I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8799 

To amend section 439 of the Social Security Act to authorize the funding 

of demonstration projects to test approaches for supporting and improving relationships between incarcerated parents and children in foster 

care, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 21, 2024 

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois (for himself and Mr. LAHOOD) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To amend section 439 of the Social Security Act to authorize 

the funding of demonstration projects to test approaches 

for supporting and improving relationships between incarcerated parents and children in foster care, and for 

other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Promoting Active Rela5 tionships to Enable Nurturing Ties Act of 2024’’ or the 

6 ‘‘PARENT Act of 2024’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. MEANINGFUL RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN FOSTER 

2 CHILDREN AND INCARCERATED PARENTS. 

3 Section 439 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 

4 629i) is amended to read as follows: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 439. STATE PARTNERSHIP PLANNING AND DEM6 ONSTRATION GRANTS TO SUPPORT MEAN7 INGFUL RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN FOSTER 

8 CHILDREN AND THE INCARCERATED PAR9 ENTS OF THE CHILDREN. 

10 ‘‘(a) AUTHORITY.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may make 

12 demonstration grants to eligible State partnerships 

13 to develop, implement, and provide support for pro14 grams that enable and sustain meaningful relation15 ships between covered foster children and the incar16 cerated parents of the children. 

17 ‘‘(2) PAYMENT OF ANNUAL INSTALLMENTS.— 

18 The Secretary shall pay each demonstration grant in 

19 5 annual installments. 

20 ‘‘(3) 1-YEAR PLANNING GRANTS.—The Sec21 retary may make a planning grant to a recipient of 

22 a demonstration grant, to be paid to the recipient 1 

23 year before payment of the 1st annual installment of 

24 the demonstration grant and in an amount not 

25 greater than any installment of the demonstration 

26 grant, if— 


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1 ‘‘(A) the recipient includes a request for a 

2 planning grant in the application under sub3 section (c); and 

4 ‘‘(B) the Secretary determines that a plan5 ning grant would assist the recipient and im6 prove the effectiveness of the demonstration 

7 grant. 

8 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE STATE PARTNERSHIP DEFINED.— 

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In this section, the term 

10 ‘eligible State partnership’ means an agreement en11 tered into by, at a minimum, the following: 

12 ‘‘(A) The State child welfare agency re13 sponsible for the administration of the State 

14 plans under this part. 

15 ‘‘(B) The State agency responsible for 

16 adult corrections. 

17 ‘‘(2) ADDITIONAL PARTNERS.—For purposes of 

18 this section, an eligible State partnership may in19 clude any entity with experience in serving incarcer20 ated parents and their children. 

21 ‘‘(3) PARTNERSHIPS ENTERED INTO BY INDIAN

22 TRIBES OR TRIBAL CONSORTIA.—Notwithstanding 

23 paragraph (1), if an Indian tribe or tribal consor24 tium enters into a partnership pursuant to this sec25 tion that does not consist solely of tribal child welVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:47 Aug 15, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8799.IH H8799

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1 fare agencies (or a consortium of the agencies), the 

2 partnership shall be considered an eligible State 

3 partnership for purposes of this section. 

4 ‘‘(c) APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS.—An eligible 

5 State partnership seeking a demonstration grant under 

6 this section to carry out a program described in subsection 

7 (a)(1) shall submit an application to the Secretary at such 

8 time, in such manner, and containing such information as 

9 the Secretary may require. The application shall include 

10 the following: 

11 ‘‘(1) A summary of the program, including how 

12 the program will support a meaningful relationship 

13 between a covered foster child and an incarcerated 

14 parent of the child. 

15 ‘‘(2) A description of the activities to be carried 

16 out by the program, which must include all of the 

17 activities described in subsection (d) that are in the 

18 best interest of the covered foster child. 

19 ‘‘(3) A framework for identifying— 

20 ‘‘(A) each covered foster child eligible for 

21 services under the program, including, to the 

22 extent practicable, coordination of data between 

23 relevant State child welfare agencies and court 

24 systems; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) the roles and responsibilities of the 

2 entities in the partnership. 

3 ‘‘(4) Documentation that the applicant is an eli4 gible State partnership. 

5 ‘‘(5) Assurances that the applicant will partici6 pate fully in the evaluation described in subsection 

7 (f)(2) and shall maintain records for the program, 

8 including demographic information disaggregated by 

9 relevant characteristics with respect to covered foster 

10 children and incarcerated parents who participate in 

11 the program. 

12 ‘‘(d) PROGRAM ACTIVITIES.—To the extent that the 

13 activities are in the best interest of the covered foster 

14 child, the activities referred to in subsection (c)(2) shall 

15 include the following: 

16 ‘‘(1) REVISION OF POLICIES.—Through con17 sultation with incarcerated parents and their fami18 lies, grantees shall promote organizational policies of 

19 participating child welfare entities and collaborating 

20 correctional facilities to promote meaningful rela21 tionships through regular and developmentally ap22 propriate communication and visitation between cov23 ered foster children and the incarcerated parents, in24 cluding, when appropriate, the following: 

25 ‘‘(A) For child welfare entities— 


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1 ‘‘(i) inclusion of parents in case plan2 ning and decision making for children; 

3 ‘‘(ii) regular sharing of information 

4 and responses to requests for information 

5 between caseworkers and incarcerated par6 ents with respect to the case information 

7 of a child, any changes to a case, perma8 nency plans, requirements to maintain pa9 rental rights, and any efforts to terminate 

10 parental rights; 

11 ‘‘(iii) appropriate opportunities for in12 carcerated parents to demonstrate their re13 lationship with a covered foster child given 

14 their incarceration, including training and 

15 courses required for a service plan; and 

16 ‘‘(iv) the enhanced visitation described 

17 in paragraph (2). 

18 ‘‘(B) For correctional facilities, fostering 

19 visitation and communication that is develop20 mentally appropriate in terms of— 

21 ‘‘(i) the nature of communication and 

22 visitation, including— 

23 ‘‘(I) the ability to physically 

24 touch parents; 


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1 ‘‘(II) engaging with parents in lo2 cations that are appropriate for the 

3 age and development of the child; 

4 ‘‘(III) exchanging items that are 

5 appropriate to the age and develop6 ment of the child, include expectations 

7 that are appropriate for the age and 

8 development of the child related to be9 havior, attire, and wait times; and 

10 ‘‘(IV) allowing appropriate adults 

11 to bring children if legal guardians 

12 are not available to promote regular 

13 contact; 

14 ‘‘(ii) reasonable inclusion of all chil15 dren of the parent; 

16 ‘‘(iii) communication and visitation at 

17 times when the children are available; 

18 ‘‘(iv) security procedures to comfort 

19 children and be minimally invasive; and 

20 ‘‘(v) promoting parent-child relation21 ships regardless of the sentence imposed 

22 on the parent. 

23 ‘‘(2) ENHANCED VISITATION.— 

24 ‘‘(A) Grantees shall facilitate weekly com25 munication and, for at least 9 days each year, 


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1 in-person visitation between a covered foster 

2 child and any incarcerated parent of the child. 

3 ‘‘(B) Electronic visitation (such as live 

4 video visits, phone calls, and recorded books) 

5 may be used but shall not be the sole method 

6 to promote a meaningful relationship for pur7 poses of the grant. 

8 ‘‘(C) Enhanced visitation programs shall— 

9 ‘‘(i) integrate best practices for visita10 tion programs with incarcerated parents 

11 and their children; 

12 ‘‘(ii) adopt developmentally appro13 priate visitation policies and procedures 

14 such as those described in paragraph 

15 (1)(B); 

16 ‘‘(iii) reduce or eliminate the cost of 

17 developmentally appropriate communica18 tion and visitation for the covered foster 

19 child, which may include the purchase of 

20 communication technology, covering trans21 portation, insurance, and lodging costs, 

22 costs related to providing appropriate visi23 tation spaces and activities, and other rel24 evant costs; 


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1 ‘‘(iv) to the extent practicable, inte2 grate appropriate parenting education to 

3 help prepare and process visits; and 

4 ‘‘(v) avoid restricting visitation and 

5 communication as a punishment for the in6 carcerated parents. 

7 ‘‘(3) TRAINING.—Grantees shall incorporate on8 going training for child welfare, correctional facility 

9 staff, and other program providers to understand 

10 the importance of promoting meaningful relation11 ships between children and incarcerated parents. 

12 ‘‘(4) CASE MANAGEMENT.—Grantees shall pro13 vide case management services for the incarcerated 

14 parents of a covered foster child to promote the rela15 tionship, access to services, and coordination with 

16 the caseworkers of the covered foster child to 

17 strengthen the relationship. 

