Title: Improving Recovery and Reunifying Families Act
Policy area: Families

Summary:
Improving Recovery and Reunifying Families Act
This bill provides resources for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to evaluate a family recovery and reunification program and determine whether the program should be replicated. HHS must use a model that is designed to help reunify families and protect children by working with parents or guardians with a substance use disorder who have temporarily lost custody of their children.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2926 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2926

 To amend part B of title IV of the Social Security Act to require the 
Secretary of Health and Human Services to conduct a family recovery and 
reunification program replication project to help reunify families and 
    protect children with parents or guardians with a substance use 
     disorder who have temporarily lost custody of their children.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 22, 2018

Mr. Menendez (for himself and Mr. Scott) introduced the following bill; 
     which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend part B of title IV of the Social Security Act to require the 
Secretary of Health and Human Services to conduct a family recovery and 
reunification program replication project to help reunify families and 
    protect children with parents or guardians with a substance use 
     disorder who have temporarily lost custody of their children.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Improving Recovery and Reunifying 
Families Act''.

SEC. 2. FAMILY RECOVERY AND REUNIFICATION PROGRAM REPLICATION PROJECT.

    Section 435 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 629e) is amended 
by adding at the end the following:
    ``(e) Family Recovery and Reunification Program Replication 
Project.--
            ``(1) Purpose.--The purpose of this subsection is to 
        provide resources to the Secretary to support the conduct and 
        evaluation of a family recovery and reunification program 
        replication project (referred to in this subsection as the 
        `project') and to determine the extent to which such programs 
        may be appropriate for use at different intervention points 
        (such as when a child is at risk of entering foster care or 
        when a child is living with a guardian while a parent is in 
        treatment). The family recovery and reunification program 
        conducted under the project shall use a recovery coach model 
        that is designed to help reunify families and protect children 
        by working with parents or guardians with a substance use 
        disorder who have temporarily lost custody of their children.
            ``(2) Program components.--The family recovery and 
        reunification program conducted under the project shall adhere 
        closely to the elements and protocol determined to be most 
        effective in other recovery coaching programs that have been 
        rigorously evaluated and shown to increase family reunification 
        and protect children and, consistent with such elements and 
        protocol, shall provide such items and services as--
                    ``(A) assessments to evaluate the needs of the 
                parent or guardian;
                    ``(B) assistance in receiving the appropriate 
                benefits to aid the parent or guardian in recovery;
                    ``(C) services to assist the parent or guardian in 
                prioritizing issues identified in assessments, 
                establishing goals for resolving such issues that are 
                consistent with the goals of the treatment provider, 
                child welfare agency, courts, and other agencies 
                involved with the parent or guardian or their children, 
                and making a coordinated plan for achieving such goals;
                    ``(D) home visiting services coordinated with the 
                child welfare agency and treatment provider involved 
                with the parent or guardian or their children;
                    ``(E) case management services to remove barriers 
                for the parent or guardian to participate and continue 
                in treatment, as well as to re-engage a parent or 
                guardian who is not participating or progressing in 
                treatment;
                    ``(F) access to services needed to monitor the 
                parent's or guardian's compliance with program 
                requirements;
                    ``(G) frequent reporting between the treatment 
                provider, child welfare agency, courts, and other 
                agencies involved with the parent or guardian or their 
                children to ensure appropriate information on the 
                parent's or guardian's status is available to inform 
                decision-making; and
                    ``(H) assessments and recommendations provided by a 
                recovery coach to the child welfare caseworker 
                responsible for documenting the parent's or guardian's 
                progress in treatment and recovery as well as the 
                status of other areas identified in the treatment plan 
                for the parent or guardian, including a recommendation 
                regarding the expected safety of the child if the child 
                is returned to the custody of the parent or guardian 
                that can be used by the caseworker and a court to make 
                permanency decisions regarding the child.
            ``(3) Responsibilities of the secretary.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The Secretary shall, through a 
                grant or contract with 1 or more entities, conduct an 
                evaluation of the family recovery and reunification 
                program under the project.
                    ``(B) Requirements.--In identifying 1 or more 
                entities to conduct the evaluation of the family 
                recovery and reunification program, the Secretary 
                shall--
                            ``(i) determine that the area or areas in 
                        which the program will be conducted have 
                        sufficient substance use disorder treatment 
                        providers and other resources (other than those 
                        provided with funds made available to carry out 
                        the project) to successfully conduct the 
                        program;
                            ``(ii) determine that the area or areas in 
                        which the program will be conducted have enough 
                        potential program participants, and will serve 
                        a sufficient number of parents or guardians and 
                        their children, so as to allow for the 
                        formation of a control group, evaluation 
                        results to be adequately powered, and 
                        preliminary results of the evaluation to be 
                        available within 4 years of the program's 
                        implementation;
                            ``(iii) provide the entity or entities with 
                        technical assistance for the program design, 
                        including by working with 1 or more entities 
                        that are or have been involved in recovery 
                        coaching programs that have been rigorously 
                        evaluated and shown to increase family 
                        reunification and protect children so as to 
                        make sure the program conducted under the 
                        project adheres closely to the elements and 
                        protocol determined to be most effective in 
                        such other recovery coaching programs;
                            ``(iv) assist the entity or entities in 
