H.R. 5456
Floor Speech
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Mr. BUCHANAN. Mr. Speaker, I submit the following extraneous materials on H.R. 5456, the Family First Prevention Services Act of 2016: North American Council on Adoptable Children, St. Paul, MN, June 14, 2016. Hon. Kevin Brady, Chairman, Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives, Washington, DC. Hon. Orrin Hatch, Chairman, Committee on Finance, U.S. Senate, Washington DC. Hon. Vern Buchanan, Chairman, Human Resources Subcommittee, Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives, Washington, DC. Hon. Sander Levin, Ranking Member, Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives, Washington, DC. Hon. Ron Wyden, Ranking Member, Committee on Finance, U.S. Senate, Washington DC. Hon. Lloyd Doggett, Ranking Member, Human Resources Subcommittee, Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Chairmen Brady and Hatch, Ranking Members Levin and Wyden, and Chairman Buchanan and Ranking Member Doggett: The North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC) is pleased to support the Family First Prevention Services Act, and we look forward to working with you to ensure passage and implementation of this important legislation. NACAC is a national organization dedicated to the belief that children and youth need and deserve a permanent family.
I want to particularly highlight three provisions of the Act:
We were glad to see that the act specifically mentions that Title IV-E will be able to cover preventive services for adoptive and guardianship families, along with birth families and relative caregivers. We have known far too many adoptive families who have been told that their children must reenter foster care to access services. In some of these cases, adoptive families must be charged with abuse and neglect for their children to receive the services they need. The Act will expand the availability of such services and reflects the reality that many families, including adoptive families, need targeted, effective services to meet their children's needs and prevent foster care entry.
The emphasis on family-based placements rather than group care is something that NACAC has long supported. We firmly believe that far too many children are placed in group care for no therapeutic reason, which research suggests can harm children. We also know that placement with relatives or foster families increases the likelihood that children will achieve permanency, whether through reunification, kin placement, guardianship, or adoption. Group care has a place in the child welfare system when it is therapeutic and effective, never as a convenient default.
Finally, we are pleased to see that the Government Accounting Office will study and report on how states are reinvesting the funds they receive as a result of the Fostering Connections Act's expansion of Title IV-E adoption assistance eligibility. We know that too few families currently have access to needed post-adoption and post- guardianship services, and think these reinvested funds can be a valuable tool to support families post-permanency.
We are also pleased to see the reauthorization of Title IV- B and the Adoption and Guardianship Incentive Program. The incentive program has been an important source of funding for support services for adoptive and guardian families. In addition, we strongly support increased investment in services to prevent foster placements for all families, the supports for kinship care providers, and the expansion of the National Electronic Interstate Compact Enterprise. We have seen through the pilot that the use of such a system will speed placements of children in foster care and adoption.
We acknowledge that the Act would delay the implementation of expanded IV-E eligibility to children under age four, but we believe that the bill's provisions are so important that we are able to support this offset.
We will offer support in implementation of the Act to ensure that the post-adoption services in the bill are available to families who need them and that states are investing in efforts to recruit, develop, and support foster and kin families for children who would otherwise be in group care. We will also review the GAO study to ensure that states are investing as required in post-adoption and post- guardianship services.
Thank you again for your support of these valuable improvements in our child welfare system. Please let me know if you need anything from us as you move forward with the Act. Sincerely, Mary Boo, Executive Director. ____ The National Crittenton Foundation, Portland, OR, June 14, 2016. Hon. Kevin Brady, Chairman, Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives. Hon. Orrin Hatch, Chairman, Committee on Finance, U.S. Senate. Hon. Vern Buchanan, Chairman, Human Resources Subcommittee, Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives. Hon. Sandy Levin, Ranking Member, Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives. Hon. Ron Wyden, Ranking Member, Committee on Finance, U.S. Senate. Hon. Lloyd Doggett, Ranking Member, Human Resources Subcommittee, Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives.
