary was generated by AI and is provided for informational purposes only. It is not legal advice. Always consult the official bill text on Congress.gov or a qualified attorney for legal matters.