In the House of Representatives, U. S., 

September 18, 2024. 

Resolved, That the bill from the Senate (S. 1146) entitled ‘‘An Act to amend part E of title IV of the Social Security Act to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to identify obstacles to identifying and responding to reports of children missing from foster care and other vulnerable foster youth, to provide technical assistance relating to 

the removal of such obstacles, and for other purposes.’’, do 

pass with the following 

AMENDMENT: 

Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert: 

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Find and Protect Foster 

3 Youth Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. ELIMINATING OBSTACLES TO IDENTIFYING AND RE5 SPONDING TO REPORTS OF CHILDREN MISS6 ING FROM FOSTER CARE AND OTHER VUL7 NERABLE FOSTER YOUTH. 

8 Section 476 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 676) 

9 is amended by adding at the end the following: 

10 ‘‘(f) EVALUATION OF PROTOCOLS RELATING TO CHIL11 DREN MISSING FROM FOSTER CARE AND OTHER VULNER12 ABLE YOUTH; TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.— 
2 

•S 1146 EAH 

1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall conduct 

2 an evaluation of the protocols established by States in 

3 accordance with the requirements of section 

4 471(a)(35) and, to the extent applicable, by Indian 

5 tribes or tribal organizations (as defined in section 

6 479B(a)) or tribal consortia with a plan approved 

7 under section 471 in accordance with section 479B. 

8 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS.—The evaluation shall in9 clude the following: 

10 ‘‘(A) A review of relevant aspects of reports 

11 submitted by States, Indian tribes, tribal organi12 zations, and tribal consortia under this part and 

13 part B, and data and other information reported 

14 pursuant to the system established under section 

15 479. 

16 ‘‘(B) Analysis of the extent to which States, 

17 Indian tribes, tribal organizations, and tribal 

18 consortia comply with, and enforce, the protocols 

19 required by section 471(a)(35). 

20 ‘‘(C) Analysis of the effectiveness of such 

21 protocols. 

22 ‘‘(D) Identification of obstacles for States, 

23 Indian tribes, tribal organizations, and tribal 

24 consortia to identifying and responding to re-
3 

•S 1146 EAH 

1 ports of children missing from foster care and 

2 other vulnerable foster youth. 

3 ‘‘(E) Identification of best practices for 

4 identifying such children and youth and inter5 vening with effective services. 

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

7 shall provide States, Indian tribes, tribal organiza8 tions, and tribal consortia with information, advice, 

9 educational materials, and technical assistance relat10 ing to eliminating identified obstacles to identifying 

11 and responding to reports of children missing from 

12 foster care and other vulnerable foster youth and pro13 viding such children and youth with effective services. 

14 Such assistance may include dissemination of— 

15 ‘‘(A) processes and tools to identify and ex16 amine risk factors and potential trends related to 

17 children who go missing from foster care and 

18 other vulnerable youth; 

19 ‘‘(B) best practices for runaway tracking 

20 and recovery; and 

21 ‘‘(C) guidelines for intervention, including 

22 with respect to services, types of providers, and 

23 placement settings. 

24 ‘‘(4) REPORT.—Not later than 5 years after the 

25 date of enactment of this subsection, the Secretary 
4 

•S 1146 EAH 

1 shall submit a report to Congress on the results of the 

2 evaluation conducted under this subsection and the 

3 technical assistance provided in accordance with 

4 paragraph (3).’’. 

5 SEC. 3. IMPROVING SCREENING AND ASSESSMENT OF CHIL6 DREN RETURNED TO FOSTER CARE AFTER 

7 GOING MISSING TO DETERMINE WHETHER 

8 THEY WERE, OR ARE AT RISK OF BECOMING, 

9 VICTIMS OF SEX TRAFFICKING. 

10 Section 476 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 676), 

11 as amended by section 2, is further amended by adding at 

12 the end the following: 

13 ‘‘(g) IMPROVING IDENTIFICATION OF, AND SERVICES

14 FOR, CHILDREN WHO RETURN TO FOSTER CARE AFTER

15 RUNNING AWAY OR OTHERWISE BEING ABSENT FROM FOS16 TER CARE AND WHO ARE, OR ARE AT RISK OF BEING, 

17 VICTIMS OF SEX TRAFFICKING.— 

18 ‘‘(1) ASSISTANCE.— 

19 ‘‘(A) SCREENING AFTER A RETURN TO FOS20 TER CARE.—The Secretary shall provide States, 

