Fostering Connections to Success Act
Latest action · Jun 25, 2008 Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedJun 19, 2008
- Passed HouseJun 24, 2008
- Passed SenateNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary of that version has been expanded because action occurred on the measure.)
Fostering Connections to Success Act - (Sec. 2) Amends Part E (Federal Payments for Foster Care and Adoption Assistance) of title IV of the Social Security Act (SSA) to give state plans the option of providing for the state to enter into agreements to provide kinship guardianship assistance payments to grandparents and other relatives who have assumed legal guardianship of children for whom they have cared as foster parents and for whom they have committed to care on a permanent basis.
(Sec. 3) Amends SSA title IV part B (Child and Family Services) to authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make matching grants to state, local, or tribal child welfare agencies, and experienced private nonprofit organizations to help children in, or at risk of entering, foster care to reconnect with family members.
(Sec. 4) Requires the applicable state agency, within 30 days after placing a child in foster care, to attempt to: (1) locate and notify any of the child's adult family members of the child's removal from parental custody; and (2) explain the options for participating in the child's care and placement.
(Sec. 5) Gives states the option of covering under part E certain children in foster care, and certain children in an adoptive or guardianship placement, after attaining age 18.
(Sec. 6) Provides for short-term training for child welfare agencies and prospective relative guardians.
Phases in increased expenditures for such training.
(Sec. 7) Allows an Indian tribe to receive direct federal SSA title IV part E funds if specified requirements are met.
Authorizes an Indian tribe to receive a portion of a state plan allotment as part of an agreement to operate the John H. Chafee Foster Care Independence Program.
(Sec. 8) Requires each state child welfare services plan to provide that the state will develop a plan for the ongoing oversight and coordination of health care services for any child in a foster care placement.
(Sec. 9) Requires case plans under SSA title B or E to include a plan for ensuring the educational stability of the child while in foster care.
Requires the state plan for foster care and adoption assistance to provide assurances that each child who has attained the minimum age for compulsory school attendance under state law, and with respect to whom there is eligibility for a payment under the state plan, is a full-time elementary or secondary school student or has completed secondary school.
(Sec. 10) Provides for joint placement of siblings in the same foster care, kinship guardianship, or adoptive placement unless it would be contrary to the safety or well being of any of the siblings.
(Sec. 11) Revises the adoption incentives payment program, extending it for five years through FY2013, and providing for an increase in incentive payments for special needs adoptions and older child adoptions among other changes.
(Sec. 12) Requires the state plan for foster care and adoption assistance to provide that the state will inform any individual who is adopting, or considering adopting, a child in foster care of the individual's potential eligibility for a federal tax credit.
(Sec. 13) Revises the formula for federal payments to the District of Columbia for foster care and adoption assistance to make the principal factor in the formula a payment of 70% of the total amount expended during a quarter as foster care maintenance and adoption assistance payments (thus modifying the District of Columbia foster care matching rate to conform with the Medicaid matching rate).
(Sec. 14) Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide for the collection of unemployment compensation debts resulting from fraud.
(Sec. 15) Authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to invest U.S. operating cash in repurchase agreements with acceptable parties.
Cosponsors 27
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Jun 19, 2008 to Jun 24, 2008; 1 is an original cosponsor, there from the day it was introduced.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-IL | Jerry Weller | Original | Jun 19, 2008 |
| D-AL | Artur Davis | Jun 23, 2008 | |
| D-PA | Chaka Fattah | Jun 23, 2008 | |
| D-MD | Chris Van Hollen | Jun 23, 2008 | |
| D-IL | Danny K. Davis | Jun 23, 2008 | |
| D-OR | Earl Blumenauer | Jun 23, 2008 | |
| D-ND | Earl Pomeroy | Jun 23, 2008 | |
| D-CA | Fortney Pete Stark | Jun 23, 2008 | |
| D-MS | Gene Taylor | Jun 23, 2008 | |
| D-CA | George Miller | Jun 23, 2008 | |
| D-CA | Hilda L. Solis | Jun 23, 2008 | |
| D-TN | Jim Cooper | Jun 23, 2008 | |
| D-CT | John B. Larson | Jun 23, 2008 | |
| D-GA | John Lewis | Jun 23, 2008 | |
| R-NV | Jon C. Porter | Jun 23, 2008 |
Committees 2
Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.
| Chamber | Committee | What it did |
|---|---|---|
| House | Ways and Means Committee | Referred Jun 19, 2008 |
| Senate | Finance Committee | Referred Jun 25, 2008 |
Actions 8
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Jun 25, 2008Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
- Jun 24, 2008Mr. McDermott moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended.