Dear Ways and Means and Senate Finance Committee Chairmen Brady and Hatch, Ranking Members Levin and Wyden and Human Resources Subcommittee Chairman Buchanan and Ranking Member Doggett: On behalf of The National Crittenton Foundation, I am pleased to support the Family First Prevention Services Act (H.R. 5456) introduced today by House Ways and Means Human Resources Subcommittee Chairman Vern Buchanan (R-FL) and joined by eleven other bi-partisan original co-sponsors. We understand that the development of this proposed legislation has been a long and complex process, and believe that this bipartisan compromise represents a positive step toward reducing the unnecessary reliance on group care while also improving critical prevention services for children in or at risk of entering the child welfare system.
Headquartered in Portland, Oregon, TNCF's mission is to advance the self-empowerment, health, economic security and civic engagement of girls and young women impacted by violence, childhood adversity and trauma. TNCF and its 26- member Family of Agencies currently serve 31 states and the District of Columbia and have more than 130 years of expertise in delivering the highest quality of gender and culturally-specific, trauma-informed, strengths-based and developmentally-appropriate services to girls and young women involved in the child welfare, juvenile justice and other child and family service systems.
Among the many populations of young people it serves, the Crittenton Family of Agencies has a particular interest and expertise in providing cutting-edge supports for pregnant and parenting girls and young women, both those who are at risk of child welfare involvement and those already in the foster care system. As you know, these young women represent a relatively small percentage of the overall population of children in foster care, but they face a number of critical challenges, most notably the unnecessary separation from or permanent removal of their own children. When pregnant and parenting youth do not receive the comprehensive range of services they need to parent effectively, the result is often long-term, dual-generation involvement in the child welfare system.
The proposed legislation supports the young people we serve in several important ways. Most importantly, it allows federal Title IV-E foster care funding to be used for time- limited, evidence-based services for those young people who are at imminent risk of entering or re-entering foster care, pregnant and parenting youth in foster care and parents and kinship caregivers of children at risk.
Expanding states' ability to direct critical dollars towards prevention will help young people who seek help from our agencies access services in the community, especially those young parents who need basic community services and supports to stay together with their children. In addition, the elimination of time limits for family reunification services will be extremely helpful in providing ongoing support for young children after they have returned home to their parents, including parents who are teens.
The National Crittenton Foundation is also supportive of the proposed approach to eliminating inappropriate group care. As you know, our agencies strongly believe that children belong in families whenever possible. They work extensively with state and local child welfare agencies, other community-based organizations, and families to provide a range of services--from prevention to post-permanency services--to help children return home or transition to kinship care.
Our agencies also understand first hand that children are too often placed in poorly regulated group settings without comprehensive assessments and timely and clinically appropriate placements. By clearly defining Qualified Residential Treatment Programs (QRTP) and requiring timely and comprehensive assessments and careful ongoing court review, we believe that this legislation balances the need to address the treatment needs of young people and reduce the over-reliance on group home placements. In addition, the provisions to support young pregnant and parenting teens will help ensure that those young women who do not have supportive family placement options or kinship resources are able to access the services they need before and after the birth of their children.
Finally, TNCF is pleased to see the additional reporting requirements for children who are not placed in family foster care homes. Accurate data collection on residential treatment, hospital-settings and those individuals who are pregnant and parenting will be instrumental in helping our agencies better meet the needs of young people by identifying gaps in services and supports.
Thank you all for your strong leadership and bipartisan coordination on these important issues and for your ongoing commitment to children and their families. Sincerely, Jeannette Pai-Espinosa, President. Catholic Charities USA, June 21, 2016. House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Representative: On behalf of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development and Catholic Charities USA, we write in support of H.R. 5456, the Family First Prevention Services Act of 2016.
In his recent Apostolic Exhortation, Amoris Laetitia, Pope Francis wrote:
The choice of adoption and foster care expresses a particular kind of fruitfulness in the marriage experience. . . . In the light of those situations where a child is desired at any cost, as a right for one's self-fulfilment, adoption and foster care, correctly understood, manifest an important aspect of parenting and the raising of children. They make people aware that children, whether natural, adoptive or taken in foster care, are persons in their own right who need to be accepted, loved and cared for, and not just brought into this world. The best interests of the child should always underlie any decision in adoption and foster care (no. 180).
The Church thus recognizes and values the often heroic witness of those who provide loving foster care to children in need. At the same time, we understand that, where possible, meaningful support for families experiencing serious challenges can be critically important. For some, well-timed assistance can help keep families together, strengthening child outcomes and building toward long-term thriving.
