Find and Protect Foster Youth Act

IB Union Calendar No. 315 118TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 2426 [Report No. 118–385] To amend part E of title IV of the Social Security Act to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to identify obstacles to identi- fying and responding to reports of children missing from foster care and other vulnerable foster youth, to provide technical assistance relating to the removal of such obstacles, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 30, 2023 Mr. TONY GONZALES of Texas (for himself, Ms. BROWN, Mrs. HOUCHIN, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Mr. BACON, Ms. KAMLAGER-DOVE, Mr. NEWHOUSE, and Ms. SCANLON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means FEBRUARY 13, 2024 Additional sponsors: Ms. MACE, Mr. LAMBORN, Mr. CASTEN, Mr. DOGGETT, Mr. TRONE, Ms. SEWELL, Mr. GOTTHEIMER, Mr. STANTON, Mr. LAWLER, Mr. LANGWORTHY, Mr. VALADAO, Mr. ESTES, Mr. NUNN of Iowa, Mr. FITZPATRICK, and Mrs. HINSON FEBRUARY 13, 2024 Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed [Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] [For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on March 30, 2023] VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:20 Feb 14, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H2426.RH H2426 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2426 RH A BILL To amend part E of title IV of the Social Security Act to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to identify obstacles to identifying and responding to reports of children missing from foster care and other vulnerable foster youth, to provide technical assistance relating to the removal of such obstacles, and for other purposes. VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:20 Feb 14, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H2426.RH H2426 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2426 RH 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 ‘‘Find and Protect Foster 4 Youth Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. ELIMINATING OBSTACLES TO IDENTIFYING AND RE- 6 SPONDING TO REPORTS OF CHILDREN MISS- 7 ING FROM FOSTER CARE AND OTHER VUL- 8 NERABLE FOSTER YOUTH. 9 Section 476 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 676) 10 is amended by adding at the end the following: 11 ‘‘(f) EVALUATION OF PROTOCOLS RELATING TO CHIL- 12 DREN MISSING FROM FOSTER CARE AND OTHER VULNER- 13 ABLE YOUTH; TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.— 14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall conduct 15 an evaluation of the protocols established by States in 16 accordance with the requirements of section 17 471(a)(35) and, to the extent applicable, by Indian 18 tribes or tribal organizations (as defined in section 19 479B(a)) or tribal consortia with a plan approved 20 under section 471 in accordance with section 479B. 21 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS.—The evaluation shall in- 22 clude the following: 23 ‘‘(A) A review of relevant aspects of reports 24 submitted by States, Indian tribes, tribal organi- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:20 Feb 14, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H2426.RH H2426 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2426 RH zations, and tribal consortia under this part and 1 part B, and data and other information reported 2 pursuant to the system established under section 3 479. 4 ‘‘(B) Analysis of the extent to which States, 5 Indian tribes, tribal organizations, and tribal 6 consortia comply with, and enforce, the protocols 7 required by section 471(a)(35). 8 ‘‘(C) Analysis of the effectiveness of such 9 protocols. 10 ‘‘(D) Identification of obstacles for States, 11 Indian tribes, tribal organizations, and tribal 12 consortia to identifying and responding to re- 13 ports of children missing from foster care and 14 other vulnerable foster youth. 15 ‘‘(E) Identification of best practices for 16 identifying such children and youth and inter- 17 vening with effective services. 18 ‘‘(3) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary 19 shall provide States, Indian tribes, tribal organiza- 20 tions, and tribal consortia with information, advice, 21 educational materials, and technical assistance relat- 22 ing to eliminating identified obstacles to identifying 23 and responding to reports of children missing from 24 foster care and other vulnerable foster youth and pro- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:20 Feb 14, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H2426.RH H2426 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2426 RH viding such children and youth with effective services. 1 Such assistance may include dissemination of— 2 ‘‘(A) processes and tools to identify and ex- 3 amine risk factors and potential trends related to 4 children who go missing from foster care and 5 other vulnerable youth; 6 ‘‘(B) best practices for runaway tracking 7 and recovery; and 8 ‘‘(C) guidelines for intervention, including 9 with respect to services, types of providers, and 10 placement settings. 11 ‘‘(4) REPORT.—Not later than 5 years after the 12 date of enactment of this subsection, the Secretary 13 shall submit a report to Congress on the results of the 14 evaluation conducted under this subsection and the 15 technical assistance provided in accordance with 16 paragraph (3).’’. 17 SEC. 3. IMPROVING SCREENING AND ASSESSMENT OF CHIL- 18 DREN RETURNED TO FOSTER CARE AFTER 19 GOING MISSING TO DETERMINE WHETHER 20 THEY WERE, OR ARE AT RISK OF BECOMING, 21 VICTIMS OF SEX TRAFFICKING. 22 Section 476 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 676), 23 as amended by section 2, is further amended by adding at 24 the end the following: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:20 Feb 14, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H2426.RH H2426 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2426 RH ‘‘(g) IMPROVING IDENTIFICATION OF, AND SERVICES 1 FOR, CHILDREN WHO RETURN TO FOSTER CARE AFTER 2 RUNNING AWAY OR OTHERWISE BEING ABSENT FROM FOS- 3 TER CARE AND WHO ARE, OR ARE AT RISK OF BEING, 4 VICTIMS OF SEX TRAFFICKING.