Peoria Standard

Washington, D.C. – Today, Ways and Means Work and Welfare Subcommittee Chairman Darin LaHood (R-IL) and Ranking Member Danny K. Davis (D-IL) introduced bipartisan legislation to reauthorize and reform child welfare programs under Title IV-B of the Social Security Act. The bipartisan Protecting America’s Children by Strengthening Families Act (H.R. 9076) reauthorizes Title IV-B for the first time since 2021 and delivers the first significant reforms since 2008. With approximately 369,000 children currently in foster care, 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 Protecting America’s Children by Strengthening 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.

Work and Welfare Subcommittee Chairman Darin LaHood (R-IL) stated, “Following our year-long review of the Title IV-B child welfare program, listening to stakeholders, state administrators, and those with lived experience on the most pressing challenges, I am proud to introduce the Protecting America's Children by Strengthening Families Act. This bipartisan package reauthorizes Title IV-B for five years and implements critical reforms to modernize and strengthen the program, providing essential support to America's children. As Chairman of the Work and Welfare Subcommittee, I am proud to have Ranking Member Danny Davis join this effort, and I am grateful to the members of the Ways and Means Committee whose significant involvement in this process has achieved meaningful reforms of Title IV-B. This commonsense approach will save taxpayer dollars, reduce administrative burdens, expand evidence-based services to prevent child abuse and neglect, and improve outcomes for youth transitioning from foster care.”

Work and Welfare Subcommittee Ranking Member Danny K. Davis (D-IL) remarked, “I am proud to join with Rep. LaHood in leading this important bill that will increase guaranteed funding for the MaryLee Allen Promoting Safe and Stable Families program for the first time since 2006. 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 aiding kinship caregivers in finding needed resources, in evidence-based programs that successfully help parents overcome substance use disorders to safely care for their children, 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—powerful relationships that support both parents and youth.”

Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) commented, “Child welfare programs are long overdue for reform in order to improve outcomes for children and help families stay united. For the past year, the Ways & Means Committee has diligently reviewed the programs under Title IV-B holding more hearings on the subject than have occurred in the last eight years combined. We have found that the child welfare system has taken its eye off the ball focusing too much on bureaucratic paperwork rather than solutions that keep families together. This bipartisan legislation will help more children live in safe loving homes with necessary resources they need.”

Ways & Means Committee Ranking Member Richard E. Neal (D-MA) added: “Our nation’s youth deserve safe stable environments allowing them growth opportunities... Today’s slate of legislation is a product of member collaboration across aisles as well as listening attentively towards lived experiences shared by many Americans."

Key policies included:

- Reauthorizes Title IV-B for five years.

- Reduces paperwork/data reporting by at least 15%.

- Strengthens support systems benefiting over 2 million grandparents/relatives providing kinship care.

- Improves access streamlining funds while ensuring compliance with Indian Child Welfare Act.

- Addresses caseworker crises via technology/training enhancements.

- Enhances outcomes fostering youth transitions up till age 26 eligibility inclusion based upon lived experiences.

- Expands evidence-based services preventing abuse/neglect avoiding separations solely due poverty-related neglect issues.

- Evaluates pre/post-adoption service effectiveness aiming towards adopting over sixty-five thousand waiting children.

Committee Hearings:

This Congress held four hearings addressing various aspects including:

1) Six Key Moments from Work & Welfare Subcommittee Hearing on Child Welfare

2) Three Key Moments from Hearing Supporting Youth Aging Out Foster Care

3) Arizona Tribal Leaders Sharing Difficult Challenges

4) Six Key Moments: Hearing Strengthening Child Welfare/Protecting Children

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