After an extensive year-long review of child welfare programs in Title IV-B of the Social Security Act, the Ways and Means Committee unanimously passed a bipartisan reauthorization and reform package for child welfare programs. The Protecting America’s Children by Strengthening Families Act (H.R. 9076) refocuses the child welfare system on keeping families together, preventing child abuse and neglect, and caring for the nearly 400,000 children in foster care. Major reforms include strengthening support for 2.5 million grandparents and relatives caring for children, ensuring children are not separated from their parents solely due to poverty, cutting federal paperwork burdens required of caseworkers, supporting older youth transitioning from foster care, and expanding fair access to these programs for Native American tribes. The last time these programs received significant reforms was in 2008.
Child welfare advocates, including Paris Hilton, who testified at a recent Committee hearing on the subject, as well as Native American tribes urging fair treatment of Native children, are vocally supporting this legislation.