I 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4909 

To provide States with assistance in finding a permanent home for every 

child. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 19, 2014 

Mr. LANGEVIN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, for a period to be subsequently determined by 

the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To provide States with assistance in finding a permanent 

home for every child. 

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 ‘‘Permanent Families 

5 for All Children Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. 3-YEAR LIMIT ON FEDERAL REIMBURSEMENT OF 

2 FOSTER CARE MAINTENANCE PAYMENTS FOR 

3 CHILD NOT IN A LEGAL GUARDIANSHIP OR 

4 KINSHIP GUARDIANSHIP ARRANGEMENT. 

5 Section 474 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 

6 674) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘(h) LIMITATION ON NUMBER OF MONTHS FOR

8 WHICH FOSTER CARE MAINTENANCE PAYMENTS MADE

9 ON BEHALF OF A CHILD NOT IN A LEGAL GUARDIANSHIP

10 OR KINSHIP GUARDIANSHIP ARRANGEMENT MAY BE RE11 IMBURSED.—Notwithstanding any other provision of this 

12 part, a foster care maintenance payment made on behalf 

13 of a child shall not be taken into account for purposes 

14 of this section after such a payment has been made on 

15 behalf of the child for 36 months (whether or not consecu16 tive) ending after the effective date of this subsection, un17 less the child is in a legal guardianship or kinship guard18 ianship arrangement.’’. 

19 SEC. 3. 1-YEAR LIMIT ON FEDERAL REIMBURSEMENT OF 

20 FOSTER CARE MAINTENANCE PAYMENTS FOR 

21 CHILD IN CHILD-CARE INSTITUTION. 

22 Section 474 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 

23 674), as amended by section 2 of this Act, is amended 

24 by adding at the end the following: 

25 ‘‘(i) LIMITATION ON NUMBER OF MONTHS FOR

26 WHICH FOSTER CARE MAINTENANCE PAYMENTS MADE


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1 TO CHILD-CARE INSTITUTIONS ON BEHALF OF A CHILD

2 MAY BE REIMBURSED.—Notwithstanding any other pro3 vision of this part, a foster care maintenance payment 

4 made to a child-care institution on behalf of a child resid5 ing in the institution shall not be taken into account for 

6 purposes of this section after such a payment has been 

7 made to 1 or more such institutions on behalf of the child 

8 for 12 months (whether or not consecutive) ending after 

9 the effective date of this subsection.’’. 

10 SEC. 4. ELIMINATION OF AFDC ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENT 

11 FOR FOSTER CARE MAINTENANCE PAY12 MENTS. 

13 (a) ELIMINATION OF INCOME ELIGIBILITY REQUIRE14 MENT.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 472(a) of the Social 

16 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 672(a)) is amended— 

17 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘if’’ and 

18 all that follows and inserting ‘‘if the removal 

19 and foster care placement met, and the place20 ment continues to meet, the requirements of 

21 paragraph (2).’’; and 

22 (B) by striking paragraphs (3) and (4). 

23 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

24 (A) Section 470 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 

25 670) is amended by striking ‘‘who otherwise 


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1 would have been eligible for assistance under 

2 the States plan approved under part A (as such 

3 plan was in effect on June 1, 1995)’’. 

4 (B) Section 479B(c)(1)(C)(ii) of such Act 

5 (42 U.S.C. 679c(c)(1)(C)(ii)) is amended— 

6 (i) by striking ‘‘the following shall 

7 apply:’’ and all that follows through 

8 ‘‘Only’’ and inserting ‘‘only’’; and 

9 (ii) by striking subclause (II). 

10 (b) REPLACEMENT OF FEDERAL MATCHING RATE

11 APPLICABLE TO FOSTER CARE MAINTENANCE PAYMENTS

12 AND RELATED COSTS.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 474(a)(1) of such 

14 Act (42 U.S.C. 674(a)(1)) is amended to read as fol15 lows: 

16 ‘‘(1) an amount equal to the foster care part17 nership rate applicable to the State for the quarter, 

18 as determined under subsection (k), of the total 

19 amount expended during the quarter as foster care 

20 maintenance payments under section 472 for chil21 dren in foster family homes or child-care institutions 

22 (or, with respect to such payments made during the 

23 quarter under a cooperative agreement or contract 

24 entered into by the State and an Indian tribe, tribal 

25 organization, or tribal consortium for the adminisVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:09 Jun 25, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4909.IH H4909

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1 tration or payment of funds under this part, an 

2 amount equal to the Federal medical assistance per3 centage (as defined in section 1905(b)) that would 

4 apply under section 479B(d) (in this paragraph re5 ferred to as the ‘tribal FMAP’) if the Indian tribe, 

6 tribal organization, or tribal consortium made such 

7 payments under a program operated under that sec8 tion, unless the tribal FMAP is less than the Fed9 eral medical assistance percentage that applies to 

10 the State); plus’’. 

