H.R. 579 — Recruiting Families Using Data Act of 2025

This section revises state plan requirements under the Child Welfare Services program (title IV-B, subpart 1 of the Social Security Act) by requiring, as part of steps to recruit additional foster and adoptive families where needed, the development and implementation of a family partnership plan meeting criteria specified in new subsection (d). The family partnership plan must (1) be developed in consultation with birth, kinship, foster and adoptive families, community-based service providers, technical assistance providers, and youth with lived experience; (2) describe state strategies to identify and support relatives as placement resources, implement child-specific recruitment plans, engage youth in recruitment, use data to set goals (e.g., reduce congregate care, increase kinship placements), and support foster family advisory boards; (3) include annual reporting on foster family capacity, utilization, and congregate care placements; (4) summarize annual feedback from foster, adoptive, and guardianship parents and youth on licensure, training, support, and placement disruptions; (5) analyze barriers to recruiting families reflecting the racial and ethnic backgrounds of children in foster care, plus state efforts to address them; and (6) provide other information required by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. The amendments take effect on October 1, 2026, with a delay permitted until the first calendar quarter after the first regular legislative session following enactment for states requiring State legislation to comply.

This section amends requirements for the Department of Health and Human Services Secretary's annual report to Congress on state performance in operating child protection and child welfare programs—using outcome measures such as length of stay in foster care, number of placements, and adoptions, drawn primarily from the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS)—by adding the following for FY2025 and succeeding fiscal years: (1) state-by-state data on the number, demographics, and characteristics of foster and adoptive families, plus the number of potential such families not utilized and the reasons why; (2) a summary of challenges and barriers to being a foster or adoptive parent—including on recruitment, licensure, engagement, retention, reasons parents stop fostering, adoption disruptions or dissolutions, or family struggles—as reported by states based on surveys of such parents; and (3) a summary of state-reported challenges and barriers to recruiting families reflecting the racial and ethnic backgrounds of children in foster care, plus efforts to overcome those barriers.