Rep. Chu Celebrates House Passage of Bipartisan Child Welfare Legislation

Rep. Chu secured the inclusion of her bills in the legislative package to cut red tape, increase families’ access to virtual services, and improve implementation of Indian Child Welfare Act

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 9076, the Protecting America’s Children by Strengthening Families Act, as amended, on a vote of 405-10. Title IV-B of the Social Security Act is currently a $689 million collection of child and family services programs that help protect children, preserve and reunite families, and promote and support adoption. This legislation would reauthorize Title IV-B through 2029 while providing a $75 million increase per year starting in FY2026, making updates to these critical child welfare programs and improving the implementation of the landmark Indian Child Welfare Act. The amended bill would also make reforms to ensure states and Tribes can continue robust child support collection services.

Rep. Judy Chu (CA-28) issued the following statement:

“Today’s vote is a rare example of how legislating in Congress ought to operate. Children and families in communities and Tribes across the country depend on lawmakers to help them thrive and strengthen the child welfare system, so I am pleased the House today overwhelmingly passed the bipartisan Protecting America’s Children by Strengthening Families Act. In addition to reauthorizing the Title IV-B programs critical to protecting the welfare of our nation’s children, this legislation provides needed increases in mandatory funding for states and Tribes and makes targeted, common-sense reforms to modernize and address ongoing challenges in the child welfare system to better meet the needs of children and families. I’m particularly thrilled that this package includes my bills to cut red tape, increase families’ access to virtual services, and improve implementation of the Indian Child Welfare Act to better support Native children—keeping them with family or on tribal land. I’m hopeful for prompt Senate action so we can send this package to the President’s desk.”

Rep. Chu, who serves as Vice Ranking Member on the House Ways & Means Committee where the legislation originated and was marked up on July 24, 2024, 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 (ICWA) 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

Click here for Rep. Chu’s opening remarks during the Ways & Means mark-up.

Click here for Rep. Chu’s remarks detailing her bills during the Ways & Means mark-up.