[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4972 Introduced in House (IH)]
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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 4972
To amend part E of title IV of the Social Security Act to address or
assist in resolving the shortage of appropriate foster homes for
children, to develop resources to keep sibling groups together, and to
provide for a system of checks and balances to ensure a child's ongoing
safety and well-being, by providing for the placement of a foster child
in cottage family homes and making a child so placed eligible for
foster care maintenance payments.
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IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
August 15, 2025
Mr. Steube (for himself, Mr. Dunn of Florida, Mrs. Cammack, Ms.
Wasserman Schultz, Mr. Soto, Mr. Gimenez, Mr. Scott Franklin of
Florida, Mr. Ezell, Mr. Guest, Mr. Bilirakis, Mr. Rutherford, Mr.
Edwards, and Mr. Mills) 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 address or
assist in resolving the shortage of appropriate foster homes for
children, to develop resources to keep sibling groups together, and to
provide for a system of checks and balances to ensure a child's ongoing
safety and well-being, by providing for the placement of a foster child
in cottage family homes and making a child so placed eligible for
foster care maintenance payments.
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 ``Create Accountable Respectful
Environments (CARE) for Children Act''.
SEC. 2. PLACEMENT OF FOSTER CHILDREN IN COTTAGE FAMILY HOMES.
(a) State Plan Requirement.--Section 471(a)(37) of the Social
Security Act (42 U.S.C. 671(a)(37)) is amended by inserting ``or a
cottage family home'' before the comma.
(b) Eligibility of Cottage Family Homes for Foster Care Maintenance
Payments.--Section 472(a)(2)(C) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 672(a)(2)(C)) is
amended by inserting ``a cottage family home,'' before ``with a
parent''.
(c) Definition of Cottage Family Home.--Section 472(c) of such Act
(42 U.S.C. 672(c)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(3) Cottage family home.--
``(A) In general.--The term `cottage family home'
means a home--
``(i) that is operated by a public or
private child care agency licensed or approved
by the State in which the home is situated as
an agency that meets the standards established
for the licensing or approval;
``(ii) that encourages and supports the
child and the family of the child in
maintaining a strong connection through regular
contact and involvement in a plan of care,
except to the extent otherwise directed by a
court of law;
``(iii) that is able to serve as a resource
to facilitate sibling groups being placed
together where daily contact and interaction
strengthens family ties;
``(iv) that provides children access to
activities or items that are age or
developmentally-appropriate, including the
ability to participate in extracurricular,
social, or other home and community activities
with the same freedom afforded to their peers
who are living at home with their families;
``(v) that has and implements a trauma-
informed approach in the care of children;
``(vi) that prohibits the use of seclusion
or mechanical or chemical restraints and
permits only short-term physical restraint if
approved in the policies of the agency to
prevent injury to self or others, and prohibits
any prone physical restraint;
``(vii) that provides a system for a child
to alert a staff member if the child has a
concern, feels unfairly denied rights, or is
subject to a threat of mistreatment;
``(viii) that has a continuous quality
improvement methodology that regularly solicits
information from children concerning their
perceptions of the quality of care and opinions
about the strengths and weaknesses of the
program;
``(ix) that is in a single-family style
residence with no more than 2 children per
bedroom unless it is in the best interest of
the children; and
``(x) in which the children are under the
care of live-in parents that use the reasonable
and prudent parent standard and provide 24-hour
substitute care of children placed away from
their parents or other caretakers.
``(B) Preservation of state flexibility.--The
Secretary may not prohibit, limit, or penalize, by
regulation or order, or bring an action in any court to
challenge, any action or determination of a State or
political subdivision of a State to--
``(i) treat a cottage family home as a
foster family home for purposes of this part;
or
``(ii) treat an entity as a cottage family
care home for purposes of this part, as the
State deems necessary to serve the best
interests of children or families.''.
(d) No Time Limit on Foster Care Maintenance Payments for Children
Placed in a Cottage Family Home.--Section 472(k)(2) of such Act (42
U.S.C. 672(k)(2)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(E) A cottage family home.''.
(e) Effective Date.--
(1) In general.--The amendments made by this section shall
take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act, and shall
apply to payments under part E of title IV of the Social
Security Act for calendar quarters beginning on or after such
date.
(2) Delay permitted if state legislation required.--If the
Secretary of Health and Human Services determines that State
legislation (other than legislation appropriating funds) is
required in order for a State plan under part E of title IV of
the Social Security Act to meet the additional requirements
imposed by the amendments made by this section, the plan shall
not be regarded as failing to meet any of the additional
requirements before the date that is 6 months after the date of
the enactment of this Act.
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