Recruiting Families Using Data Act of 2025

This bill would require state child welfare agencies to develop and implement family partnership plans aimed at improving foster care stability and increasing placements with relatives. These plans would focus on ensuring that the available pool of foster and adoptive families better matches the specific needs and demographics of children in the system. Additionally, the bill proposes that federal annual reports include state-level data on the characteristics of foster families and the specific challenges associated with recruiting and retaining them.

This bill affects state child welfare agencies, which must develop and implement family partnership plans to improve foster care placement stability and kinship placements. It also impacts the Children's Bureau of the Administration for Children and Families by requiring the inclusion of specific state-level data on foster and adoptive families in its annual reports. Additionally, the legislation concerns foster and adoptive parents, as well as children in or entering the foster care system, by addressing recruitment challenges and demographic alignment between families and children.

• Development of state family partnership plans. Requires state child welfare agencies to create and implement plans designed to improve the stability of foster care placements and increase the frequency of placements with relatives.
• Alignment of foster and adoptive family recruitment. Directs states to ensure that the demographics and characteristics of recruited foster and adoptive families match the specific needs of children entering or currently in the foster care system.
• Enhanced federal reporting on foster and adoptive families. Mandates that the Children's Bureau include state-provided data on the demographics of foster and adoptive families, along with a summary of the challenges involved in recruiting and serving as a parent, in its annual report.

The bill modifies requirements for state plans for child welfare services and expands the reporting mandates for the Children's Bureau of the Administration for Children and Families.

The bill aims to improve foster care placement stability and increase kinship placements by requiring states to develop family partnership plans. It also seeks to better align the demographics of foster and adoptive families with the needs of children through enhanced data collection and reporting on recruitment challenges.