11 (2) FOSTER CARE PARTNERSHIP RATE.—Sec12 tion 474 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 674), as amended 

13 by sections 2 and 3 of this Act, is amended by add14 ing at the end the following: 

15 ‘‘(k) The Secretary, in consultation with a State, 

16 shall determine the foster care partnership rate applicable 

17 to the State for a quarter so that the total of the amounts 

18 payable to the State under subsection (a)(1) for the fiscal 

19 year in which the quarter occurs equals the total of the 

20 amounts required to be paid to the State under subsection 

21 (a)(1) (as in effect just before the 1st quarter for which 

22 this subsection is in effect with respect to the State) for 

23 the 4 quarters preceding such 1st quarter.’’. 

24 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para2 graph (2), the amendments made by this section 

3 shall take effect on the 1st day of the 1st calendar 

4 quarter that begins after the date of the enactment 

5 of this Act. 

6 (2) STATE OPTION TO DELAY EFFECTIVE

7 DATE.—A State may elect to delay the effectiveness 

8 of the amendments made by this section with respect 

9 to the State for not more than 3 years. 

10 SEC. 5. ELIGIBILITY OF CHILD IN RESIDENTIAL TREAT11 MENT PROGRAM FOR HALF OF REGULAR 

12 FOSTER CARE MAINTENANCE PAYMENTS. 

13 Section 472(b) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 

14 672(b)) is amended by inserting ‘‘, except that, while the 

15 child is in a residential treatment program, the payments 

16 may continue to be made on behalf of the child at 50 per17 cent of the level at which the payments that would other18 wise be made’’ before the period. 

19 SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as otherwise provided in 

21 this Act, the amendments made by this Act shall take ef22 fect on the 1st day of the 12th month beginning on or 

23 after the date of the enactment of this Act, and shall apply 

24 to payments under part E of title IV of the Social Security 

25 Act for calendar quarters ending on or after such date. 


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1 (b) DELAY PERMITTED IF STATE LEGISLATION RE2 QUIRED.—If the Secretary of Health and Human Services 

3 determines that State legislation (other than legislation 

4 appropriating funds) is required in order for a State plan 

5 developed pursuant to part E of title IV of the Social Se6 curity Act to meet the additional requirements imposed 

7 by the amendments made by this Act, the plan shall not 

8 be regarded as failing to meet any of the additional re9 quirements before the 1st day of the 1st calendar quarter 

10 ending after the first regular session of the State legisla11 ture that begins after the date of the enactment of this 

12 Act. For purposes of the preceding sentence, if the State 

13 has a 2-year legislative session, each year of the session 

14 is deemed to be a separate regular session of the State 

15 legislature. 

16 SEC. 7. INCREASED FUNDING FOR CASEWORKER TRAINING 

17 ON CHILD-FOCUSED RECRUITMENT AND RE18 TENTION. 

19 The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall 

20 increase the proportion of the amounts expended by a 

21 State for caseworker training on child-focused recruitment 

22 and retention with respect to which the State is entitled 

23 to a payment under section 474(a)(3)(B) of the Social Se24 curity Act for each of fiscal years 2015 through 2019, so 

25 that the aggregate of the additional amounts required to 


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1 be paid by reason of this section for the fiscal year in2 volved equals the amount that the Director of the Office 

3 of Management and Budget determines is the net amount 

4 of reduced mandatory spending for the fiscal year as a 

5 result of the enactment of the preceding provisions of this 

6 Act. 

7 SEC. 8. UNUSED SAVINGS TO BE SPENT ON CHILD WEL8 FARE PROGRAMS. 

9 The amount specified in section 425 of the Social Se10 curity Act for each of fiscal years 2015 through 2019 shall 

11 be increased by the savings from the preceding provisions 

12 of this Act for the then preceding fiscal year, as computed 

13 using the most recent baseline of the Congressional Budg14 et Office. 

15 SEC. 9. PUBLIC SERVICE LOAN FORGIVENESS FOR SOCIAL 

16 WORKERS. 

17 Section 455(m) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 

18 (20 U.S.C. 1087e(m)) is amended by adding at the end 

19 the following: 

20 ‘‘(5) LOAN CANCELLATION FOR CERTAIN SO21 CIAL WORKERS.—In the case of a borrower who 

22 works in social work in a public child or family serv23 ice agency, paragraph (1) shall be applied— 

24 ‘‘(A) by substituting ‘60’ for ‘120’ both 

25 places it appears; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) by striking ‘after October 1, 2007’ 

2 and inserting ‘after the date of enactment of 

3 the Permanent Families for All Children Act’.’’. 

Æ 


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