18 ‘‘(5) LEGAL ASSISTANCE.—Grantees shall facili19 tate access to necessary legal services and may use 

20 grant funds for services that are not reimbursable 

21 under other Federal programs. 

22 ‘‘(e) FEDERAL SHARE.—The Federal share of the 

23 cost of any activity carried out using a grant made under 

24 this section shall be not greater than 75 percent. 


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1 ‘‘(f) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE, EVALUATIONS, AND

2 REPORTS.— 

3 ‘‘(1) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary 

4 shall provide technical assistance with respect to 

5 grants under this section, including by— 

6 ‘‘(A) assisting grantees in understanding 

7 best practices in promoting meaningful relation8 ships between incarcerated parents and their 

9 children as well as consulting with appropriate 

10 stakeholders when developing their programs; 

11 ‘‘(B) assisting grantees with establishing 

12 and analyzing implementation and performance 

13 indicators; and 

14 ‘‘(C) conducting an annual technical assist15 ance and training meeting and an annual grant16 ee meeting so that grantees can learn from the 

17 experiences of other grantees. 

18 ‘‘(2) EVALUATIONS.—The Secretary shall con19 duct an evaluation of program outcomes, including 

20 with respect to parent and child well-being, parent21 child interactions, parental involvement, awareness 

22 of child development and parenting practices, place23 ment stability, and termination of parental rights 

24 with respect to covered foster children and incarcer25 ated parents, to measure program effectiveness, as 


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1 determined by the Secretary, and identify opportuni2 ties for improved program practices and implemen3 tation. 

4 ‘‘(3) REPORTS TO THE CONGRESS.— 

5 ‘‘(A) INITIAL REPORT.—Not later than 3 

6 years after the date of the enactment of this 

7 section, the Secretary shall submit to the Com8 mittee on Ways and Means of the House of 

9 Representatives and the Committee on Finance 

10 of the Senate a report that includes— 

11 ‘‘(i) the number of applications for 

12 grants under this section; 

13 ‘‘(ii) the number of grants awarded, 

14 and the amounts for each grant; and 

15 ‘‘(iii) information on the grants, in16 cluding— 

17 ‘‘(I) interim results of the evalua18 tion described in paragraph (2); 

19 ‘‘(II) disaggregated data on cov20 ered foster children and incarcerated 

21 parents; 

22 ‘‘(III) information on the com23 position of eligible State partnerships; 

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1 tween covered foster children and in2 carcerated parents; and 

3 ‘‘(V) barriers to implementation 

4 or expansion of programs funded 

5 under this section. 

6 ‘‘(B) FINAL REPORT.—Not later than 6 

7 years after the date of the enactment of this 

8 section, the Secretary shall submit to the Com9 mittee on Ways and Means of the House of 

10 Representatives and the Committee on Finance 

11 of the Senate a report that includes— 

12 ‘‘(i) the final results of the evaluation 

13 described in paragraph (2); and 

14 ‘‘(ii) recommendations for refinements 

15 to grant requirements to improve program 

16 outcomes. 

17 ‘‘(g) AUTHORITY OF SECRETARY WITH RESPECT TO

18 INDIAN TRIBES AND TRIBAL ORGANIZATIONS.— 

19 ‘‘(1) WAIVER OR MODIFICATION OF REQUIRE20 MENTS.—In making a grant to an Indian tribe or 

21 tribal organization under this section, the Secretary 

22 may waive the matching requirement of subsection 

23 (e) or modify an application requirement imposed by 

24 or under subsection (c) if the Secretary determines 

25 that the waiver or modification is appropriate to the 


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1 needs, culture, and circumstances of the Indian tribe 

2 or tribal organization. 

3 ‘‘(2) EVALUATION.—The Secretary shall use 

4 tribally relevant data in carrying out the evaluation 

5 under subsection (f)(2) with respect to an Indian 

6 tribe or tribal organization. 

7 ‘‘(h) LIMITATIONS ON AUTHORIZATION OF APPRO8 PRIATIONS.—There is authorized to be appropriated to the 

9 Secretary not more than $35,000,000 for each of fiscal 

10 years 2026 through 2029 to carry out this section. 

11 ‘‘(i) DEFINITION OF COVERED FOSTER CHILD.—In 

12 this section, the term ‘covered foster child’ means a child 

13 that— 

14 ‘‘(1) is in foster care; and 

15 ‘‘(2) has at least 1 parent incarcerated in a 

16 Federal, State, or local correctional facility.’’. 

Æ 


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