Family First Transition and Support Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2702 To amend parts B and E of title IV of the Social Security Act to eliminate barriers to providing child welfare services for children and youth in need, to provide additional resources to implement programmatic changes necessary to meet the requirements of the Family First Prevention Serv- ices Act, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 14, 2019 Ms. BASS (for herself, Mr. BACON, Mrs. LAWRENCE, Ms. HAALAND, and Mr. LANGEVIN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Ways and Means A BILL To amend parts B and E of title IV of the Social Security Act to eliminate barriers to providing child welfare serv- ices for children and youth in need, to provide additional resources to implement programmatic changes necessary to meet the requirements of the Family First Prevention Services Act, and for other purposes. 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4 ‘‘Family First Transition and Support Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 \\ALPHA3\E\BILLS\H2702.IH H2702 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 2702 IH (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 1 this Act is as follows: 2 Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. TITLE I—ELIMINATING BARRIERS TO PROVIDING CHILD WELFARE SERVICES FOR CHILDREN IN NEED Sec. 101. Elimination of the AFDC eligibility requirement for foster care main- tenance payments for children placed in a foster family home. Sec. 102. Increased funding for promoting safe and stable families. Sec. 103. Promoting safe and stable families through kinship placement sup- port services programs. Sec. 104. Using family preservation services to stabilize families in crisis. Sec. 105. More funding and training for caseworker development. Sec. 106. Funding for evaluation and identification of evidence-based preven- tion practices. Sec. 107. Increased funding for regional partnership grants. TITLE II—SUPPORT FOR MEETING THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE FAMILY FIRST PREVENTION SERVICES ACT Sec. 201. Delay of 50 percent well-supported prevention practices requirement. Sec. 202. Temporary additional funding for foster parent recruitment and in- creasing quality family and residential care settings. Sec. 203. Overpayment grace period for waiver States with county-administered programs. Sec. 204. Pre-approval authority for programs with promising, supported, or well-supported practices. TITLE III—MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS Sec. 301. Additional resources for the child welfare court improvement pro- gram. Sec. 302. Additional resources and improvements for tribal child welfare pro- grams. Sec. 303. Effective date. VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 \\ALPHA3\E\BILLS\H2702.IH H2702 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 2702 IH TITLE I—ELIMINATING BAR- 1 RIERS TO PROVIDING CHILD 2 WELFARE SERVICES FOR 3 CHILDREN IN NEED 4 SEC. 101. ELIMINATION OF THE AFDC ELIGIBILITY RE- 5 QUIREMENT FOR FOSTER CARE MAINTE- 6 NANCE PAYMENTS FOR CHILDREN PLACED 7 IN A FOSTER FAMILY HOME. 8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 472(a) of the Social Secu- 9 rity Act (42 U.S.C. 672(a)) is amended— 10 (1) in paragraph (1), in the matter preceding 11 subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘Each State’’ and in- 12 serting ‘‘Subject to paragraph (5), each State’’; and 13 (2) by adding at the end the following: 14 ‘‘(5) ELIMINATION OF THE AFDC ELIGIBILITY 15 REQUIREMENT FOR CHILDREN PLACED IN A FOSTER 16 FAMILY HOME.—Beginning October 1, 2019, the 17 AFDC eligibility requirement of paragraph (3) shall 18 no longer apply with respect to a child who has been 19 removed from the home of a relative or a caretaker 20 into foster care and placed in a foster family home. 21 On and after such date, each State with a plan ap- 22 proved under this part shall make foster care main- 23 tenance payments on behalf of each child who has 24 been removed from the home of a relative or care- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 \\ALPHA3\E\BILLS\H2702.IH H2702 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 2702 IH taker into foster care and placed in a foster family 1 home (without regard to whether such removal and 2 placement occurred before, on, or after October 1, 3 2019), if the removal and foster care placement met, 4 and continues to meet, the requirements of para- 5 graph (2).’’. 6 (b) REINVESTMENT OF SAVINGS.—Section 472 of 7 such Act is amended by adding at the end the following: 8 ‘‘(l) REINVESTMENT OF SAVINGS FROM ELIMI- 9 NATION OF THE AFDC ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENT.— 10 ‘‘(1) SPENDING REQUIREMENT.