H.R. 7432 — Fostering the Future Act

This section expands eligibility for education and training vouchers under section 477 of the Social Security Act to all youth who experienced foster care at age 14 or older (from only those who aged out). It lowers the minimum age for services to youth who left foster care for kinship guardianship or adoption to 14 (from 16). It allows vouchers to cover apprenticeships, GEDs, remedial education, and short-term Workforce Pell-eligible training programs, extends maximum participation to 6 years for remedial education (from 5), and defines remedial education as instructor-led instruction not otherwise available for free.

This section increases the maximum education and training voucher amount under the John H. Chafee Foster Care Program for Successful Transition to Adulthood to $12,000 (from $5,000). It authorizes states to establish a grace period allowing youth to continue participation in an education or training program after an assessment if reasonable circumstances warrant it. It directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to issue model guidance to states on implementing the grace period, developed in consultation with youth who have experienced foster care.

This section requires states to make reasonable efforts to inform eligible youth about education and training vouchers under the John H. Chafee Foster Care Program, including by coordinating with other Chafee-funded programs. It mandates a simplified, user-tested, standard electronic application form using consistent terminology. It also permits states to use Chafee funds for related outreach activities.

This section expands the Chafee Foster Care Program to include access to housing for youth age 18 or older and to serve current as well as former foster care recipients ages 18 to 21 (or 23). It requires states to collaborate with public housing agencies administering section 8(x) vouchers for foster youth. It changes the 30 percent room-and-board spending limit to a five-year average. It authorizes supportive housing services—including financial counseling, lease assistance, and move-in costs—for eligible youth receiving section 8(x) assistance up to age 26, exempt from the room-and-board cap.

This section directs the Secretaries of Health and Human Services and Housing and Urban Development to develop and issue joint guidance within one year of enactment to State child welfare agencies and public housing authorities. The guidance must clarify Federal policies to improve housing access for youth who have experienced foster care, including those in extended foster care; address use of section 477 funds for supportive services to access HUD programs; identify best practices for agency partnerships; and include any other information needed to coordinate services for current and former foster youth. It designates an HHS official to lead development in collaboration with HUD.

This section requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services, in consultation with the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, to submit a report within 3 years of enactment to the House Ways and Means and Financial Services Committees and the Senate Finance and Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committees. The report must include aggregate data on foster care youth receiving federal housing assistance, youth outcomes on stable housing and homelessness, findings from state program evaluations under section 477(g)(1) of the Social Security Act, and recommendations to improve coordination between child welfare agencies and federal housing programs.

This section expands support services under the John H. Chafee Foster Care Program for Successful Transition to Adulthood to include legal counseling access for former foster care recipients between ages 18 and 21 (or 23 in states with the applicable certification). It also requires states to certify that case planning processes address legal issues affecting housing, education, employment entry, and family connections for current and former foster youth, including State court records, legal recognition of family relationships, and custody and permanency matters.

This section expands the purposes of the Chafee Foster Care Program to include connecting foster youth in eligible families with evidence-based home visiting and support services under the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program. It also requires states to certify that they maintain processes to inform participating youth in eligible families about those services.

This section authorizes states to use John H. Chafee Foster Care Program for Successful Transition to Adulthood funds to provide tailored case management and resource coordination services to expectant or parenting youth otherwise eligible for the program, or for any other activities reasonably calculated to accomplish the program's purposes.

This section updates the purposes of the John H. Chafee Foster Care Program for Successful Transition to Adulthood to include helping youth who experienced foster care at age 14 or older develop and maintain sustained supportive relationships with adults, mentors, and peers to reduce isolation and build lifelong connections, and supporting youth still in foster care in exercising rights under section 475A to participate in permanency planning and access pre- and post-permanency peer support, mentoring, kin connections, and referrals. It requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services, within one year and after consulting youth with lived experience, to issue guidance to States and Tribal agencies on eligible services, best practices for mentoring and peer support, outreach standards, and documentation protocols for case plans.

This section establishes the effective date of the Act and its amendments as 1 year after the date of enactment. It delays compliance with amendments made by sections 5(3), 5(4), 8(2), and 9(b) for states that require legislation, until the first day of the first calendar quarter after the next regular state legislative session (with each year of a 2-year session treated as separate).