WASHINGTON – Today, Sen. Chuck Grassley
(R-Iowa) and Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) introduced bipartisan legislation that
seeks to improve recruitment, retention and support for foster parents by
fixing the feedback process and bolstering data collection. The proposal comes
as most states, including Iowa, face a shortage of qualified foster parents –
an issue that is only expected to worsen as child welfare agencies look to rely
less on congregate care and more on family settings.
“The child welfare system relies on
trained, qualified foster parents stepping up to care for children in need. But
too often, the system fails to support these families. Our bipartisan legislation
works to ensure foster parents are supported and listened to. Additionally, it
requires states to use data to make recruitment efforts more targeted and
effective. By making these necessary improvements, we can help more foster
youth experience stable, loving placements and eventually have permanency. I
appreciate Senator Hassan for joining me on this important effort to support
foster youth and parents,” Grassley
said.
“Foster parents open their home to
children, taking on immense responsibility during what can often be a very
difficult time for a child. It is essential that their feedback, and the
feedback of individuals who have previously been in the foster care system, is
incorporated into foster care programs so that states can build a stronger
foster family recruitment system,” Hassan
said. “This bipartisan bill will take commonsense steps to strengthen the
foster care program, and I am glad to partner with Senator Grassley on this
important and urgent issue.”
Grassley and Hassan’s bill, the Data-Driven Foster Parent Recruitment and
Retention Act, is supported by 20 state organizations and several national
organizations, including the National Foster Parent Association, North American
Council on Adoptable Children, Voice for Adoption, Dave Thomas Foundation for
Adoption, Children’s Home Society of America and The Family Focused Treatment
Association.
“Many years of experience tell us that
the important work of recruiting foster families requires agencies to utilize
effective, data-driven approaches. The
Data-Driven
Foster Parent Recruitment and Retention Act of 2022 offers much-needed
improvements to federal policy by providing clear guidance to help child
welfare agencies plan and implement best practices in foster parent recruitment
and retention,”
the organizations said
in a joint support
letter
to Grassley and Hassan.
The legislation would update the Title
IV-B Diligent Recruitment Plan requirements to make them more robust and
require states to use a data-driven approach. Additionally, it would call for
states to provide more opportunity for input from foster parents through foster
parent advisory boards when making these plans.
Specifically, the Data-Driven Foster Parent Recruitment and Retention Act would:
- Create a new
“family partnership plan” requirement that describes how states will be
identifying, recruiting, screening, supporting and retaining foster families
by:
- Requiring consultation with foster parents and
kinship parents, as well as youth and service providers;
- Requiring states to describe plans to use data to
establish goals, assess needs and measure progress; and
- Describing how the state plans to stand up and
support ongoing family advisory boards to improve retention of foster and
adoptive families.
- Require states to
collect and report on the foster family capacity and congregate care
utilization, as well as the demographics and characteristics of foster
families. This data collection would also include a summary of feedback from
foster parents on licensing, support, training and reasons why they have
stopped taking placements if applicable.
- Require the Department
of Health and Human Services (HHS) to produce an annual report of states’ data
in order to identify national trends, similar to the data collection and annual
report on children in foster care.
Full text of the bill is available
HERE.
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