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. 

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. 

Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) said, “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 and 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 and is focused too much on bureaucratic paperwork and too little on solutions that keep families together. This bipartisan legislation will help more children live in safe, loving homes with the resources they need. The solutions in this bill came from listening to Americans involved in child welfare, like caseworkers and former foster youth, as well as the concerns for America’s kids shared by Republicans and Democrats on this Committee. I want to thank Work and Welfare Subcommittee Chairman LaHood and Ranking Member Davis for introducing this legislation on behalf of America’s children and families.” 

Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Richard E. Neal (D-MA) said, “Our nation’s youth deserve safe, stable environments that allow them to grow, learn, and experience the richness of life. Today’s slate of legislation is the product of member collaboration across the aisle as well as listening to the lived experiences of so many Americans. The success of our children is our collective success, and I thank our many members for their commitment to investing in the future.”

Work and Welfare Subcommittee Chairman Darin LaHood (R-IL) said, “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) said, “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.”

Key policies included in the Protecting America’s Children by Strengthening 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. 

Committee Hearings
This Congress, the Committee has held four hearings on child welfare:

• Six Key Moments from Work & Welfare Subcommittee Hearing on Child Welfare
• Three Key Moments from Hearing on Supporting Youth Aging Out of Foster Care
• In Arizona, Tribal Leaders Share Difficult Challenges Facing Their Communities
• Six Key Moments: Hearing on Strengthening Child Welfare and Protecting Children

Read bill text of Protecting America’s Children by Strengthening Families Act here.