Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HR390 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	IV
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. RES. 390
5	5	Recognizing National Foster Care Month as an opportunity to raise awareness
6	6	about the challenges of children in the foster care system and encour-
7	7	aging Congress to implement policy to improve the lives of children
8	8	in, or at risk of entering, the foster care system.
9	9	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
10	10	MAY6, 2025
11	11	Ms. K
12	12	AMLAGER-DOVE(for herself, Ms. MOOREof Wisconsin, Mr. BACON, Ms.
13	13	S
14	14	CANLON, Mr. NUNNof Iowa, and Mrs. HOUCHIN) submitted the fol-
15	15	lowing resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and
16	16	Means
17	17	RESOLUTION
18	18	Recognizing National Foster Care Month as an opportunity
19	19	to raise awareness about the challenges of children in
20	20	the foster care system and encouraging Congress to im-
21	21	plement policy to improve the lives of children in, or
22	22	at risk of entering, the foster care system.
23	23	Whereas National Foster Care Month was established more
24	24	than 30 years ago to—
25	25	(1) bring foster care issues to the forefront;
26	26	(2) highlight the importance of permanency for
27	27	every child; and
28	28	(3) recognize the essential role that foster parents,
29	29	social workers, and advocates have in the lives of children
30	30	in foster care throughout the United States;
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33	33	•HRES 390 IH
34	34	Whereas all children deserve a safe, loving, and permanent
35	35	family;
36	36	Whereas the primary goal of the foster care system is to en-
37	37	sure the safety and well-being of children while working
38	38	to provide a safe, loving, and permanent home for each
39	39	child;
40	40	Whereas, in 2022, there were approximately 369,000 children
41	41	officially living in foster care not counting those children
42	42	whose physical custody has been shifted to caregivers out-
43	43	side of the foster care system;
44	44	Whereas approximately 197,000 children entered foster care
45	45	in 2022, while 109,000 children were eligible and waiting
46	46	for adoption at the end of 2022;
47	47	Whereas children of color are more likely to stay in the foster
48	48	care system for longer periods of time and are less likely
49	49	to be reunited with their biological families;
50	50	Whereas foster parents, including kin families, are the front-
51	51	line caregivers for children who cannot safely remain with
52	52	their biological parents and provide physical care, emo-
53	53	tional support, education advocacy, and are the largest
54	54	single source of families providing permanent homes, for
55	55	children leaving foster care to adoption;
56	56	Whereas children in foster care who are placed with relatives,
57	57	compared to children placed with nonrelatives, have more
58	58	stability, including fewer changes in placements, have
59	59	more positive perceptions of their placements, are more
60	60	likely to be placed with their siblings, and demonstrate
61	61	fewer behavioral problems;
62	62	Whereas some relative caregivers receive less financial assist-
63	63	ance and support services than do foster caregivers;
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66	66	•HRES 390 IH
67	67	Whereas recent studies show foster children enrolled in Med-
68	68	icaid were prescribed antipsychotic medications at nearly
69	69	4 times the rate of other children receiving Medicaid;
70	70	Whereas youth in foster care are much more likely to face
71	71	educational instability, with 65 percent of former foster
72	72	children experiencing at least 7 school changes while in
73	73	care;
74	74	Whereas an increased emphasis on prevention and reunifica-
75	75	tion services is necessary to reduce the number of chil-
76	76	dren that enter or reenter the foster care system;
77	77	Whereas the effects of the COVID–19 pandemic have created
78	78	additional challenges for youth and families in the child
79	79	welfare system, including delays in permanency, economic
80	80	hardships, and disruptions in education;
81	81	Whereas more than 20,000 youth ‘‘age out’’ of foster care
82	82	annually without a legal permanent connection to an
83	83	adult or family, with 20 percent of them becoming in-
84	84	stantly homeless;
85	85	Whereas the number of youth who age out of foster care has
86	86	steadily increased for the past decade;
87	87	Whereas foster care is intended to be a temporary placement,
88	88	but children remain in the foster care system for an aver-
89	89	age of 19.6 months;
90	90	Whereas children in foster care experience an average of 3
91	91	different placements, which often leads to disruption of
92	92	routines and the need to change schools and move away
93	93	from siblings, extended families, and familiar sur-
94	94	roundings;
95	95	Whereas children entering foster care often confront the
96	96	widespread misperception that children in foster care are
