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House Passes McDermott Foster Care Legislation Provision Honors Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones
Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA)
September 17, 2008

The U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly today to pass the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act (H.R. 6893) authored by Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA), chairman of the Income Security and Family Support Subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over the nation’s foster care system.

Speaking on the House floor during debate, Chairman McDermott said:  “This is landmark legislation, the most significant step forward on behalf of foster children in at least 10 years. It is bi-partisan and bi-cameral and a testament to our ability to work together for the common good. Children are America’s future and today we are making an investment in their future and ours.”

McDermott dedicated a key section of his bill to Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, a colleague on the Ways and Means Committee who died unexpectedly last month.  McDermott said Rep. Tubbs Jones was dedicated to improving the lives of foster children and that the primary source of federal funding in the Social Security Act for child protective services will be named in her honor.

“The Stephanie Tubbs Jones Child Welfare Services Program will help at-risk children for many years and decades to come, just as she did during her life,” McDermott said.

In a letter to House and Senate leaders signed by hundreds of community, faith-based, civic, social and advocacy organizations across America, strong support was expressed for McDermott’s bill.  “These reforms encompass many of the critical improvements that former foster youth, adoptive parents, relative caregivers, and others have been requesting of Congress for years,” they wrote.  (See attached letter)

In a separate letter, the Conference of Chief Justices and the Conference of State Court Administrators wrote: “We commend you for your leadership and commitment to addressing the needs of our nation’s most vulnerable children and youth.” (See attached letter)

The American Bar Association, on behalf of its 385,000 members, supported passage: “The ABA strongly supports the reforms that will be implemented by enactment of H.R. 6893.”  (See attached letter)

McDermott’s legislation was first passed by the House in June and sent to the Senate for action.  The Senate Finance Committee passed a slightly different version of the bill and today’s House passage aligns the two bills.  With House passage today, the bill goes back to the full Senate for action.

The legislation makes major advances in a number of areas critical to success for foster children.  While a copy of the bill is attached, a summary of H.R. 6893’s major provisions includes:

Connecting and Supporting Relative Caregivers

• Provides federal reimbursement to States choosing to provide assistance to grandparents and other relatives who become legal guardians of children for whom they have cared as foster parents.

• Provides $15 million per year for Family Connection Grants to promote kinship navigator programs and other initiatives designed to connect and help relative caregivers.

• Requires relatives to be notified within 30 days of a child’s removal from their home.

• Codifies existing licensing standards for relatives becoming foster parents and requires report on impact and next steps.

• Allows the child welfare system to utilize the Parent Locator Service.

Improving Outcomes for Children in Foster Care

• At State option, allows federal foster care assistance to continue up to the age of 21 for youth engaged in school, work, or other constructive activities.

• Requires transitional plans for youth aging out of foster care.

• Expands enhanced federal funding for training to cover private child welfare workers and court personnel. 

• Requires plan for the educational stability of every foster child and assurance of their school attendance.

• Requires improved oversight of the health care needs of every foster child, covering their assessment, treatment, medical records, and medication.

• Requires reasonable efforts to place siblings together when removed from their homes, or if not possible, to allow ongoing interaction.

Tribal Foster Care and Adoption Access

• Provides direct federal foster care and adoption assistance to tribal governments for children in their care.

• Provides $3 million per year to provide technical and start-up assistance to tribal foster care programs.

Improvement of Incentives for Adoption

• Extends, expands and improves the Adoption Incentives Program, which provides financial bonuses to States increasing the number of children adopted out of foster care.

• Provides federal adoption assistance to all special needs children (phased in on the basis of age and time in care), rather than only those children whose birth parents were eligible for welfare under the rules in place in 1996.

• Requires prospective adoptive parents of foster children to be informed of their potential eligibility for a current-law tax credit.

Other Provisions

•  Permits the Department of the Treasury to improve its management of the government’s short-term operating cash.

• Clarifies the uniform definition of a child for tax purposes, including ensuring the child is younger than the claimant.

•  Ensures that nothing in the act alters any current prohibitions on payments to individuals who are unlawfully in the U.S.