                        securing adequate coaching, treatment, child 
                        welfare, court, and other resources needed to 
                        successfully conduct the family recovery and 
                        reunification program under the project; and
                            ``(v) ensure the entity or entities will be 
                        able to monitor the impacts of the program in 
                        the area or areas in which it is conducted for 
                        at least 5 years after parents or guardians and 
                        their children are randomly assigned to 
                        participate in the program or to be part of the 
                        program's control group.
            ``(4) Evaluation requirements.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The Secretary, in consultation 
                with the entity or entities conducting the family 
                recovery and reunification program under the project, 
                shall conduct an evaluation to determine whether the 
                program has been implemented effectively and resulted 
                in improvements for children and families. The 
                evaluation shall have 3 components: a pilot phase, an 
                impact study, and an implementation study.
                    ``(B) Pilot phase.--The pilot phase component of 
                the evaluation shall consist of the Secretary providing 
                technical assistance to the entity or entities 
                conducting the family recovery and reunification 
                program under the project to ensure--
                            ``(i) the program's implementation adheres 
                        closely to the elements and protocol determined 
                        to be most effective in other recovery coaching 
                        programs that have been rigorously evaluated 
                        and shown to increase family reunification and 
                        protect children; and
                            ``(ii) random assignment of parents or 
                        guardians and their children to be participates 
                        in the program or to be part of the program's 
                        control group is being carried out.
                    ``(C) Impact study.--The impact study component of 
                the evaluation shall determine the impacts of the 
                family recovery and reunification program conducted 
                under the project on the parents and guardians and 
                their children participating in the program. The impact 
                study component shall--
                            ``(i) be conducted using an experimental 
                        design that uses a random assignment research 
                        methodology;
                            ``(ii) consistent with previous studies of 
                        other recovery coaching programs that have been 
                        rigorously evaluated and shown to increase 
                        family reunification and protect children, 
                        measure outcomes for parents and guardians and 
                        their children over multiple time periods, but 
                        not for any period of less than 5 years; and
                            ``(iii) include measurements of family 
                        stability and parent, guardian, and child 
                        safety for program participants and the program 
                        control group that are consistent with 
                        measurements of such factors for participants 
                        and control groups from previous studies of 
                        other recovery coaching programs so as to allow 
                        results of the impact study to be compared with 
                        the results of such prior studies, including 
                        with respect to comparisons between program 
                        participants and the program control group 
                        regarding--
                                    ``(I) safe family reunification;
                                    ``(II) time to reunification;
                                    ``(III) permanency (such as through 
                                measures of reunification, adoption, or 
                                placement with guardians);
                                    ``(IV) safety (such as through 
                                measures of subsequent maltreatment);
                                    ``(V) parental or guardian 
                                treatment persistence and engagement;
                                    ``(VI) parental or guardian 
                                substance use;
                                    ``(VII) juvenile delinquency;
                                    ``(VIII) cost; and
                                    ``(IX) other measurements agreed 
                                upon by the Secretary and the entity or 
                                entities operating the family recovery 
                                and reunification program under the 
                                project.
                    ``(D) Implementation study.--The implementation 
                study component of the evaluation shall be conducted 
                concurrently with the conduct of the impact study 
                component and shall include, in addition to such other 
                information as the Secretary may determine, 
                descriptions and analyses of--
                            ``(i) the adherence of the family recovery 
                        and reunification program conducted under the 
                        project to other recovery coaching programs 
                        that have been rigorously evaluated and shown 
                        to increase family reunification and protect 
                        children; and
                            ``(ii) the difference in services received 
                        or proposed to be received by the program 
                        participants and the program control group.
                    ``(E) Report.--The Secretary shall publish on an 
                internet website maintained by the Secretary the 
                following information:
                            ``(i) A report on the pilot phase component 
                        of the evaluation.
                            ``(ii) A report on the impact study 
                        component of the evaluation.
                            ``(iii) A report on the implementation 
                        study component of the evaluation.
                            ``(iv) A report that includes--
                                    ``(I) analyses of the extent to 
                                which the program has resulted in 
                                increased reunifications, case 
                                closures, net savings to the State or 
                                States involved, or other outcomes;
                                    ``(II) if, based on such analyses, 
                                the Secretary determines the program 
                                should be replicated, a replication 
                                plan; and
                                    ``(III) such recommendations for 
                                legislation and administrative action 
                                as the Secretary determines 
                                appropriate.
            ``(5) Authorization of appropriations.--In addition to any 
        amount otherwise made available to carry out this subpart, 
        there are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary, 
        $15,000,000 for fiscal year 2019 to carry out the project, 
        which shall remain available through fiscal year 2026.''.
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