Catholic Charities has extensive experience, both in supporting families with mental health care, substance abuse treatment and parenting skills training, and in providing foster care support. Last year alone over 11,000 children received foster care support and over 1,500 children were adopted from foster care programs through Catholic Charities supported programs.
Given our deep understanding and concern for family and our breadth of experience in helping parents in need, we urge you to pass H.R. 5456. Among the commendable provisions are:
Resources to assist parents with mental health, substance abuse or parenting skill issues to increase opportunities for children to remain in their homes where safe to do so;
Increased priority for placing children with other family members or in family foster settings;
Funding for evidence-based services to prevent child abuse and neglect related to substance abuse;
Additional support for the transition of foster children into adulthood.
As Saint John Paul II remarked, ``As the family goes, so goes the nation, and so goes the whole world in which we live'' (homily, Perth, Australia, November 30, 1986). The importance of supporting parents, children and families by improving the foster care system is critical for the good of our nation. Please support H.R. 5456. Sincerely yours, Most Reverend Thomas G. Wenski,
Archbishop of Miami, Chairman, Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development. Sr. Donna Markham, OP, Ph.D.,
President & CEO, Catholic Charities USA. June 21, 2016. Hon. Paul Ryan, Speaker of the House, House of Representatives, Washington, DC. Hon. Nancy Pelosi, Minority Leader, House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Speaker of the House Ryan and Minority Leader Pelosi: As organizations representing advocates for children, youth and families, public and private providers, foster parents, adoptive parents, kinship caregivers and alumni of foster care, we are writing in support of the bipartisan, bicameral Family First Prevention Services Act, H.R. 5456. This legislation represents an historic step forward by better aligning federal child welfare funding with improved outcomes and goals for children and families who come into contact with the child welfare system. Over the decades Congress has approved many bipartisan, bicameral child welfare bills to better meet the needs of our most vulnerable children and families, and the Family First Prevention Services Act continues to make important gains for children.
We applaud the historic step the Act takes to increase federal investments in prevention to keep more children safely with their parents or family caregivers and out of foster care. The Act would allow funds under Title IV-E of the Social Security Act, now used primarily for out-of-home care for children, to be used for quality mental health and substance abuse prevention and treatment services and in-home parent skill-based programs. Requirements that these new services be evidence-based and trauma-informed, along with data reporting on performance outcomes, helps to ensure the quality of and accountability for services provided. These and other provisions in the Act also recognize the current challenges created by the opioid and heroin crises in many states.
The Family First Prevention Services Act over time also will take important steps to ensure children who need foster care will be placed in the least restrictive setting appropriate to their needs, by targeting federal dollars only on children in family-foster homes or residential settings for children and youth with special treatment needs or those in special circumstances, such as pregnant and parenting teens or older youth in independent living settings. The Act builds on activities in a number of states to preserve group care for children with special treatment needs.
The Act includes a number of other important changes to help improve outcomes for children and families. It continues to recognize the special role grandparents and other relatives play when they step in to care for children when their parents cannot and the supports relative caregivers need; requires states to have a plan to track and prevent child maltreatment fatalities; addresses the special needs of pregnant and parenting teens and protections for their children; promotes permanent families for children by extending adoption and guardianship incentives, enhancing interstate placements of children, and ensuring appropriate investments in post-adoption services; continues the Court Improvement Program; and offers increased supports to help older youth transition from foster care to adulthood.
Children and society pay a high cost when current systems fail to adequately address the needs of the children who come to the attention of our child welfare systems. We believe the specific changes proposed will go far in encouraging state and local child welfare agencies, private providers, courts, and advocates for children and families, including those who have been involved in the child welfare system, to work together to achieve significant change for children over the next decade.
The Family First Prevention Services Act will truly benefit vulnerable children and families who come to the attention of the child welfare system. We urge strong bipartisan support of H.R. 5456. Thank you. Sincerely, National Organizations: Adoption Exchange Association American Academy of Pediatrics American Psychological Association Association of University Centers on Disabilities Center for Native American Youth Center for the Study of Social Policy Child Care Aware
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