The Hidden Foster Care Transparency Act requires states to track and publicly report on "hidden foster care arrangements"—situations where children are separated from their parents without court involvement or formal state custody, often when child protective services agencies suggest or pressure families to place children with relatives or others during investigations. States must report detailed data to the federal government including the number of children affected, types of allegations involved, whether parents received legal help, how long separations lasted, and outcomes such as reunification or entry into formal foster care. The Secretary of Health and Human Services must compile this state data into annual reports to Congress and the public, ensuring standardized national measurement of these informal arrangements. The bill makes these reporting requirements a condition for states to receive federal foster care funding, creating a compliance mechanism to bring transparency to practices that currently occur largely outside the formal child welfare system.
Take Action
Your position
Add a comment
to comment on this bill.
Annotate the text
Highlight any passage on the Summary or Full Text tab to attach a note. Annotations appear on the Annotations tab.