Recruiting Families Using Data Act of 2023

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, let me start by thanking my colleague and friend, Mr. Feenstra, for his work on this legislation. I think we have proven once again that while we do have our divisions in this body and some divisions in this country, there are certain issues that bring us together across party lines and across different aspects of our society.

Mr. Feenstra and I, I think, proved that with our work on this legislation, along with other Members who have joined together to put this really important act together to help foster youth have a better path forward in life.

This legislation, as Mr. Feenstra said, is a commonsense approach to solving one of the problems that we see in the foster care system. It will improve the recruitment and retention of foster families so that we can get more kids into safe and loving homes.

Across the country, there is a severe shortage of foster parents, and retention of foster families, of foster parents, is a big part of the problem. Most foster parents stop fostering after just 1 year, and many stop fostering after their very first or second foster placement.

Under current law, States have the responsibility to develop plans, known as diligent recruitment plans, outlining the actions they will take to ensure that every kid in their care is connected to a family that meets their particular needs. However, a recent review conducted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services shows that these plans need significant reform and improvement.

States rarely use data to inform recruitment and retention strategies, and often, they fail to engage foster parents or foster youth, the people who understand the system better than anyone, in developing those plans.

What this means is that States continue to have difficulty finding and keeping foster parents, which has devastating impacts for those foster kids.

The most recent Federal review of Michigan's foster care system cites countless reports of children sleeping in offices or hotels for weeks and months as they await placement in a foster home.

Our social workers are doing the best they can, stepping up to take care of these children when they don't have anyone else, but that is not the kind of home that any child deserves.

As we continue to grapple with this severe shortage of foster homes, we are also seeing a growing number of foster parents drop out of the system because they just aren't getting the support that they need.

In 2023, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services reported that close to one-third of foster parents terminate their foster care licenses each year. This, of course, only puts more stress on a system that desperately needs more safe and loving homes.

Mr. Speaker, our legislation, the Recruiting Families Using Data Act, is the first step toward addressing this crisis. To help States better meet the needs of foster children in their care, the bill would replace the outdated diligent recruitment plans with family partnership plans that are developed in consultation with foster youth and their families; support foster family advisory boards, which give foster parents a voice in the policy development process; and, as the title of the bill suggests, use data to establish recruitment and retention goals and measure progress toward those goals.

This is a subject that is close to me. In my original career for almost a decade, I was a social worker working in this field. In fact, I was working in a residential agency for the most at-risk kids in our population, neglected and abused kids. So I know, from my own personal experience, the weaknesses in the system, and I know that fixing the system will require the expertise of the people who know it best.

The foster care system is known best by the people who are part of it, the families and the youth who have gone through it. By giving people a voice and using data that we derive from them and their experiences, we will find better ways to recruit and find retainment strategies that really work.

While it doesn't solve the entire problem, this bill would make a significant improvement to the foster care system not just in my home State but all across the country.

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Mr. KILDEE.

I thank my colleague, Mr. Feenstra, for his work on this, as well as all my colleagues on the Ways and Means Committee and throughout Congress for supporting this legislation.

As I said, there is much we need to do to improve the foster care system, to recognize the needs of foster youth, to make sure that they have a safe and loving home, to put them on a path to be the best versions of themselves. This is a step in that direction. I encourage all my colleagues to support this legislation.

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