Title: Look-back Elimination Act of 2017
Policy area: Families

Summary:
Look-back Elimination Act of 2017
This bill amends part E (Foster Care and Adoption Assistance) of title IV of the Social Security Act to extend federal funding to states for maintenance payments on behalf of each foster child, regardless of whether the child would have been eligible for aid under the former Aid to Families with Dependent Children program at the time of removal from the home.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 269 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 269

   To eliminate the requirement that, to be eligible for foster care 
 maintenance payments, a child would have been eligible for aid under 
 the former program of Aid to Families with Dependent Children at the 
                     time of removal from the home.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 4, 2017

Mr. Lewis of Georgia introduced the following bill; which was referred 
                   to the Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To eliminate the requirement that, to be eligible for foster care 
 maintenance payments, a child would have been eligible for aid under 
 the former program of Aid to Families with Dependent Children at the 
                     time of removal from the home.

    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 ``Look-back Elimination Act of 2017''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds as follows:
            (1) As part of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New 
        Deal, the Social Security Act of 1935 included the creation of 
        the Aid to Dependent Children program as a way to provide 
        Federal support to poor children. Over time, this program 
        became the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) 
        program and provided assistance to struggling families for over 
        60 years.
            (2) Part E of title IV of the Social Security Act provides 
        primary Federal funding for child welfare services. Under that 
        part, the Federal Government pays a portion of the cost of 
        providing Federal foster care and adoption assistance benefits 
        for eligible children.
            (3) In 1996, when Congress replaced the AFDC program with 
        the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, 
        Congress also fixed the income eligibility requirement for 
        Federal foster care and adoption assistance benefits at a level 
        based on the income thresholds established by the States under 
        their former AFDC programs. This income eligibility requirement 
        is now commonly referred to as the ``AFDC look-back standard''.
            (4) At that time, many States had established very strict 
        household income requirements in order for children to be 
        eligible for AFDC benefits. As a result of this very strict 
        requirement, many children in the Federal foster care and 
        adoption assistance programs are ineligible to receive a wide 
        range of Federal benefits, services, and activities. For 
        example, this outdated, restrictive standard prevents the State 
        of Georgia from providing assistance to more than half of the 
        children in the child welfare system.
            (5) Forced to adhere to a stagnant standard, States 
        increasingly struggle to administer Federal foster care and 
        adoption assistance programs and provide services to those 
        children most in need. As inflation increases, fewer children 
        are eligible to receive Federal benefits, and States struggle 
        to provide services from other, limited local and State 
        resources.
            (6) Although the AFDC look-back standard still applies to 
        the Federal foster care program, the Fostering Connections to 
        Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 will have 
        completely eliminated the AFDC look-back standard in the 
        Federal adoption assistance program by 2018.

SEC. 3. ELIMINATION OF THE AFDC ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENT IN THE FOSTER 
              CARE MAINTENANCE PAYMENTS PROGRAM.

    (a) In General.--Section 472(a) of the Social Security Act (42 
U.S.C. 672(a)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ``specified'' and all 
        that follows and inserting ``or caretaker into foster care if 
        the removal and foster care placement met, and continues to 
        meet, the requirements of paragraph (2).''; and
            (2) by striking paragraphs (3) and (4).
    (b) Conforming Amendment.--Section 470 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 670) 
is amended by striking ``who otherwise would have been eligible for 
assistance under the State's plan approved under part A (as such plan 
was in effect on June 1, 1995)''.

SEC. 4. SENSE OF THE CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of the Congress that--
            (1) the AFDC eligibility requirement for Federal foster 
        care and adoption assistance benefits should be eliminated and 
        replaced with income eligibility standards that are based on 
        modern, balanced criteria that treat all children equally; and
            (2) the Secretary of Health and Human Services should 
        collaborate with Members of Congress and child welfare 
        advocates in developing any modified standards.
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