Recruiting Families Using Data Act of 2025
- Bill Number
- S. 162
- Origin Chamber
- Senate
- Congress
- 119th Congress, Session 2
- Policy Area
- Families
- Status
- Passed Senate
- Latest Action
- 2026-06-15: Held at the desk.
- Last Updated
- 2026-06-16T17:48:45Z
AI-Generated Summary
Purpose This legislation amends parts B and E of title IV of the Social Security Act to improve the recruitment and retention of foster and adoptive families. It emphasizes data-driven planning, family engagement, and addressing barriers to placements, particularly for children in or entering foster care.
Key Provisions
- Requires states to develop and implement a family partnership plan as part of their state plan under Section 422, covering identification, recruitment, screening, licensing, support, and retention of foster and adoptive families.
- The plan must be created in consultation with birth, kinship, foster, and adoptive families; community providers; technical assistance providers; and youth with foster care or adoption experience.
- The plan must address:
- Strategies for engaging relatives and connected individuals as placement resources.
- Child-specific recruitment plans for every child needing a foster or adoptive family.
- Authentic engagement of children and youth in recruitment.
- Use of data to set goals, reduce congregate care placements, increase permanency and kinship placements, improve stability, and align family pools with children's needs.
- Support for foster family advisory boards.
- Mandates annual collection and reporting of foster family capacity, congregate care utilization, demographics, and reasons for underutilization.
- Requires annual updates on parent and youth feedback regarding licensure, training, support, and reasons for discontinuing fostering or adoption disruptions.
- Requires analysis of racial and ethnic barriers to recruiting families matching children's backgrounds, with efforts to overcome them.
- Adds new data requirements to the annual child welfare outcomes report to Congress under Section 479A, including state-by-state foster family data, barriers to parenting, and recruitment challenges related to racial and ethnic matching, starting in fiscal year 2028.
Significant Changes to Existing Law
- Introduces mandatory family partnership plans into state child welfare planning requirements under Section 422(b)(7), expanding beyond current general assurances about recruiting families.
- Establishes new annual reporting obligations on family capacity, utilization, and barriers, integrated into existing federal reporting under Section 479A.
- Shifts focus toward data analysis, kinship engagement, and equity in family recruitment without altering core funding structures or eligibility rules.
Potential Impacts
- Government agencies: State child welfare agencies must develop new plans, collect additional data, and submit reports, with implementation delayed to October 1, 2027 (or later if state legislation is needed). The Department of Health and Human Services gains oversight of plan compliance.
- Citizens: May improve placement stability and permanency for children in foster care through better-matched families and reduced congregate care use; foster and adoptive parents could benefit from enhanced support and advisory input.
- International relations: No direct effects identified in the legislation.
Main Stakeholders Affected
- State child welfare agencies and administrators.
- Foster, adoptive, kinship, and birth families.
- Youth with lived experience in foster care or adoption.
- Community-based service providers and technical assistance organizations.
- The Department of Health and Human Services.
- Children entering or in foster care, including those in sibling groups, teens, or special populations.
Notable Legal, Constitutional, or Political Implications
- Operates within existing federal-state cooperative framework of the Social Security Act, with provisions for states needing legislative changes to comply.
- Emphasizes data collection and reporting on demographics and racial/ethnic matching, which may intersect with equal protection considerations in placement decisions.
- No constitutional challenges or major political shifts are outlined in the text; focuses on administrative enhancements to existing programs.
This summary was generated by AI and may contain inaccuracies. Refer to the official source document for the authoritative text.
Sponsor
Cosponsors (4)
Sen. Hassan, Margaret Wood [D-NH], Sen. Wicker, Roger F. [R-MS], Sen. Klobuchar, Amy [D-MN], Sen. Ossoff, Jon [D-GA]
Recent Actions
- 2026-06-15: Held at the desk.
- 2026-06-15: Received in the House.
- 2026-06-12: Message on Senate action sent to the House.
- 2026-06-11: Passed Senate with an amendment by Unanimous Consent. (text: CR S2770-2771)
- 2026-06-11: Passed/agreed to in Senate: Passed Senate with an amendment by Unanimous Consent. (text: CR S2770-2771)
- 2026-06-11: Measure laid before Senate by unanimous consent. (consideration: CR S2770-2771)
- 2026-06-11: Senate Committee on Finance discharged by Unanimous Consent.
- 2026-06-11: Senate Committee on Finance discharged by Unanimous Consent.
- 2025-01-21: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
- 2025-01-21: Introduced in Senate
Bill Versions
- Recruiting Families Using Data Act of 2025 — issued 2026-06-11 — PDF (8 pages)
- Recruiting Families Using Data Act of 2025 — issued 2025-01-21 — PDF (7 pages)