Timely Mental Health for Foster Youth Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 3625 To amend subpart 1 of part B of title IV of the Social Security Act to ensure that mental health screenings and assessments are provided to children and youth upon entry into foster care. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 6, 2020 Mr. BLUNT (for himself, Ms. STABENOW, Mr. BOOZMAN, and Mr. CASEY) in- troduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com- mittee on Finance A BILL To amend subpart 1 of part B of title IV of the Social Security Act to ensure that mental health screenings and assessments are provided to children and youth upon entry into foster care. 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 ‘‘Timely Mental Health 4 for Foster Youth Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:37 May 08, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3625.IS S3625 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 3625 IS SEC. 2. TIMELY MENTAL HEALTH SCREENINGS AND AS- 1 SESSMENTS FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH 2 UPON ENTRY INTO FOSTER CARE. 3 (a) STATE AND TRIBAL PLAN REQUIREMENT.—Sec- 4 tion 422(b)(15)(A) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 5 622(b)(15)(A)) is amended— 6 (1) in clause (i), by inserting ‘‘and that require 7 that an initial mental health screening of any child 8 in foster care be completed not later than 30 days 9 after the date the child enters into foster care and, 10 in the case of any child in foster care for whom a 11 mental health issue is identified in such initial 12 screening, that a comprehensive assessment of the 13 mental health of the child be completed not later 14 than 60 days after the date the child enters into fos- 15 ter care’’ before the semicolon; and 16 (2) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘screenings’’ and 17 inserting ‘‘such screenings and assessments’’. 18 (b) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.—Section 19 422(b)(15)(A) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 622(b)(15)(A)) is 20 further amended in the matter before clause (i), by strik- 21 ing ‘‘provides’’ and inserting ‘‘provide’’. 22 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.— 23 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para- 24 graph (2), the amendments made by this section 25 shall take effect on October 1, 2020. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:37 May 08, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3625.IS S3625 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 3625 IS (2) DELAY PERMITTED IF STATE LEGISLATION 1 REQUIRED.—In the case of a State plan approved 2 under subpart 1 of part B of title IV of the Social 3 Security Act which the Secretary of Health and 4 Human Services determines requires State legisla- 5 tion (other than legislation appropriating funds) in 6 order for the plan to meet the additional require- 7 ments imposed by this section, the State plan shall 8 not be regarded as failing to comply with the re- 9 quirements of such part solely on the basis of the 10 failure of the plan to meet such additional require- 11 ments before the first day of the first calendar quar- 12 ter beginning after the close of the first regular ses- 13 sion of the State legislature that begins after the 14 date of enactment of this section. For purposes of 15 the previous sentence, in the case of a State that has 16 a 2-year legislative session, each year of such session 17 shall be deemed to be a separate regular session of 18 the State legislature. 19 SEC. 3. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TO STATES. 20 The Assistant Secretary for the Administration for 21 Children and Families and the Administrator for the Cen- 22 ters for Medicare & Medicaid Services jointly shall provide 23 technical assistance to States on how to comply with the 24 amendments made by section 2(a) of this Act. The Assist- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:37 May 08, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3625.IS S3625 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 3625 IS ant Secretary and Administrator should consult with other 1 relevant Federal agencies on the development of such tech- 2 nical assistance, which should take into account evidence- 3 based best practices. 4 SEC. 4. DATA COLLECTION. 5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 6 Human Services, in consultation with State and local pub- 7 lic officials responsible for administering child welfare pro- 8 grams, child welfare advocates, pediatric mental health ex- 9 perts, and researchers shall— 10 (1) identify data elements needed to track— 11 (A) the number of children receiving an 12 initial mental health screening required under 13 section 422(b)(15)(A)(i) of the Social Security 14 Act (42 U.S.C. 622(b)(15)(A)) (as amended by 15 section 2(a) of this Act); 16 (B) whether or not such required initial 17 mental health screening occurs within 30 days 18 of a child’s entry or re-entry into foster care; 19 (C) the number of children who receive a 20 follow-up comprehensive assessment required 21 under section 422(b)(15)(A)(i) of the Social Se- 22 curity Act (42 U.S.C. 622(b)(15)(A)) (as so 23 amended); 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:37 May 08, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3625.IS S3625 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 3625 IS (D) whether or not such required follow-up 1 comprehensive assessment occurs within 60 2 days of a child’s entry or re-entry into foster 3 care; 4 (E) the number of children in foster care 5 who are referred for mental health services; and 6 (F) the number and characteristics of such 7 children who receive mental health services 8 after being referred for such services; and 9 (2) develop a plan to collect the information de- 10 scribed in paragraph (1) from States administering 11 a State plan under subpart 1 of part B of title IV 12 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 621 et seq.) 13 beginning with the second fiscal year that begins 14 after the date of enactment of this Act. 15 (b) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 12 16 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec- 17 retary of Health and Human Services shall submit to the 18 Committee on Finance of the Senate and the Committee 19 on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives a 20 report detailing the plan and timetable for collecting the 21 information described in subsection (a)(1) from States. 22 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:49 May 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S3625.IS S3625 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS