118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1146 

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. 
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†S 1146 ES

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 ‘‘Find and Protect Fos5 ter Youth Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ELIMINATING OBSTACLES TO IDENTIFYING AND RE7 SPONDING TO REPORTS OF CHILDREN MISS8 ING FROM FOSTER CARE AND OTHER VUL9 NERABLE FOSTER YOUTH. 

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

11 676) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

12 ‘‘(f) EVALUATION OF PROTOCOLS RELATING TO

13 CHILDREN MISSING FROM FOSTER CARE AND OTHER

14 VULNERABLE YOUTH; TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall con16 duct an evaluation of the protocols established by 

17 States in accordance with the requirements of sec18 tion 471(a)(35) and, to the extent applicable, by In19 dian tribes or tribal organizations (as defined in sec20 tion 479B(a)) or tribal consortia with a plan ap21 proved under section 471 in accordance with section 

22 479B. 

23 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS.—The evaluation shall in24 clude the following: 
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1 ‘‘(A) A review of relevant aspects of re2 ports submitted by States, Indian tribes, tribal 

3 organizations, and tribal consortia under this 

4 part and part B, and data and other informa5 tion reported pursuant to the system estab6 lished under section 479. 

7 ‘‘(B) Analysis of the extent to which 

8 States, Indian tribes, tribal organizations, and 

9 tribal consortia comply with, and enforce, the 

10 protocols required by section 471(a)(35). 

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

12 protocols. 

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

14 Indian tribes, tribal organizations, and tribal 

15 consortia to identifying and responding to re16 ports of children missing from foster care and 

17 other vulnerable foster youth. 

18 ‘‘(E) Identification of best practices for 

19 identifying such children and youth and inter20 vening with effective services. 

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

22 shall provide States, Indian tribes, tribal organiza23 tions, and tribal consortia with information, advice, 

24 educational materials, and technical assistance relat25 ing to eliminating identified obstacles to identifying 
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1 and responding to reports of children missing from 

2 foster care and other vulnerable foster youth and 

3 providing such children and youth with effective 

4 services. Such assistance may include dissemination 

5 of— 

6 ‘‘(A) processes and tools to identify and 

7 examine risk factors and potential trends re8 lated to children who go missing from foster 

9 care and other vulnerable youth; 

10 ‘‘(B) best practices for runaway tracking 

11 and recovery; and 

12 ‘‘(C) guidelines for intervention, including 

13 with respect to services, types of providers, and 

14 placement settings. 

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

16 date of enactment of this subsection, the Secretary 

17 shall submit a report to Congress on the results of 

18 the evaluation conducted under this subsection and 

19 the technical assistance provided in accordance with 

20 paragraph (3).’’. 
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1 SEC. 3. IMPROVING SCREENING AND ASSESSMENT OF 

2 CHILDREN RETURNED TO FOSTER CARE 

3 AFTER GOING MISSING TO DETERMINE 

4 WHETHER THEY WERE, OR ARE AT RISK OF 

5 BECOMING, VICTIMS OF SEX TRAFFICKING. 

6 Section 476 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 

7 676), as amended by section 2, is further amended by add8 ing at the end the following: 

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

10 FOR, CHILDREN WHO RETURN TO FOSTER CARE AFTER

11 RUNNING AWAY OR OTHERWISE BEING ABSENT FROM

12 FOSTER CARE AND WHO ARE, OR ARE AT RISK OF

13 BEING, VICTIMS OF SEX TRAFFICKING.— 

14 ‘‘(1) ASSISTANCE.— 

15 ‘‘(A) SCREENING AFTER A RETURN TO

16 FOSTER CARE.—The Secretary shall provide 

17 States, Indian tribes, tribal organizations, and 

18 tribal consortia, with information, advice, edu19 cational materials, and technical assistance to 

20 improve compliance with section 

21 471(a)(35)(A)(iii). 

22 ‘‘(B) IMPROVING OTHER REQUIRE23 MENTS.—The information, advice, educational 

24 materials, and technical assistance provided 

25 may include information, advice, educational 

26 materials, and technical assistance to improve 
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1 or modify policies and procedures (including rel2 evant training for caseworkers) developed by 

3 States, Indian tribes, tribal organizations, and 

4 tribal consortia under section 471(a)(9)(C), in5 cluding the following: 

6 ‘‘(i) Identifying, through screening, 

7 whether the State has reasonable cause to 

8 believe the child or youth is, or is at risk 

9 of being, a victim of sex trafficking. 

10 ‘‘(ii) Documenting the results of such 

11 screening in agency records. 

12 ‘‘(iii) Determining appropriate serv13 ices for a child or youth for whom the 

14 State determines there is reasonable cause 

15 to identify the child or youth as a victim 

16 of sex trafficking, or as at risk of being a 

17 victim of sex trafficking. 

18 ‘‘(iv) Documenting in agency records 

19 the determination of appropriate services 

20 for a child or youth described in clause 

21 (iii). 

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

23 provided under this subsection shall include the fol24 lowing: 
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1 ‘‘(A) Assisting States, Indian tribes, tribal 

2 organizations, and tribal consortia, with devel3 oping oversight mechanisms to assess their 

4 compliance with section 471(a)(35)(A)(iii). 

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

6 organizations, and tribal consortia in devel7 oping— 

8 ‘‘(i) assessments for screening chil9 dren who return to foster care after run10 ning away or otherwise being absent from 

11 foster care for risk of becoming victims of 

12 sex trafficking; and 

13 ‘‘(ii) effective and robust policies re14 lating to the use of the assessments. 

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

16 tribal organizations, and tribal consortia to im17 prove or modify policies and procedures devel18 oped under section 471(a)(9)(C). 

19 ‘‘(D) Providing technical assistance on how 

20 States, Indian tribes, tribal organizations, and 

21 tribal consortia may best use data collected pur22 suant to section 479 for oversight of, and to en23 sure compliance with, the requirements of para24 graphs (9)(C) and (35)(A)(iii) of section 

25 471(a). 
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1 ‘‘(3) CONSULTATION.—The Secretary shall, to 

2 the extent practicable, consult with internal and ex3 ternal offices with expertise on sex trafficking, in4 cluding the Office on Trafficking in Persons of the 

5 Administration for Children and Families, on the de6 velopment and dissemination to States, Indian 

7 tribes, tribal organizations, and tribal consortia of 

8 the assistance required under this subsection.’’. 

Passed the Senate October 30, 2023. 

Attest: 

Secretary. 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1146 

AN ACT 

To amend part E of title IV of the Social Security 

poses. the removal of such obstacles, and for other puryouth, to provide technical assistance relating to ing from foster care and other vulnerable foster fying and responding to reports of children missHuman Services to identify obstacles to identiAct to require the Secretary of Health and