Bill > S162

This bill, known as the Recruiting Families Using Data Act of 2025, aims to improve the recruitment and retention of foster and adoptive families by requiring states to develop comprehensive "family partnership plans." These plans, which must be created in consultation with various stakeholders including families and youth with lived experience, will outline how states will identify, engage, and support potential foster and adoptive parents, with a particular focus on finding families for children who need them, including sibling groups and teenagers. A key component of these plans is the mandated use of data to set goals, assess needs, track progress, reduce reliance on group homes (congregate care), increase permanent placements, improve placement stability, and ensure that the diversity of foster and adoptive families reflects the diversity of children in care. States will also need to collect and report data annually on their foster family capacity, the number of children in group homes, and feedback from foster and adoptive parents about their experiences, including reasons why parents stop fostering or why placements fail. Furthermore, the bill requires states to report on the specific challenges and barriers they face in recruiting families that match the racial and ethnic backgrounds of children in foster care and their efforts to overcome these obstacles. These requirements are intended to be implemented starting October 1, 2027, with some flexibility for states that require legislative action. Additionally, the bill mandates the inclusion of state-specific data on foster and adoptive families, challenges faced by parents, and recruitment efforts in annual federal child welfare reports to Congress.