II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 701
To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish the Veteran Family
Resource Program, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY25, 2025
Mrs. M
URRAY(for herself, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Ms. MUR-
KOWSKI, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. BOOKER, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. DURBIN, Mr.
K
AINE, and Mr. WELCH) introduced the following bill; which was read
twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
A BILL
To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish
the Veteran Family Resource Program, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Helping Heroes Act’’. 4
SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF VETERAN FAMILY RESOURCE 5
PROGRAM. 6
(a) E
STABLISHMENT.— 7
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary of Veterans 8
Affairs shall, acting through the Under Secretary for 9
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Health and the Office of Patient Care Services and 1
Care Management and Social Work Services of the 2
Veterans Health Administration, establish a pro-3
gram— 4
(A) to enhance the resilience, health, and 5
well-being of veterans by addressing social de-6
terminants of health challenges experienced in 7
their family units through person-centered clin-8
ical integrations, connections to benefits fur-9
nished by the Department of Veterans Affairs, 10
and community resource engagement; and 11
(B) to ensure veterans and their families 12
have access to a continuum of services and re-13
sources needed to support wellness within their 14
family units as they define the family units. 15
(2) D
ESIGNATION.—The program established 16
pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be known as the 17
‘‘Veteran Family Resource Program’’ (in this section 18
referred to as the ‘‘Program’’). 19
(b) F
AMILYCOORDINATORS AND STAFFING.— 20
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry 21
out the Program by, not later than the date that is 22
five years after the date of the enactment of this 23
Act— 24
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(A) appointing at least one family coordi-1
nator in each Veterans Integrated Service Net-2
work; and 3
(B) ensuring adequate staffing and re-4
sources to ensure family coordinators are able 5
to carry out their functions and duties under 6
the Program. 7
(2) F
UNCTIONS.—The functions of a family co-8
ordinator under paragraph (1) are as follows: 9
(A) To serve at medical centers of the De-10
partment as point persons who understand and 11
have a good working knowledge of— 12
(i) all resources that families, care-13
givers, and survivors may be eligible for 14
under provisions of law administered by 15
the Secretary; and 16
(ii) community resources available to 17
such families, caregivers, and survivors 18
when they have needs that are not met by 19
the resources described in clause (i). 20
(B) To help veterans, their families, their 21
caregivers, and their survivors access and navi-22
gate the public and private resources described 23
in subparagraph (A). 24
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(3) DUTIES.—Each family coordinator ap-1
pointed under paragraph (1) shall, to the extent 2
practicable— 3
(A) assess the needs of veterans and the 4
family members of veterans using evidence- 5
based strategies; 6
(B) build positive relationships with vet-7
erans and such family members; 8
(C) refer veterans and such family mem-9
bers to local, State, Federal, and non-Depart-10
ment resources to support the overall health, 11
well-being, and treatment goals of such vet-12
erans; and 13
(D) develop and maintain a list of— 14
(i) supportive services offered by the 15
Department; and 16
(ii) supportive services offered by non- 17
Department providers; 18
(c) G
OALS ANDMETRICS.— 19
(1) G
OALS.—The goals of the Program shall be 20
as follows: 21
(A) To connect veterans to family re-22
sources to increase their well-being and resil-23
iency. 24
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(B) To develop internal partnerships to im-1
prove health care furnished by the Department. 2
(C) To capture and maintain data to en-3
hance understanding of process improvement 4
opportunities and impact. 5
(D) To function as a community liaison to 6
bolster existing partnerships and conduct due 7
diligence to form new partnerships. 8
(2) M
ETRICS.—The Secretary shall establish 9
metrics for assessment of the Program, including 10
metrics relating to the following: 11
(A) Department referrals into the Pro-12
gram. 13
(B) Non-Department referrals into the 14
Program. 15
(C) Health factors. 16
(D) Veteran and staff satisfaction. 17
(d) E
XPANSION OFPROGRAM.—The Secretary may 18
expand the Program to additional medical centers of the 19
Department or otherwise expand the Program to carry out 20
the purposes specified in subsection (a)(1) as the Sec-21
retary determines appropriate. 22
(e) R
EPORT TOCONGRESS.— 23
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than two years 24
after the commencement of the Program, the Sec-25
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retary shall submit to the appropriate committees of 1
Congress a report on the progress of the Program. 2
(2) C
ONTENTS.—The report required by para-3
graph (1) shall include— 4
(A) the number of veterans and children 5
who received supportive services under the Pro-6
gram; 7
(B) the demographic data of veterans and 8
family members in receipt of supportive services 9
under the Program, including— 10
(i) the relationship to the veteran; 11
(ii) age; 12
(iii) race; 13
(iv) ethnicity; 14
(v) gender; 15
(vi) disability; and 16
(vii) English proficiency and whether 17
a language other than English is spoken at 18
home; 19
(C) a summary of the supportive services 20
carried out under the Program and the costs to 21
the Department of such supportive services; and 22
(D) an assessment, measured by a survey 23
of participants, of whether, and how, participa-24
tion in the Program— 25
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(i) resulted in positive outcomes for 1
veterans and children; and 2
(ii) contributed to the overall health, 3
well-being, and treatment goals of the vet-4
eran. 5
(3) A
PPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CONGRESS 6
DEFINED.—In this subsection, the term ‘‘appro-7
priate committees of Congress’’ means— 8
(A) the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 9
and the Subcommittee on Military Construc-10
tion, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies of 11
the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; 12
and 13
(B) the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 14
and the Subcommittee on Military Construc-15
tion, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies of 16
the Committee on Appropriations of the House 17
of Representatives. 18
(f) S
UPPORTIVESERVICESDEFINED.—In this sec-19
tion, the term ‘‘supportive services’’ means services that 20
address the social, emotional, and mental health, career- 21
readiness, and other needs of children, including— 22
(1) wellness services, including mental, emo-23
tional, behavioral, and physical health; 24
(2) peer-support programs for children; and 25
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(3) any other services or activities the Secretary 1
considers appropriate to support the needs of chil-2
dren. 3
SEC. 3. SURVEY OF DISABLED VETERANS AND THEIR FAMI-4
LIES. 5
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than one year after the 6
date of the enactment of this Act, and not less frequently 7
than once every five years thereafter as the Secretary of 8
Veterans Affairs determines appropriate, the Secretary 9
shall conduct a survey of disabled veterans and their fami-10
lies to identify and better understand the needs of such 11
disabled veterans and their families. 12
(b) C
ONTENT.—The survey required under sub-13
section (a) shall include questions with respect to— 14
(1) the types and quality of support disabled 15
veterans receive for their children; and 16
(2) the unmet needs of such children. 17
SEC. 4. NONDISCRIMINATION. 18
The following provisions of law shall apply to any pro-19
gram or activity that receives funds provided under this 20
Act: 21
(1) Title IX of the Education Amendments of 22
1972 (20 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.). 23
(2) Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 24
U.S.C. 2000d et seq.). 25
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(3) Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1
1973 (29 U.S.C. 794). 2
(4) The Americans with Disabilities Act of 3
1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.). 4
(5) The Age Discrimination Act of 1975 (42 5
U.S.C. 6101 et seq.). 6
(6) Any other Federal law prohibiting discrimi-7
nation under an applicable program or activity re-8
ceiving Federal financial assistance. 9
Æ
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