— 5 ‘‘(1) ASSISTANCE.— 6 ‘‘(A) SCREENING AFTER A RETURN TO FOS- 7 TER CARE.—The Secretary shall provide States, 8 Indian tribes, tribal organizations, and tribal 9 consortia, with information, advice, educational 10 materials, and technical assistance to improve 11 compliance with section 471(a)(35)(A)(iii). 12 ‘‘(B) IMPROVING OTHER REQUIREMENTS.— 13 The information, advice, educational materials, 14 and technical assistance provided may include 15 information, advice, educational materials, and 16 technical assistance to improve or modify poli- 17 cies and procedures (including relevant training 18 for caseworkers) developed by States, Indian 19 tribes, tribal organizations, and tribal consortia 20 under section 471(a)(9)(C), including the fol- 21 lowing: 22 ‘‘(i) Identifying, through screening, 23 whether the State has reasonable cause to 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:20 Feb 14, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H2426.RH H2426 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 2426 RH believe the child or youth is, or is at risk of 1 being, a victim of sex trafficking. 2 ‘‘(ii) Documenting the results of such 3 screening in agency records. 4 ‘‘(iii) Determining appropriate serv- 5 ices for a child or youth for whom the State 6 determines there is reasonable cause to iden- 7 tify the child or youth as a victim of sex 8 trafficking, or as at risk of being a victim 9 of sex trafficking. 10 ‘‘(iv) Documenting in agency records 11 the determination of appropriate services 12 for a child or youth described in clause 13 (iii). 14 ‘‘(2) FORMS OF ASSISTANCE.—The assistance 15 provided under this subsection shall include the fol- 16 lowing: 17 ‘‘(A) Assisting States, Indian tribes, tribal 18 organizations, and tribal consortia, with devel- 19 oping oversight mechanisms to assess their com- 20 pliance with section 471(a)(35)(A)(iii). 21 ‘‘(B) Assisting States, Indian tribes, tribal 22 organizations, and tribal consortia in devel- 23 oping— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:20 Feb 14, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H2426.RH H2426 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 2426 RH ‘‘(i) assessments for screening children 1 who return to foster care after running 2 away or otherwise being absent from foster 3 care for risk of becoming victims of sex traf- 4 ficking; and 5 ‘‘(ii) effective and robust policies relat- 6 ing to the use of the assessments. 7 ‘‘(C) Working with States, Indian tribes, 8 tribal organizations, and tribal consortia to im- 9 prove or modify policies and procedures devel- 10 oped under section 471(a)(9)(C). 11 ‘‘(D) Providing technical assistance on how 12 States, Indian tribes, tribal organizations, and 13 tribal consortia may best use data collected pur- 14 suant to section 479 for oversight of, and to en- 15 sure compliance with, the requirements of para- 16 graphs (9)(C) and (35)(A)(iii) of section 471(a). 17 ‘‘(3) CONSULTATION.—The Secretary shall, to the 18 extent practicable, consult with internal and external 19 offices with expertise on sex trafficking, including the 20 Office on Trafficking in Persons of the Administra- 21 tion for Children and Families, on the development 22 and dissemination to States, Indian tribes, tribal or- 23 ganizations, and tribal consortia of the assistance re- 24 quired under this subsection.’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:20 Feb 14, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H2426.RH H2426 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 2426 RH SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 1 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary 2 such sums as are necessary to carry out this Act for fiscal 3 year 2024, which shall remain available through fiscal year 4 2027. 5 SEC. 5. IDENTIFYING AND ADDRESSING CONDITIONS THAT 6 LEAD TO YOUTH RUNNING AWAY FROM FOS- 7 TER CARE. 8 The Comptroller General of the United States shall 9 submit to the Congress a written report that— 10 (1) contains a rigorous analysis of administra- 11 tive data to determine the characteristics of youth 12 who run away from foster care and other relevant in- 13 formation about foster care runaway episodes; 14 (2) includes information from interviews with 15 recent foster youth runaways regarding their reasons 16 for running away and what happened after they ran 17 away, including any screening or other protocol fol- 18 lowed by the State; 19 (3) includes a systematic review of research and 20 evidence related to foster youth runaways; 21 (4) sets forth best practices for making foster care 22 safe for youth and reducing the number of foster 23 youth runaways; and 24 (5) makes recommendations to advance child 25 welfare practices, after convening and consulting with 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:20 Feb 14, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H2426.RH H2426 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 2426 RH a group of child welfare practitioners and profes- 1 sionals to inform the recommendations. 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:20 Feb 14, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H2426.RH H2426 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:20 Feb 14, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H2426.RH H2426 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS Union Calendar No. 315 118TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 2426 [Report No. 118–385] A BILL To amend part E of title IV of the Social Security Act to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to identify obstacles to identi- fying and responding to reports of children miss- ing from foster care and other vulnerable foster youth, to provide technical assistance relating to the removal of such obstacles, and for other pur- poses. FEBRUARY 13, 2024 Reported with an amendment, committed to the Com- mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:20 Feb 14, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6651 Sfmt 6651 E:\BILLS\H2426.RH H2426 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS