S 162: Recruiting Families Using Data Act of 2025

S 162 in plain English: This bill requires states to develop and implement family partnership plans aimed at improving foster care placement stability, increasing kinship placements, and better matching foster and adoptive families to children's needs. It also requires the Children's Bureau to include in its annual report data from states on the number, demographics, and characteristics of foster and adoptive families, along with a summary of recruitment challenges.

Stated purpose

The bill requires states to create data-driven plans for recruiting, supporting, and retaining foster and adoptive families, and requires federal annual reports to include detailed information on foster and adoptive family numbers, demographics, and challenges.

Key points

• Requires states to create family partnership plans to improve foster care placement stability and increase kinship placements.
• Directs states to align the makeup of foster and adoptive families with the needs of children in or entering foster care.
• Requires the Children's Bureau's annual report to include state data on foster and adoptive family numbers, demographics, and characteristics.
• Requires the annual report to summarize challenges related to recruiting and retaining foster and adoptive parents.

Arguments supporters make

• Using real data to align available foster families with children's actual needs could reduce children languishing in group homes or unstable placements.
• Requiring states to track and address barriers to recruiting families who reflect the racial and ethnic backgrounds of children in care could improve outcomes for those children.
• Involving foster parents, youth with foster care experience, and community providers in planning ensures the people closest to the problem help shape the solution.

Arguments opponents make

• Adding new federal reporting and planning mandates places more administrative burden on state child welfare agencies that are already understaffed and stretched thin.
• Collecting and publishing detailed demographic data on families and children could raise privacy concerns and may not translate into actual improvements in placement outcomes.
• The bill sets requirements but does not provide new funding, meaning states may struggle to meet the mandates without additional resources to do so effectively.

Tradeoffs

Requiring states to gather more data and build detailed plans may improve foster care matching over time, but imposes new administrative work on agencies without guaranteed new funding to support it. The federal government gains more visibility into state foster care systems, which could improve accountability but also reduces state flexibility in how they manage child welfare programs.

Current status in Congress: Passed Senate.

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