Find and Protect Foster Youth Act

In the House of Representatives, U. S., September 18, 2024. Resolved, That the bill from the Senate (S. 1146) enti- tled ‘‘An Act to amend part E of title IV of the Social Secu- rity Act to require the Secretary of Health and Human Serv- ices to identify obstacles to identifying and responding to re- ports of children missing from foster care and other vulner- able foster youth, to provide technical assistance relating to the removal of such obstacles, and for other purposes.’’, do pass with the following AMENDMENT: Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert: SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Find and Protect Foster 2 Youth Act’’. 3 SEC. 2. ELIMINATING OBSTACLES TO IDENTIFYING AND RE- 4 SPONDING TO REPORTS OF CHILDREN MISS- 5 ING FROM FOSTER CARE AND OTHER VUL- 6 NERABLE FOSTER YOUTH. 7 Section 476 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 676) 8 is amended by adding at the end the following: 9 ‘‘(f) EVALUATION OF PROTOCOLS RELATING TO CHIL- 10 DREN MISSING FROM FOSTER CARE AND OTHER VULNER- 11 ABLE YOUTH; TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.— 12 2 •S 1146 EAH ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall conduct 1 an evaluation of the protocols established by States in 2 accordance with the requirements of section 3 471(a)(35) and, to the extent applicable, by Indian 4 tribes or tribal organizations (as defined in section 5 479B(a)) or tribal consortia with a plan approved 6 under section 471 in accordance with section 479B. 7 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS.—The evaluation shall in- 8 clude the following: 9 ‘‘(A) A review of relevant aspects of reports 10 submitted by States, Indian tribes, tribal organi- 11 zations, and tribal consortia under this part and 12 part B, and data and other information reported 13 pursuant to the system established under section 14 479. 15 ‘‘(B) Analysis of the extent to which States, 16 Indian tribes, tribal organizations, and tribal 17 consortia comply with, and enforce, the protocols 18 required by section 471(a)(35). 19 ‘‘(C) Analysis of the effectiveness of such 20 protocols. 21 ‘‘(D) Identification of obstacles for States, 22 Indian tribes, tribal organizations, and tribal 23 consortia to identifying and responding to re- 24 3 •S 1146 EAH ports of children missing from foster care and 1 other vulnerable foster youth. 2 ‘‘(E) Identification of best practices for 3 identifying such children and youth and inter- 4 vening with effective services. 5 ‘‘(3) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary 6 shall provide States, Indian tribes, tribal organiza- 7 tions, and tribal consortia with information, advice, 8 educational materials, and technical assistance relat- 9 ing to eliminating identified obstacles to identifying 10 and responding to reports of children missing from 11 foster care and other vulnerable foster youth and pro- 12 viding such children and youth with effective services. 13 Such assistance may include dissemination of— 14 ‘‘(A) processes and tools to identify and ex- 15 amine risk factors and potential trends related to 16 children who go missing from foster care and 17 other vulnerable youth; 18 ‘‘(B) best practices for runaway tracking 19 and recovery; and 20 ‘‘(C) guidelines for intervention, including 21 with respect to services, types of providers, and 22 placement settings. 23 ‘‘(4) REPORT.—Not later than 5 years after the 24 date of enactment of this subsection, the Secretary 25 4 •S 1146 EAH shall submit a report to Congress on the results of the 1 evaluation conducted under this subsection and the 2 technical assistance provided in accordance with 3 paragraph (3).’’. 4 SEC. 3. IMPROVING SCREENING AND ASSESSMENT OF CHIL- 5 DREN RETURNED TO FOSTER CARE AFTER 6 GOING MISSING TO DETERMINE WHETHER 7 THEY WERE, OR ARE AT RISK OF BECOMING, 8 VICTIMS OF SEX TRAFFICKING. 9 Section 476 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 676), 10 as amended by section 2, is further amended by adding at 11 the end the following: 12 ‘‘(g) IMPROVING IDENTIFICATION OF, AND SERVICES 13 FOR, CHILDREN WHO RETURN TO FOSTER CARE AFTER 14 RUNNING AWAY OR OTHERWISE BEING ABSENT FROM FOS- 15 TER CARE AND WHO ARE, OR ARE AT RISK OF BEING, 16 VICTIMS OF SEX TRAFFICKING.— 17 ‘‘(1) ASSISTANCE.— 18 ‘‘(A) SCREENING AFTER A RETURN TO FOS- 19 TER CARE.