I 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 6657 

To amend title IV of the Social Security Act to encourage the development 

of specialized foster care programs designed specifically for large sibling 

groups, sibling groups with a wide age range, and sibling groups with 

complex needs. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 9, 2022 

Mr. BACON (for himself, Ms. BASS, Mr. LANGEVIN, Mrs. LAWRENCE, and Mr. 

MULLIN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To amend title IV of the Social Security Act to encourage 

the development of specialized foster care programs designed specifically for large sibling groups, sibling groups 

with a wide age range, and sibling groups with complex 

needs. 

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 ‘‘Protecting Sibling Re5 lationships in Foster Care Act of 2022’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. COMPETITIVE GRANT PILOT PROGRAM TO ENCOUR2 AGE THE DEVELOPMENT OF SPECIALIZED 

3 FOSTER CARE PROGRAMS DESIGNED SPE4 CIFICALLY FOR LARGE SIBLING GROUPS, SIB5 LING GROUPS WITH A WIDE AGE RANGE, AND 

6 SIBLING GROUPS WITH COMPLEX NEEDS. 

7 Section 435 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 

8 629e) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

9 ‘‘(f) COMPETITIVE GRANT PILOT PROGRAM TO EN10 COURAGE THE DEVELOPMENT OF SPECIALIZED FOSTER

11 CARE PROGRAMS DESIGNED SPECIFICALLY FOR LARGE

12 SIBLING GROUPS, SIBLING GROUPS WITH A WIDE AGE

13 RANGE, AND SIBLING GROUPS WITH COMPLEX NEEDS.— 

14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall estab15 lish a competitive grant pilot program under which, 

16 during the 5-year period that begins with the date 

17 of the enactment of this subsection, the Secretary 

18 shall make not more than 5 grants to eligible enti19 ties who have applied therefor to encourage the de20 velopment of specialized foster care programs de21 signed specifically for groups of 3 or more siblings, 

22 sibling groups with a wide age range, and sibling 

23 groups with, or that include a youth with, complex 

24 needs. For purposes of the preceding sentence, a 

25 youth has complex needs if the youth exhibits chal26 lenging or risky behaviors that could cause themself 


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1 or others serious harm, has mental health needs of 

2 such severity that the participation of the youth in 

3 daily life may be impaired either with or without 

4 services being rendered to help, has a disability (as 

5 defined under the Americans with Disabilities Act), 

6 or has an illness that requires continuous monitoring 

7 or is life-threatening, and complex needs include 

8 issues that may arise from siblings in foster care 

9 with a different parent, which could impact the abil10 ity of the siblings to be placed together, or from a 

11 youth with a history of trauma. 

12 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—In this subsection, the 

13 term ‘eligible entity’ means a State child welfare 

14 agency, a State, tribal, or local agency, a faith- or 

15 community-based organization, or a nonprofit orga16 nization that has expertise and demonstrated experi17 ence, as well as State supervision, in administering 

18 a foster care program. 

19 ‘‘(3) APPLICATIONS.—An eligible entity that de20 sires to receive a grant under this subsection shall 

21 submit to the Secretary an application that in22 cludes— 

23 ‘‘(A) a description of how funds received 

24 under the grant will be used to place together 

25 sibling groups described in paragraph (1); 


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1 ‘‘(B) a description of the specialized foster 

2 care program involved, and how the program is 

3 designed for the placement of sibling groups de4 scribed in paragraph (1); 

5 ‘‘(C) data describing the challenges of plac6 ing, and number of, sibling groups described in 

7 paragraph (1) that are awaiting placements; 

8 and 

9 ‘‘(D) such other information as the Sec10 retary may reasonably require. 

11 ‘‘(4) USE OF FUNDS.—A recipient of a grant 

12 under this subsection may use the grant funds only 

13 to develop specialized foster care programs which 

14 are— 

15 ‘‘(A) designed to identify available place16 ments for, and place together, sibling groups 

17 described in paragraph (1); and 

18 ‘‘(B) evidence-based, and proven to sub19 stantially increase joint sibling placements. 

20 ‘‘(5) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—As a condi21 tion of receiving a grant under this subsection, the 

22 grant recipient shall submit to the Secretary a writ23 ten report on the number of children in the special24 ized foster care program involved, the size of the sib25 ling groups served by the program, the methods 


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1 used to place children with their siblings under the 

2 program, and the outcomes of the placements. 

3 ‘‘(6) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary may pre4 scribe such regulations as may be necessary to carry 

5 out this subsection. 

6 ‘‘(7) APPROPRIATION.—In addition to any 

7 amounts otherwise made available to carry out this 

8 subpart, out of any money in the Treasury of the 

9 United States not otherwise appropriated, there are 

10 appropriated $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2022 to 

11 carry out the pilot program under this subsection, 

12 which shall remain available through fiscal year 

13 2026.’’. 

Æ 


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