S 1876 · 113th Congress 2013–2015, ended

Strengthening And Finding Families for Children Act

Fact sheet

Latest action · Dec 19, 2013 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.

  1. IntroducedDec 19, 2013
  2. Passed SenateNot reached
  3. Passed HouseNot reached
  4. To the PresidentNot reached
  5. Became lawNot reached

Summary

Strengthening And Finding Families for Children Act - Amends part E (Foster Care and Adoption Assistance) of title IV of the Social Security Act (SSA) to revise the adoption incentives grant program (renaming it the adoption and legal guardianship incentive program), creating a new formula for determining adoption incentive payments, and extending the program through FY2016. Revises the program's award structure, including limitations on the use of incentive payments.

Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to increase the adoption incentive payment for timely adoption award states.

Requires states to use amounts paid to them under the program to supplement, and not supplant, any federal or non-federal funds used to provide any service under SSA title IV parts B (Child and Family Services) or E.

Requires a state to calculate the savings (if any) resulting from the application of specified eligibility requirements for adoption assistance to all applicable children for a fiscal year, using a methodology specified by the Secretary or an alternative methodology proposed by the state and approved by the Secretary.

Requires a state to spend at least 40% of any such savings on: (1) post-adoption or post-guardianship services (as applicable) for children placed in adoptive, kinship guardianship, or guardianship placements and their families; and (2) services to support and sustain positive permanent outcomes for children who otherwise might enter into foster care under the responsibility of the state.

Declares that, in the event of the death or incapacity of the relative guardian, the eligibility of a child for a kinship guardianship assistance payment shall not be affected by reason of the replacement of the relative guardian with a successor legal guardian named in the kinship guardianship assistance agreement.

Directs the Secretary, as part of the data collection system, to promulgate final regulations providing for the collection and analysis of information regarding children who enter into foster care under state supervision as a result of the disruption of a placement for adoption or foster care guardianship or the dissolution of an adoption or foster care guardianship.

Requires a state plan for foster care and adoption assistance to require the state, within 30 days after removal of a child from parental custody, to exercise due diligence to identify and provide notice to all parents of a sibling of such a child, where such parent has legal custody of such sibling (as well as all adult grandparents as under current law).

Amends SSA title IV part B to extend the Family Connection Grant Program through FY20016, and make universities eligible for matching grants under such programs.

Amends SSA title III (Unemployment Compensation) with respect to the requirement that a state have an unemployment compensation law containing certain provisions in order to receive a specified federal grant. Requires a state owed an unemployment compensation debt meeting specified criteria that remains uncollected within two years after it was first incurred to take specified action under the Internal Revenue Code to recover it, including through a tax refund offset.

Cosponsors 5

Members who signed on, in the order they did. All signed on Dec 19, 2013.

SeatCosponsorSigned on
R-IAChuck GrassleyOriginalDec 19, 2013
D-WVJohn D. Rockefeller IVOriginalDec 19, 2013
R-UTOrrin G. HatchOriginalDec 19, 2013
D-PARobert P. Casey Jr.OriginalDec 19, 2013
D-ORRon WydenOriginalDec 19, 2013

Actions 2

Everything that happened, newest first.

  1. Dec 19, 2013Introduced in Senate
  2. Dec 19, 2013Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.

Related bills 5

Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.

BillTitleRelationshipLatest action
S 1786Sibling Connections ActRelated billDec 10, 2013
S 1870Supporting At-Risk Children ActRelated billFeb 6, 2014
HR 2979Guardians for Children ActRelated billAug 2, 2013
HR 3205Promoting Adoption and Legal Guardianship for Children in Foster Care ActRelated billOct 28, 2013
HR 4980Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families ActRelated billSep 29, 2014

Subjects

Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Social Welfare.

Text 1

Each version as it was printed, newest first.

  1. Dec 19, 2013Introduced in Senate

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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.