—Beginning 11 with fiscal year 2021, a State shall spend an amount 12 equal to the amount of savings (if any) in State ex- 13 penditures under this part for the preceding fiscal 14 year resulting from the amendments made by section 15 101(a) of the Family First Transition and Support 16 Act of 2019 (eliminating the AFDC eligibility re- 17 quirement for children placed in a foster family 18 home) to provide children or families any service 19 that may be provided under this part or part B. In 20 the case of a State in which the State plans under 21 this part and part B are administered by 1 or more 22 political subdivisions of the State, the State shall 23 distribute such savings (if any) determined for a fis- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 \\ALPHA3\E\BILLS\H2702.IH H2702 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 2702 IH cal year among the political subdivisions of the State 1 administering such State plans. 2 ‘‘(2) DETERMINATION OF SAVINGS.— 3 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A State shall calculate 4 the savings (if any) for a fiscal year for pur- 5 poses of meeting the requirement of paragraph 6 (1), using a methodology specified by the Sec- 7 retary or an alternate methodology proposed by 8 the State and approved by the Secretary. 9 ‘‘(B) REPORT.—A State shall annually re- 10 port to the Secretary— 11 ‘‘(i) the methodology used to make the 12 calculation described in subparagraph (A), 13 without regard to whether any savings are 14 found; 15 ‘‘(ii) the amount of any savings re- 16 ferred to in subparagraph (A); 17 ‘‘(iii) how any such savings are spent, 18 accounting for and reporting the spending 19 separately from any other spending re- 20 ported to the Secretary under part B or 21 this part; and 22 ‘‘(iv) in the case of a State in which 23 the State plans under this part and part B 24 are administered by 1 or more political 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 \\ALPHA3\E\BILLS\H2702.IH H2702 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 2702 IH subdivisions of the State, the proportion of 1 such savings that were distributed to polit- 2 ical subdivisions of the State. 3 ‘‘(C) PUBLICLY AVAILABLE.—The Sec- 4 retary shall make all information reported pur- 5 suant to subparagraph (B) available on the 6 website of the Department of Health and 7 Human Services in a location easily accessible 8 to the public. 9 ‘‘(3) SUPPLEMENT, NOT SUPPLANT.—Any State 10 spending required under paragraph (1) shall be used 11 to supplement, and not supplant, any Federal or 12 non-Federal funds used to provide any service under 13 part B or this part.’’. 14 SEC. 102. INCREASED FUNDING FOR PROMOTING SAFE AND 15 STABLE FAMILIES. 16 Section 436(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 17 629f(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘through 2021’’ and in- 18 serting ‘‘through 2019, and $665,000,000 for each of fis- 19 cal years 2020 through 2021’’. 20 SEC. 103. PROMOTING SAFE AND STABLE FAMILIES 21 THROUGH KINSHIP PLACEMENT SUPPORT 22 SERVICES PROGRAMS. 23 (a) ADDITION OF KINSHIP PLACEMENT SUPPORT 24 SERVICES TO THE PROMOTING SAFE AND STABLE FAMI- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 \\ALPHA3\E\BILLS\H2702.IH H2702 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 2702 IH LIES PROGRAM.—Section 431(a) of the Social Security 1 Act (42 U.S.C. 629a(a)) is amended by adding at the end 2 the following: 3 ‘‘(10) KINSHIP PLACEMENT SUPPORT SERV- 4 ICES.— 5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘kinship 6 placement support services’ means the services 7 and activities described in subparagraph (B) 8 that are provided on behalf of children and 9 youth in kinship care arrangements who are in, 10 or at risk of entering or re-entering, foster care. 11 ‘‘(B) SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES DE- 12 SCRIBED.—The services and activities described 13 in this subparagraph are the following: 14 ‘‘(i) Crisis stabilization services, in- 15 cluding case management services designed 16 to stabilize families in crisis such as trans- 17 portation, assistance with housing and util- 18 ity payments, and access to adequate 19 health care, child care assistance, and es- 20 tablishing a kinship placement crisis sta- 21 bilization fund for purposes of making di- 22 rect cash payments to kin caregivers for 23 immediate needs of children placed with 24 such caregivers in order to facilitate kin- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 \\ALPHA3\E\BILLS\H2702.IH H2702 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 2702 IH ship placements and prevent the entry of 1 children into foster care. 2 ‘‘(ii) Family finding, including inten- 3 sive family-finding efforts that utilize 4 search technology to find biological family 5 members for children in, or at risk of en- 6 tering, foster care. 7 ‘‘(iii) Re-establishing family relation- 8 ships and supporting family group deci- 9 sion-making. 10 ‘‘(iv) Other assistance or services re- 11 lated to strengthening and supporting kin- 12 ship families to improve the well-being of 13 children and their kin caregivers, includ- 14 ing, if requested, assistance in becoming a 15 licensed foster family home.’’