Hidden Foster Care Transparency Act
This bill, formally titled the "Hidden Foster Care Transparency Act," mandates that all U.S. states collect and publicly report detailed data on "hidden foster care arrangements." These arrangements occur when child protective services (CPS) agencies separate children from their parents without court oversight, state responsibility for the child’s care, or a formal court order—such as when CPS pressures parents to place children with relatives during investigations. The bill aims to expose the scale and circumstances of these often-unregulated separations, which bypass standard foster care safeguards. States must submit annual reports to the federal government to continue receiving key child welfare funding, and the Secretary of Health and Human Services will compile national data for Congress and public release. If enacted, this would create the first comprehensive federal tracking system for these practices, potentially revealing systemic issues in child welfare interventions and driving reforms to protect family rights.
Key Points
- 1Defines "hidden foster care arrangements" to include CPS-driven separations without court involvement, such as "kinship diversion" (pressuring parents to place children with relatives) or "safety planning" during abuse/neglect investigations.
- 2Requires states to report 11 specific data points annually, including the number of children separated this way, types of abuse allegations involved, duration of separations, legal representation for parents, and outcomes (e.g., reunification or entry into formal foster care).
- 3Conditions federal foster care funding on compliance, leveraging financial incentives to ensure states collect and submit standardized data through the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System.
- 4Mandates the Secretary of Health and Human Services to publish an annual public report synthesizing state data, highlighting national trends, service gaps, and state-specific practices related to hidden foster care.
- 5Directs federal technical assistance to states for implementing consistent data collection, while prohibiting duplication of existing child welfare reporting requirements to minimize administrative burden.