Legislation introduced by Congressman Lloyd Smucker to support adoption and foster care passed the House Ways and Means committee on Wednesday as part of a larger bipartisan child welfare bill.
The Protecting America’s Children by Strengthening Families Act incorporates 16 bills from Republican and Democratic committee members, including three drafted by Smucker and a fourth he cosponsored.
Smucker’s bills would expand access to funds and services provided for child welfare, support child welfare agencies (CWAs) and provide additional oversight to the adoption process.
“Every child deserves to grow up in a loving and safe home,” Smucker said in a statement. “This comprehensive and bipartisan legislation will improve outcomes for foster youth, provide additional aid for CWAs, and strengthen families which are the cornerstone of our society.”
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Smucker is a Republican who represents Pennsylvania’s 11th District, which covers all of Lancaster County and a portion of York County.
The legislation would reauthorize and reform the federal child welfare law that provides resources to states and tribal governments to promote the wellbeing of children in foster care. That law is due to expire at the end of 2024 and has remained unchanged since 2008.
The reforms included in the larger package approved in committee on Wednesday are the result of a year-long review of federal child welfare programs by Smucker and other Ways and Means members.
“Over the last year, our committee’s work has revealed that state and tribal child welfare agencies face persistent issues that distract from their core focus of serving children and families,” said committee chairperson Jason Smith, R-Missouri.
Smucker’s proposals would help to expand the number of families and individuals able to access services. Specifically, kinship families, peer support programs and young adults transitioning from foster care would be able to access support and services previously available only to foster families.
In 2023, the Annie E. Casey Foundation estimated that over 2.4 million children nationwide were being raised in kinship families – such as children raised by a grandparent or other relative with no parents in the home.
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Young adults leaving foster care have historically been at risk of falling into poverty. The National Foster Youth Institute found that 25 percent of young adults in foster care become homeless within four years of being emancipated from the foster system at the age of 18. By allowing young adults to continue to access services, Smucker hopes these negative outcomes can be reduced.
Additionally, the legislation calls for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to reduce paperwork and other administrative burdens on providers.
Alongside these immediate reforms, the legislation calls for ongoing reviews to the current foster care system. Smucker and Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, introduced language calling on the Department of Health and Human Services to gather data on failed adoptions to assess the effectiveness of post adoption services.
“This legislation aims to provide resources to families in need with the goal of preventing them from needing the foster care service in the first place and helping to maintain healthy families which are the cornerstone of our society,” Smucker said, prior to the Ways and Means Committee vote. Smucker introduced a letter of support for the legislation signed by over 20 child welfare organizations and urged his fellow committee members to support the bill.
The Strengthening Families Act passed alongside the Strengthening State and Tribal Child Support Enforcement Act, which formally authorizes state use of contractors for the purpose of child support enforcement.
Both pieces of legislation would have to pass the House and win support of the Democratic-controlled Senate.
In a statement to LNP, Smucker said he is hopeful that his colleagues in the House and Senate from both sides of the aisle will come together to advance the legislation and urged them to take it up without delay.
