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LaHood Outline Elements of the Child Welfare Act

Cal Skinner

From Congressman Darin LaHood:

LaHood’s Supporting America’s Children and Families Act Signed into Law

Key policies included in the Supporting America’s Children and Families Act:

  • Reauthorizes Title IV-B for five years and makes reforms to modernize the program.
  • Reduces paperwork and data reporting for state agencies and caseworkers by at least 15 percent.
  • Strengthens support systems for the 2.5 million grandparents and relatives providing kinship care for children who would otherwise enter foster care.
  • Improves access for Indian tribes by streamlining funding, as well as improving state compliance with the Indian Child Welfare Act.
  • Addresses the caseworker crises by ensuring caseworkers have access to technology and training that support a strong workforce. 
  • Improves outcomes for youth transitioning from foster care, including by allowing foster youth up to age 26 to be eligible for services and incorporating lived experience in the state planning of child welfare plans.
  • Supports the expansion of evidence-based services to prevent child abuse and neglect and ensures children are not separated from parents solely due to poverty-related neglect.
  • Supports adoption services by evaluating the effectiveness of pre- and post-adoption services available under Title IV-B to adopt the more than 65,000 children waiting to be adopted.

Washington, D.C. – On Saturday, January 4, Congressman Darin LaHood’s (IL-16) bill, the Supporting America’s Children and Families Act, was signed into law. This bill is a first-in-a-generation bipartisan reauthorization and reform of child welfare programs under Title IV-B of the Social Security Act. Congressman LaHood, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Work and Welfare, introduced the legislation alongside Subcommittee Ranking Member Danny Davis (D-IL-07) in July 2024.

“As Chairman of the Work and Welfare Subcommittee, I take seriously our responsibility to ensure we have a strong safety net for the nearly 370,000 children in foster care who have experienced the trauma and hardships of abuse and neglect,” said Work and Welfare Subcommittee Chairman LaHood (IL-16). “The signing of the Supporting America’s Children and Families Act marks the first meaningful reform to child welfare since 2008 and will help modernize the Title IV-B program, strengthen our foster care system, and keep families together. Our future generations are key to our nation’s success, and we must continue our work to protect and uplift the most vulnerable among them.”

“The enactment of this law will have a tremendously positive and powerful impact on millions of children and families. It is a bold and compassionate step toward bettering lives and paving the way for a brighter future,” said Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (MO-08). “The Child Welfare program provides important resources to help secure the safety and well-being of America’s children. These reforms will ensure our communities have the necessary tools, support, and flexibilities to carry out that responsibility. The vital improvements that will be made – including policies to strengthen accountability within these programs, reduce the trauma experienced by children in foster care, and guarantee states can continue to collect needed child support payments – are long overdue. They will transform the way America protects its youth and vulnerable families. Among the policies enacted is one I have championed to ensure that children are not removed from homes and separated from their parents simply because a family may live in poverty. It is no wonder that numerous child support advocates, agencies, Native American tribes, and 26 state governors have stood shoulder to shoulder with Congress in pushing to see this effort succeed. They understand how these solutions will deliver historic enhancements to the Child Welfare program and to the quality of life for millions of our fellow Americans. The Ways and Means Committee has been engaged all Congress in a concerted, bipartisan effort to reauthorize and modernize these programs, and I am grateful for the hard work of all our members to see these policies enacted.”

“I am proud to join with Chair LaHood in celebrating the enactment of this important bill that will increase guaranteed funding for the MaryLee Allen Promoting Safe and Stable Families program for the first time since 2006,” said Work and Welfare Subcommittee Ranking Member Davis (IL-07). “In addition to providing essential new funding for both state and tribal agencies to strengthen families, this bill includes significant investments and policy updates to improve child safety and well-being. For example, it invests in evidence-based programs that successfully help parents overcome substance use disorders to safely care for their children, in aiding kinship caregivers in finding needed resources, and in independent legal representation to address racial inequities in child welfare. This bill also provides for new demonstration projects to promote meaningful relationships between foster youth and their incarcerated parents.”

Background:

With approximately 369,000 children currently in the foster care system nationwide, this legislation offers vital assistance to help strengthen and keep families together and support the safety and well-being of children in foster care. The Supporting America’s Children and Families Act encompasses policies from 16 different pieces of legislation from both Republican and Democrat members of the Ways and Means Committee. It follows the Committee’s extensive, year-long review of the nation’s child welfare programs to identify areas where these programs could better serve children and families.

The bill is supported by 228 child welfare organizations and 26 governors. Rep. LaHood’s remarks during the House Floor debate can be viewed HERE.

In the 118th Congress, the Committee has held four hearings on child welfare:

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