- Jun 24, 2008Considered under suspension of the rules. (consideration: CR H5921-5932)
- Jun 24, 2008DEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on H.R. 6307.
- Jun 24, 2008Passed/agreed to in House: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H5921-5927)
- Jun 24, 2008Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
- Jun 19, 2008Introduced in House
- Jun 19, 2008Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
In the Congressional Record 4
Days the Record’s own index lists this bill, newest first, with the pages and the members it names. Pages starting H are the House, S the Senate, E Extensions of Remarks.
| Where | In the Record | Members | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Extensions | Debate and remarks E1774 | Danny K. Davis D-IL | Sep 11, 2008 |
| Extensions | Debate and remarks E1494 | Danny K. Davis D-IL | Jul 17, 2008 |
| Extensions | Debate and remarks E1377 | Earl Pomeroy D-ND, John Lewis D-GA | Jun 26, 2008 |
| House | Debate and remarks H5921–H5932Text printed H5921–H5927Lists H5930Organizations supporting H.R. 6307, Fostering Connections to Success Act | Chaka Fattah D-PA, Dennis A. Cardoza D-CA, Fortney Pete Stark D-CA, Jerry Weller R-IL, Jim Cooper D-TN, Jim McDermott D-WA, Jon C. Porter R-NV, Michele Bachmann R-MN, Shelley Berkley D-NV | Jun 24, 2008 |
Research
What has been written about this bill: committee reports, cost estimates, the sponsor’s authority statement, printed hearings and the Congressional Research Service’s work.
Printed hearings 2
Hearings whose printed record names this bill, newest first: hearings on it, and wider hearings where it came up.
| Number | Hearing | Committee | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Serial No. 110-94 | HEARING ON RACIAL DISPROPORTIONALITY IN FOSTER CARE130 pages | Ways and Means Committee | Jul 31, 2008 |
| S. Hrg. 110-949 | PROTECTING CHILDREN, STRENGTHENING FAMILIES: REAUTHORIZING CAPTA87 pages | Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee | Jun 26, 2008 |
CRS reports 1
Congressional Research Service work that CRS links to this bill or the law it became, newest first.
Cite it 1
Products on other subjects that cite it, usually among other measures.
| Product | Title | Kind | Published |
|---|---|---|---|
| RL34704 | Child Welfare: The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 (P.L. 110-351) Archived | Report | Oct 9, 2008 |
Titles 3
Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.
- Official Title as Introduced
- To amend parts B and E of title IV of the Social Security Act to assist children in foster care in developing or maintaining connections to family, community, support, health care, and school, and for other purposes.
- Short Titles as Introduced
- Fostering Connections to Success Act
- Short Titles as Passed House
- Fostering Connections to Success Act
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Families.
- Administrative fees
- Adoption
- Alaska
- Authorization
- Caregivers
- Child health
- Child welfare
- Collection of accounts
- Crime and Law Enforcement
- Custody of children
- Disabled
- District of Columbia
- Economics and Public Finance
- Education
- Elementary and secondary education
- Elementary education
- Families
- Family services
- Federal aid to Indians
- Federal-local relations
- Fingerprints
- Foster home care
- Fraud
- Government Operations and Politics
- Government publicity
- Grandparents
- Grants-in-aid
- Guardian and ward
- Health
- Health insurance
- Higher education
- Home schooling
- Identification of criminals
- Illegal aliens
- Immigration
- Income tax
- Indian children
- Indigenous peoples
- Intergovernmental fiscal relations
- Investment of public funds
- Labor and Employment
- Law
- Legal fees
- Minorities
- Native Americans
- Secondary education
- Siblings
- Social Welfare
- Student enrollment
- Students
- Tax credits
- Taxation
- Unemployment insurance
- Vocational and technical education
Text 3
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Jun 25, 2008Referred in Senate
- Jun 24, 2008Engrossed in House
- Jun 19, 2008Introduced in House
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov; cost estimates are the Congressional Budget Office's, and the hearings are the printed hearings GovInfo publishes, which can appear months after the hearing.
