I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2426 

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. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 30, 2023 

Mr. TONY GONZALES of Texas (for himself, Ms. BROWN, Mrs. HOUCHIN, Ms. 

MOORE of Wisconsin, Mr. BACON, Ms. KAMLAGER-DOVE, Mr. 

NEWHOUSE, and Ms. SCANLON) introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

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. 

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


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Find and Protect Fos3 ter 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. 

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

10 ‘‘(f) EVALUATION OF PROTOCOLS RELATING TO

11 CHILDREN MISSING FROM FOSTER CARE AND OTHER

12 VULNERABLE YOUTH; TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall con14 duct an evaluation of the protocols established by 

15 States in accordance with the requirements of sec16 tion 471(a)(35) and, to the extent applicable, by In17 dian tribes or tribal organizations (as defined in sec18 tion 479B(a)) or tribal consortia with a plan ap19 proved under section 471 in accordance with section 

20 479B. 

21 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS.—The evaluation shall in22 clude the following: 

23 ‘‘(A) A review of relevant aspects of re24 ports submitted by States, Indian tribes, tribal 

25 organizations, and tribal consortia under this 

26 part and part B, and data and other informaVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:16 Apr 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2426.IH H2426

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1 tion reported pursuant to the system estab2 lished under section 479. 

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

4 States, Indian tribes, tribal organizations, and 

5 tribal consortia comply with, and enforce, the 

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

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

8 protocols. 

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

10 Indian tribes, tribal organizations, and tribal 

11 consortia to identifying and responding to re12 ports of children missing from foster care and 

13 other vulnerable foster youth. 

14 ‘‘(E) Identification of best practices for 

15 identifying such children and youth and inter16 vening with effective services. 

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

18 shall provide States, Indian tribes, tribal organiza19 tions, and tribal consortia with information, advice, 

20 educational materials, and technical assistance relat21 ing to eliminating identified obstacles to identifying 

22 and responding to reports of children missing from 

23 foster care and other vulnerable foster youth and 

24 providing such children and youth with effective 


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1 services. Such assistance may include dissemination 

2 of— 

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

4 examine risk factors and potential trends re5 lated to children who go missing from foster 

6 care and other vulnerable youth; 

7 ‘‘(B) best practices for runaway tracking 

8 and recovery; and 

9 ‘‘(C) guidelines for intervention, including 

10 with respect to services, types of providers, and 

11 placement settings. 

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

13 date of enactment of this subsection, the Secretary 

14 shall submit a report to Congress on the results of 

15 the evaluation conducted under this subsection and 

16 the technical assistance provided in accordance with 

17 paragraph (3).’’. 

18 SEC. 3. IMPROVING SCREENING AND ASSESSMENT OF 

19 CHILDREN RETURNED TO FOSTER CARE 

20 AFTER GOING MISSING TO DETERMINE 

21 WHETHER THEY WERE, OR ARE AT RISK OF 

22 BECOMING, VICTIMS OF SEX TRAFFICKING. 

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

24 676), as amended by section 2, is further amended by add25 ing at the end the following: 


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

2 FOR, CHILDREN WHO RETURN TO FOSTER CARE AFTER

3 RUNNING AWAY OR OTHERWISE BEING ABSENT FROM

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

5 BEING, VICTIMS OF SEX TRAFFICKING.— 

6 ‘‘(1) ASSISTANCE.— 

7 ‘‘(A) SCREENING AFTER A RETURN TO

8 FOSTER CARE.—The Secretary shall provide 

9 States, Indian tribes, tribal organizations, and 

10 tribal consortia, with information, advice, edu11 cational materials, and technical assistance to 

12 improve compliance with section 

13 471(a)(35)(A)(iii). 

14 ‘‘(B) IMPROVING OTHER REQUIRE15 MENTS.—The information, advice, educational 

16 materials, and technical assistance provided 

17 may include information, advice, educational 

18 materials, and technical assistance to improve 

19 or modify policies and procedures (including rel20 evant training for caseworkers) developed by 

21 States, Indian tribes, tribal organizations, and 

22 tribal consortia under section 471(a)(9)(C), in23 cluding the following: 

24 ‘‘(i) Identifying, through screening, 

25 whether the State has reasonable cause to 


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

2 of being, a victim of sex trafficking. 

3 ‘‘(ii) Documenting the results of such 

4 screening in agency records. 

5 ‘‘(iii) Determining appropriate serv6 ices for a child or youth for whom the 

7 State determines there is reasonable cause 

8 to identify the child or youth as a victim 

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

10 victim of sex trafficking. 

11 ‘‘(iv) Documenting in agency records 

12 the determination of appropriate services 

13 for a child or youth described in clause 

14 (iii). 

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

16 provided under this subsection shall include the fol17 lowing: 

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

19 organizations, and tribal consortia, with devel20 oping oversight mechanisms to assess their 

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

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

23 organizations, and tribal consortia in devel24 oping— 


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1 ‘‘(i) assessments for screening chil2 dren who return to foster care after run3 ning away or otherwise being absent from 

4 foster care for risk of becoming victims of 

5 sex trafficking; and 

6 ‘‘(ii) effective and robust policies re7 lating to the use of the assessments. 

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

9 tribal organizations, and tribal consortia to im10 prove or modify policies and procedures devel11 oped under section 471(a)(9)(C). 

12 ‘‘(D) Providing technical assistance on how 

13 States, Indian tribes, tribal organizations, and 

14 tribal consortia may best use data collected pur15 suant to section 479 for oversight of, and to en16 sure compliance with, the requirements of para17 graphs (9)(C) and (35)(A)(iii) of section 

18 471(a). 

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

20 the extent practicable, consult with internal and ex21 ternal offices with expertise on sex trafficking, in22 cluding the Office on Trafficking in Persons of the 

23 Administration for Children and Families, on the de24 velopment and dissemination to States, Indian 


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1 tribes, tribal organizations, and tribal consortia of 

2 the assistance required under this subsection.’’. 

3 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

4 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Sec5 retary such sums as are necessary to carry out this Act 

6 for fiscal year 2023, which shall remain available through 

7 fiscal year 2027. 

Æ 


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