. 16 (b) MAINTENANCE OF EFFORT REQUIREMENT.— 17 Section 432(a)(7) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 629b(a)(7)) is 18 amended— 19 (1) in subparagraph (A)— 20 (A) by striking ‘‘assurances that Federal 21 funds’’ and inserting ‘‘assurances that— 22 ‘‘(i) Federal funds’’; and 23 (B) by adding at the end the following: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 \\ALPHA3\E\BILLS\H2702.IH H2702 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •HR 2702 IH ‘‘(ii) the total amount of State expendi- 1 tures made for fiscal year 2020 and each fiscal 2 year thereafter to support kinship placements 3 shall not be less than the total amount of such 4 expenditures made for fiscal year 2019; and’’; 5 and 6 (2) in subparagraph (B), by inserting ‘‘and 7 spending requirements’’ after ‘‘prohibition’’. 8 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 9 (1) Section 430 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 629) is 10 amended— 11 (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 12 by inserting ‘‘kinship placement support serv- 13 ices,’’ after ‘‘family reunification services,’’; 14 (B) by redesignating paragraphs (3) and 15 (4) as paragraphs (4) and (5), respectively; and 16 (C) by inserting after paragraph (2), the 17 following: 18 ‘‘(3) To support kinship placements to maintain 19 family connections while ensuring the safety and 20 well-being of children and youth and the well-being 21 of their kin caregivers.’’. 22 (2) Paragraphs (4) and (5) of section 432(a) of 23 such Act (42 U.S.C. 629b(a)) are each amended by 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 \\ALPHA3\E\BILLS\H2702.IH H2702 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •HR 2702 IH inserting ‘‘kinship placement support services,’’ after 1 ‘‘family reunification services,’’. 2 SEC. 104. USING FAMILY PRESERVATION SERVICES TO STA- 3 BILIZE FAMILIES IN CRISIS. 4 Section 431(a)(1) of the Social Security Act (42 5 U.S.C. 629a(a)(1)) is amended— 6 (1) in subparagraph (E), by striking ‘‘and’’ 7 after the semicolon; 8 (2) in subparagraph (F), by striking the period 9 at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 10 (3) by adding at the end the following: 11 ‘‘(G) case management services designed to 12 stabilize families in crisis such as transpor- 13 tation, assistance with housing and utility pay- 14 ments, and access to adequate health care.’’. 15 SEC. 105. MORE FUNDING AND TRAINING FOR CASE- 16 WORKER DEVELOPMENT. 17 (a) INCREASED RESERVATION OF FUNDS.—Section 18 436(b)(4)(A) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 19 629f(b)(4)(A)) is amended by striking ‘‘through 2021’’ 20 and inserting ‘‘through 2019, and $50,000,000 for each 21 of fiscal years 2020 through 2021’’. 22 (b) USE OF FUNDS.—Section 436(b)(4)(B) of such 23 Act (42 U.S.C. 629f(b)(4)(B)) is amended— 24 (1) in clause (i)— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 \\ALPHA3\E\BILLS\H2702.IH H2702 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 11 •HR 2702 IH (A) by striking ‘‘the amount to improve’’ 1 and inserting ‘‘the amount to— 2 ‘‘(I) improve’’; 3 (B) by striking the period and inserting a 4 semicolon; and 5 (C) by adding at the end the following: 6 ‘‘(II) identify and reduce the im- 7 pact of vicarious trauma among case- 8 workers; and 9 ‘‘(III) provide caseworkers with 10 training in best practices for directly 11 working with families where a parent 12 or another member of the family has 13 a substance use disorder or behavioral 14 health issue.’’; and 15 (2) by adding at the end the following: 16 ‘‘(iii) DOCUMENTATION OF USE OF 17 FUNDS FOR CASEWORKER DEVELOP- 18 MENT.—A State shall annually report to 19 the Secretary, separately from any other 20 spending reported to the Secretary under 21 part E or this part, the amounts used by 22 the State and how such amounts are ex- 23 pended for a fiscal year to meet the re- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 \\ALPHA3\E\BILLS\H2702.IH H2702 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 12 •HR 2702 IH quirements of subclauses (II) and (III) of 1 clause (i).’’. 2 SEC. 106. FUNDING FOR EVALUATION AND IDENTIFICATION 3 OF EVIDENCE-BASED PREVENTION PRAC- 4 TICES. 5 (a) INCREASED RESERVATION OF FUNDS.—Section 6 436(b)(1) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 7 629f(b)(1)) is amended, in the matter preceding subpara- 8 graph (A), by striking ‘‘$6,000,000’’ and inserting 9 ‘‘$26,000,000’’. 10 (b) TARGETED RESERVATIONS OF FUNDS.—Section 11 435 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 629e) is amended— 12 (1) in subsection (c)— 13 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘and’’ 14 after the semicolon; 15 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking the pe- 16 riod and inserting a semicolon; and 17 [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]