Title: Forgotten Families Recovery Act of 2017
Policy area: Health

Summary:
Forgotten Families Recovery Act of 2017
This bill requires the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to consider the treatment and recovery of addicted minors, as well as individuals responsible for caring for dependent minors who are at risk of entering foster care, when determining priority substance use disorder prevention needs of regional and national significance.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4388 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4388

 To prioritize, in certain substance abuse prevention, treatment, and 
 recovery programs, the treatment and recovery of addicted minors, and 
  individuals responsible for the care of dependent minors who are at 
                risk of entering the foster care system.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 14, 2017

  Mr. Duffy introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To prioritize, in certain substance abuse prevention, treatment, and 
 recovery programs, the treatment and recovery of addicted minors, and 
  individuals responsible for the care of dependent minors who are at 
                risk of entering the foster care system.

    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 ``Forgotten Families Recovery Act of 
2017''.

SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON PRIORITIZING RURAL FAMILIES AND AT-RISK 
              YOUTH WITHIN SUBSTANCE ABUSE PREVENTION PROGRAMS.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress finds as follows:
            (1) Behavioral health and detoxification (detox) services 
        are not as readily available in rural communities. For those 
        that are available, their range of services is frequently 
        limited.
            (2) Patients who require treatment for substance abuse may 
        need to travel long distances to access these services.
            (3) Rural first responders or the rural hospital emergency 
        room (ER) staff may have limited experience in providing care 
        to a patient presenting the physical effects of a drug 
        overdose.
            (4) Law enforcement and prevention programs may be spread 
        sparsely over large rural geographic areas.
            (5) According to a 2012 study published by the Maine Rural 
        Health Research Center, alcohol use and binge drinking are more 
        common among rural youth aged 12 to 13 than among urban youth 
        the same age.
            (6) Rural adolescents reported higher rates of binge 
        drinking and driving under the influence (DUI) than urban 
        adolescents.
            (7) A 2014 JAMA Psychiatry article concluded that heroin 
        users entering treatment over the past 50 years have 
        demonstrated a changing geographical composition, with an 
        increasing percentage in more recent years arriving from 
        communities outside of large urban areas.
    (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that the 
Secretary of Health and Human Services, in carrying out substance abuse 
prevention, treatment, and recovery programs, should prioritize 
appropriate funding for activities within rural populations, especially 
those with high rates of substance abuse among families, or high rates 
of dependent minors at risk of entering the foster care system.

SEC. 3. PRIORITY FOR THE TREATMENT AND RECOVERY OF ADDICTED MINORS, AND 
              INDIVIDUALS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CARE OF DEPENDENT MINORS 
              WHO ARE AT RISK OF ENTERING THE FOSTER CARE SYSTEM.

    Section 516(b)(2) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 
290bb-22(b)(2)) is amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (B), by striking ``and'' at the end;
            (2) by redesignating subparagraph (C) as subparagraph (D); 
        and
            (3) by inserting after subparagraph (B) the following:
                    ``(C) promoting the treatment and recovery of 
                addicted minors, and individuals responsible for the 
                care of dependent minors who are at risk of entering 
                the foster care system; and''.
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