97	97	disruptive, unruly, and dangerous, even though placement
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101	101	in foster care is based on the actions of a parent or
102	102	guardian, not the child;
103	103	Whereas children who age out of foster care lack the security
104	104	or support of a biological or adoptive family and fre-
105	105	quently struggle to secure affordable housing, obtain
106	106	health insurance, pursue higher education, and acquire
107	107	adequate employment;
108	108	Whereas, on average, 8.5 percent of the positions in child
109	109	protection services remain vacant;
110	110	Whereas, due to heavy caseloads and limited resources, the
111	111	average tenure for a worker in child protection services
112	112	is just 3 years;
113	113	Whereas States, localities, and communities should be encour-
114	114	aged to invest resources in preventative and reunification
115	115	services and postpermanency programs to ensure that
116	116	more children in foster care are provided with safe, lov-
117	117	ing, and permanent placements;
118	118	Whereas, in 2018, Congress passed the Family First Preven-
119	119	tion Services Act (Public Law 115–123; 132 Stat. 232),
120	120	which provided new investments in prevention, early
121	121	intervention, and family reunification services to help
122	122	more families stay together, provided support for kinship
123	123	(relative) caregivers, and provided improved and more
124	124	flexible services to older youth aging out of foster care,
125	125	to ensure that more children can be in safe, loving, and
126	126	permanent homes;
127	127	Whereas Federal legislation over the past 3 decades, includ-
128	128	ing the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of
129	129	1980 (Public Law 96–272), the Adoption and Safe Fami-
130	130	lies Act of 1997 (Public Law 105–89), the Fostering
131	131	Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of
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134	134	•HRES 390 IH
135	135	2008 (Public Law 110–351), the Child and Family Serv-
136	136	ices Improvement and Innovation Act (Public Law 112–
137	137	34), and the Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strength-
138	138	ening Families Act (Public Law 113–183), provided new
139	139	investments and services to improve the outcomes of chil-
140	140	dren in the foster care system;
141	141	Whereas May is an appropriate month to designate as Na-
142	142	tional Foster Care Month to provide an opportunity to
143	143	acknowledge the accomplishments of the child welfare
144	144	workforce, foster parents, the advocacy community, and
145	145	mentors for their dedication, accomplishments, and posi-
146	146	tive effects on the lives of children; and
147	147	Whereas much remains to be done to ensure that all children
148	148	have a safe, loving, nurturing, and permanent family, re-
149	149	gardless of age or special needs: Now, therefore, be it
150	150	Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 1
151	151	(1) supports the designation of National Foster 2
152	152	Care Month; 3
153	153	(2) recognizes National Foster Care Month as 4
154	154	an opportunity to raise awareness about the chal-5
155	155	lenges that children face in the foster care system; 6
156	156	(3) encourages Congress to implement policies 7
157	157	to improve the lives of children in the foster care 8
158	158	system; 9
159	159	(4) acknowledges the special needs of children 10
160	160	in the foster care system; 11
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164	164	(5) recognizes foster youth throughout the 1
165	165	United States for their ongoing tenacity, courage, 2
166	166	and resilience while facing life challenges; 3
167	167	(6) acknowledges the exceptional alumni of the 4
168	168	foster care system who serve as advocates and role 5
169	169	models for youth who remain in foster care; 6
170	170	(7) honors the commitment and dedication of 7
171	171	the individuals who work tirelessly to provide assist-8
172	172	ance and services to children in the foster care sys-9
173	173	tem; and 10
174	174	(8) reaffirms the need to continue working to 11
175	175	improve the outcomes of all children in the foster 12
176	176	care system through parts B and E of title IV of the 13
177	177	Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 621 et seq. and 670 14
178	178	et seq.) and other programs designed to— 15
179	179	(A) support vulnerable families; 16
180	180	(B) invest in prevention, early intervention, 17
181	181	and reunification services; 18
182	182	(C) promote adoption in cases where reuni-19
183	183	fication is not in the best interests of the child; 20
184	184	(D) adequately serve those children 21
185	185	brought into the foster care system; and 22
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189	189	(E) facilitate the successful transition into 1
190	190	adulthood for children that ‘‘age out’’ of the 2
191	191	foster care system. 3
192	192	Æ
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