—The Secretary shall provide States, 20 Indian tribes, tribal organizations, and tribal 21 consortia, with information, advice, educational 22 materials, and technical assistance to improve 23 compliance with section 471(a)(35)(A)(iii). 24 5 •S 1146 EAH ‘‘(B) IMPROVING OTHER REQUIREMENTS.— 1 The information, advice, educational materials, 2 and technical assistance provided may include 3 information, advice, educational materials, and 4 technical assistance to improve or modify poli- 5 cies and procedures (including relevant training 6 for caseworkers) developed by States, Indian 7 tribes, tribal organizations, and tribal consortia 8 under section 471(a)(9)(C), including the fol- 9 lowing: 10 ‘‘(i) Identifying, through screening, 11 whether the State has reasonable cause to 12 believe the child or youth is, or is at risk of 13 being, a victim of sex trafficking. 14 ‘‘(ii) Documenting the results of such 15 screening in agency records. 16 ‘‘(iii) Determining appropriate serv- 17 ices for a child or youth for whom the State 18 determines there is reasonable cause to iden- 19 tify the child or youth as a victim of sex 20 trafficking, or as at risk of being a victim 21 of sex trafficking. 22 ‘‘(iv) Documenting in agency records 23 the determination of appropriate services 24 6 •S 1146 EAH for a child or youth described in clause 1 (iii). 2 ‘‘(2) FORMS OF ASSISTANCE.—The assistance 3 provided under this subsection shall include the fol- 4 lowing: 5 ‘‘(A) Assisting States, Indian tribes, tribal 6 organizations, and tribal consortia, with devel- 7 oping oversight mechanisms to assess their com- 8 pliance with section 471(a)(35)(A)(iii). 9 ‘‘(B) Assisting States, Indian tribes, tribal 10 organizations, and tribal consortia in devel- 11 oping— 12 ‘‘(i) assessments for screening children 13 who return to foster care after running 14 away or otherwise being absent from foster 15 care for risk of becoming victims of sex traf- 16 ficking; and 17 ‘‘(ii) effective and robust policies relat- 18 ing to the use of the assessments. 19 ‘‘(C) Working with States, Indian tribes, 20 tribal organizations, and tribal consortia to im- 21 prove or modify policies and procedures devel- 22 oped under section 471(a)(9)(C). 23 ‘‘(D) Providing technical assistance on how 24 States, Indian tribes, tribal organizations, and 25 7 •S 1146 EAH tribal consortia may best use data collected pur- 1 suant to section 479 for oversight of, and to en- 2 sure compliance with, the requirements of para- 3 graphs (9)(C) and (35)(A)(iii) of section 471(a). 4 ‘‘(3) CONSULTATION.—The Secretary shall, to the 5 extent practicable, consult with internal and external 6 offices with expertise on sex trafficking, including the 7 Office on Trafficking in Persons of the Administra- 8 tion for Children and Families, on the development 9 and dissemination to States, Indian tribes, tribal or- 10 ganizations, and tribal consortia of the assistance re- 11 quired under this subsection.’’. 12 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 13 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary 14 such sums as are necessary to carry out this Act for fiscal 15 year 2024 through fiscal year 2027. 16 SEC. 5. IDENTIFYING AND ADDRESSING CONDITIONS THAT 17 LEAD TO YOUTH RUNNING AWAY FROM FOS- 18 TER CARE. 19 The Comptroller General of the United States shall 20 submit to the Congress a written report that— 21 (1) contains a rigorous analysis of administra- 22 tive data to determine the characteristics of youth 23 who run away from foster care and other relevant in- 24 formation about foster care runaway episodes; 25 8 •S 1146 EAH (2) includes information from interviews with 1 recent foster youth runaways regarding their reasons 2 for running away and what happened after they ran 3 away, including any screening or other protocol fol- 4 lowed by the State; 5 (3) includes a systematic review of research and 6 evidence related to foster youth runaways; 7 (4) sets forth best practices for making foster care 8 safe for youth and reducing the number of foster 9 youth runaways; and 10 (5) makes recommendations to advance child 11 welfare practices, after convening and consulting with 12 a group of child welfare practitioners and profes- 13 sionals to inform the recommendations. 14 Attest: Clerk. 118TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 1146 AMENDMENT