During Ways & Means Mark-up of Child Welfare Legislation, Rep. Chu Successfully Includes Bills to Support Native Children, Modernize System

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, on its 235^th anniversary, the House Ways & Means Committee unanimously passed H.R. 9076, the Protecting America’s Children by Strengthening Families Act of 2024. This legislation would reauthorize Title IV-B of the Social Security Act through 2029, provide additional funding, and make updates to these critical child welfare programs.

During the mark-up, Rep. Judy Chu (CA-28) served as Vice Ranking Member and successfully included several of her bipartisan bills in the larger legislation, including:

• H.R. 8621 - Strengthening Tribal Families Act with Rep. Don Bacon (NE-02) to improve the implementation of the Indian Child Welfare Act by increasing data collection on the effectiveness of states’ ICWA implementation and providing technical assistance to states to improve outcomes for Tribal children
• H.R. 8921 - Tribal Child Welfare Support Actwith Rep. Kevin Hern (OK-01) to increase the level of Title IV-B Part 1 funding that is set aside for Tribal child welfare services and allow Tribes to receive these funds directly from the federal government
• H.R. 476 - Helping HANDS for Families Actwith Rep. Carol Miller (WV-01) to allow states to use Title IV-B Part 2 funding to support online portals that help connect families with organizations, resources, and services in their communities
• H.R. 8460 - Court Improvement Program Enhancement Actwith Rep. Rep. Blake Moore (UT-01) to reauthorize and enhance the Court Improvement Program (CIP), including by providing continued flexibility for virtual child welfare court proceeding, and providing a $10 million increase in CIP funding to bolster its track record of helping to effectively and quickly resolve legal cases involving vulnerable children and their families

Rep. Chu made the following remarks during the mark-up in support of the larger package as well as her specific legislative priorities:

I want to take a moment to acknowledge that today marks the 235th Anniversary of the Ways and Means Committee’s founding. Although much has changed in this country throughout the past 235 years, this Committee has continued to fulfill our legislative mandate and to do the hard work of serving the American people.

Today, we are doing the work of the people as it’s intended to be done: after careful consideration over many months, negotiating in good faith from the beginning, and with the best interests of the people front and center. That’s how legislating is supposed to happen. But once this passes out of our Committee today, it cannot join the growing legislative graveyard that our colleagues have allowed to amass.

The children of our nation are depending on us, and I’m calling for swift action to get these bills into law. Helping families and children thrive is a goal that transcends political party, and we know that sometimes it’s the helping hand that makes all the difference.

Late last month, we heard firsthand about how to better safeguard our nation’s youth and strengthen their familial ties. Those lived experiences are critical to putting forward comprehensive policy solutions.

[…]

I am so pleased that this Committee is marking up the bipartisan Protecting America’s Children by Strengthening Families Act of 2024—a bill that wouldn’t just reauthorize through 2029 the Title IV-B programs critical to protecting the welfare of our nation’s children, but would also increase total IV-B federal funding by what the CBO estimates will be $714 million over the next 10 years. In fact, under this bill every state would see about a 20% increase in their mandatory IV-B funding, and tribes would get an overall 38% increase in mandatory funds. This bill would also make a number of targeted funding increases and common-sense policy reforms to address ongoing challenges in the child welfare system and help ensure states, local governments, and tribes can best meet the needs of children and families.

And I am proud that several of my bipartisan bills have been included in this reauthorization package. First, it includes my and Representative Don Bacon’s Strengthening Tribal Families Act to strengthen the implementation of the Indian Child Welfare Act, or what is called ICWA. ICWA is a very important law that passed four decades ago requiring that Native children entering the foster care system be placed first with extended family and, if not available, then within the Tribe. This was done so that they would not lose their identity and culture. However, despite ICWA’s passage over 4 decades ago, states vary widely in their ICWA implementation plans and we still have very little data about how those plans are working. This bill would help bridge that data gap and provide technical assistance to states to ensure they have what they need to implement ICWA and ensure better outcomes for tribal children.

And to further support Native children, this package includes Representative Kevin Hern’s and my bill, the Tribal Child Welfare Support Act, which would increase the level of Title IV-B funding that is set aside for tribal child welfare services. Additionally, the bill would allow tribes to receive these funds directly from the federal government, improving efficiency and decreasing the administrative burden on states.

This package also includes the Helping HANDS for Families Act, a bill I co-lead with Representative Carol Miller. This bill would make a common-sense change to allow states to use Title IV-B Part 2 funding to support online portals that help connect families with organizations, resources, and services in their communities. I have seen the success of similar supportive social network pilot programs in my district and across Los Angeles County, and this bill would expand those efforts nationwide and ensure all families have online access to the support needed to thrive.

Just as children and families have benefitted from these online support networks, we also know they’ve benefitted from the ability during the COVID-19 pandemic to participate remotely in court proceedings in legal cases involving vulnerable children. Which is why I’m so glad that Representative Blake Moore’s and my Court Improvement Program Enhancement Act is also included in the package. Our bill would reauthorize and enhance Title IV-B’s Court Improvement Program, including by providing continued flexibility for virtual child welfare court proceedings. It would also provide a $10 million increase for the Court Improvement Program to bolster its strong track record of helping resolve legal cases involving vulnerable children and their families in a timely and effective manner and enhancing child welfare outcomes. I am grateful for the inclusion of these measures in today’s package.

And finally, I am encouraged that this package provides a modest $6 million increase for states to increase the retention, recruitment, training, and safety of caseworkers. Caseworkers are critical for ensuring good outcomes for children and families, but far too many state and county child welfare agencies around the country are severely short-staffed and struggle to maintain a robust and stable workforce. While this increase is a welcome and much-needed step forward, I will continue to advocate for my bill, the Promoting a Strong Child Welfare Workforce Act, which would have provided a $40 million increase for caseworker recruitment, retention, training, and safety.

This package will make a positive difference in the lives of the children and families that rely on the child welfare system. I urge my colleagues to vote yes, and I yield back.

Click here for Rep. Chu’s opening remarks.

Click here for Rep. Chu’s remarks detailing her bills.