Bipartisan Smucker, Sewell Effort Helps Place Children in Homes of Family Members
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker (PA-16) is working across the aisle to make it easier for foster children to be placed in the home of a family member. Today, Rep. Smucker introduced the bipartisan Reducing Barriers for Relative Foster Parents Act with Rep. Terri Sewell (D-AL) to help states identify ways to expedite foster placement of children with family members. Pennsylvania's 16th District is home to at least 14 foster care agencies.
"Every child deserves a loving home," said Rep. Smucker. "In 2015, more than 670,000 American children – and more than 16,000 in Pennsylvania – spent time in foster care. There are countless family members of foster children who are willing and eager to accept these children into their home. We should be making that process easier for family members – not tying them up in bureaucratic red tape that extends the amount of time children spend in foster care. I am proud to introduce this bipartisan legislation with Rep. Sewell and will work with her to pass this bill out of the House."
"The children in our foster care system already face a mountain of challenges – staying with a family member should not be one of them," said Rep. Sewell. "The facts show that children are more likely to succeed when they are able to stay with a member of their own family. Here in Congress, we can facilitate the ability of relatives to act as foster parents, and strengthen safety, permanency, and wellbeing for children in need of car. Today's legislation takes a big step towards making our foster care system more family-friendly."
BACKGROUND
A 2014 study from the University of Houston finds that "placing foster children with relatives helps to solve many existing foster care problems and improve children's outcomes on a variety of dimensions. In particular, children placed with [relatives] tend to spend less time in foster care, experience higher stability of placement, and benefit even after exiting state custody through improvements in safety."
Courtesy of the House Ways and Means Committee:
Present law
States are required to set and maintain licensing standards for foster family homes and child care institutions. They are generally free to set these standards as they choose so far as the standards are ‘‘reasonably in accord'' with standards recommended by relevant national organizations with regard to admission policies, safety, sanitation, and protection of civil rights, and provided they permit the use of the ‘‘reasonable and prudent parenting standard,'' defined in federal law [Sec. 471(a)(10) of the Social Security Act].
States must generally apply the same licensing standard to any foster family receiving child welfare support, although, on a case- by-case basis, they may choose to waive ‘‘non-safety'' standards (e.g. size of bedroom) for a child placed in a relative foster family home [Sec. 471(a)(10)(D) of the Social Security Act].
Explanation of provision
This section would require HHS to identify reputable model standards for licensing foster family homes not later than October 1, 2018. No later than April 1, 2019 each state would be required to submit information to HHS on whether its own licensing standards are fully consistent with the model standards identified by HHS, and, if not, why this inconsistency is appropriate for the state.
No later than April 1, 2018, each state would also be required to submit information to HHS on whether it uses this authority to waive non-safety standards for relative foster family caregivers. If a state does not use this authority, it would be required to give the reasons why this is the case. If the state does use this waiver authority, it would need to indicate which standards are most often waived and whether the state has developed a process or has pro- vided tools to assist caseworkers in using this waiver authority. It would further need to describe how caseworkers are trained in using this waiver authority, including any steps taken to improve the training on the waiver process.
Reason for change
Under current law, states can waive non-safety licensing standards when placing children with relatives. However, states do not appear to be taking full advantage of this provision in the law. The Committee understands caseworkers may not be appropriately trained regarding their ability to waive certain standards when licensing relatives, and that this has resulted in delays in placing children in these families. This provision would ensure states take proactive steps to speed the process of licensing relatives, that they follow model standards for these placements (or explain why they deviate from these standards), and that they provide appropriate tools to caseworkers to simplify the process so more children can live safely with family members when they cannot stay in their own home.