21 Indian tribes, tribal organizations, and tribal 

22 consortia, with information, advice, educational 

23 materials, and technical assistance to improve 

24 compliance with section 471(a)(35)(A)(iii). 
5 

•S 1146 EAH 

1 ‘‘(B) IMPROVING OTHER REQUIREMENTS.— 

2 The information, advice, educational materials, 

3 and technical assistance provided may include 

4 information, advice, educational materials, and 

5 technical assistance to improve or modify poli6 cies and procedures (including relevant training 

7 for caseworkers) developed by States, Indian 

8 tribes, tribal organizations, and tribal consortia 

9 under section 471(a)(9)(C), including the fol10 lowing: 

11 ‘‘(i) Identifying, through screening, 

12 whether the State has reasonable cause to 

13 believe the child or youth is, or is at risk of 

14 being, a victim of sex trafficking. 

15 ‘‘(ii) Documenting the results of such 

16 screening in agency records. 

17 ‘‘(iii) Determining appropriate serv18 ices for a child or youth for whom the State 

19 determines there is reasonable cause to iden20 tify the child or youth as a victim of sex 

21 trafficking, or as at risk of being a victim 

22 of sex trafficking. 

23 ‘‘(iv) Documenting in agency records 

24 the determination of appropriate services 
6 

•S 1146 EAH 

1 for a child or youth described in clause 

2 (iii). 

3 ‘‘(2) FORMS OF ASSISTANCE.—The assistance 

4 provided under this subsection shall include the fol5 lowing: 

6 ‘‘(A) Assisting States, Indian tribes, tribal 

7 organizations, and tribal consortia, with devel8 oping oversight mechanisms to assess their com9 pliance with section 471(a)(35)(A)(iii). 

10 ‘‘(B) Assisting States, Indian tribes, tribal 

11 organizations, and tribal consortia in devel12 oping— 

13 ‘‘(i) assessments for screening children 

14 who return to foster care after running 

15 away or otherwise being absent from foster 

16 care for risk of becoming victims of sex traf17 ficking; and 

18 ‘‘(ii) effective and robust policies relat19 ing to the use of the assessments. 

20 ‘‘(C) Working with States, Indian tribes, 

21 tribal organizations, and tribal consortia to im22 prove or modify policies and procedures devel23 oped under section 471(a)(9)(C). 

24 ‘‘(D) Providing technical assistance on how 

25 States, Indian tribes, tribal organizations, and 
7 

•S 1146 EAH 

1 tribal consortia may best use data collected pur2 suant to section 479 for oversight of, and to en3 sure compliance with, the requirements of para4 graphs (9)(C) and (35)(A)(iii) of section 471(a). 

5 ‘‘(3) CONSULTATION.—The Secretary shall, to the 

6 extent practicable, consult with internal and external 

7 offices with expertise on sex trafficking, including the 

8 Office on Trafficking in Persons of the Administra9 tion for Children and Families, on the development 

10 and dissemination to States, Indian tribes, tribal or11 ganizations, and tribal consortia of the assistance re12 quired under this subsection.’’. 

13 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

14 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary 

15 such sums as are necessary to carry out this Act for fiscal 

16 year 2024 through fiscal year 2027. 

17 SEC. 5. IDENTIFYING AND ADDRESSING CONDITIONS THAT 

18 LEAD TO YOUTH RUNNING AWAY FROM FOS19 TER CARE. 

20 The Comptroller General of the United States shall 

21 submit to the Congress a written report that— 

22 (1) contains a rigorous analysis of administra23 tive data to determine the characteristics of youth 

24 who run away from foster care and other relevant in25 formation about foster care runaway episodes; 
8 

•S 1146 EAH 

1 (2) includes information from interviews with 

2 recent foster youth runaways regarding their reasons 

3 for running away and what happened after they ran 

4 away, including any screening or other protocol fol5 lowed by the State; 

6 (3) includes a systematic review of research and 

7 evidence related to foster youth runaways; 

8 (4) sets forth best practices for making foster care 

9 safe for youth and reducing the number of foster 

10 youth runaways; and 

11 (5) makes recommendations to advance child 

12 welfare practices, after convening and consulting with 

13 a group of child welfare practitioners and profes14 sionals to inform the recommendations. 

Attest: 

Clerk. 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 1146 

AMENDMENT