Fresh Starts for Foster Youth Act
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Fresh Starts for Foster Youth Act amends section 477 of the Social Security Act, the John H. Chafee Foster Care Program. It adds "legal counseling access" to the Chafee purpose covering help with education, training, employment services, and related support for youth transitioning from foster care.
The bill also adds a state plan certification. The chief executive officer of each state must certify that relevant case planning and other state processes take into consideration legal issues affecting housing, education, entry into employment, and family connections for current and former foster youth. The certification specifically names state court records, legal recognition of family relationships, custody, and permanency issues. The amendments take effect one year after enactment for payments under state Chafee plans approved by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, with extra transition time if a state needs legislation beyond an appropriation bill.
Who Benefits and How
Current foster youth benefit because Chafee services can explicitly include access to legal counseling for records, family, custody, permanency, housing, education, and employment barriers. Former foster youth benefit when state case planning accounts for legal obstacles that can block housing applications, school enrollment, job entry, or family stability. Legal aid providers serving foster youth benefit from clearer federal recognition of legal counseling as a Chafee transition support. State child welfare agencies gain a statutory framework for integrating legal issue screening into Chafee case planning. The Secretary of Health and Human Services gains a clearer plan-approval benchmark for legal counseling access.
Who Bears the Burden and How
State child welfare agencies must update Chafee case planning, certifications, and service coordination to address legal issues. State chief executive officers must certify compliance in state plans. Chafee case workers must identify legal barriers and connect youth to counseling access. HHS Administration for Children and Families staff must review the new certifications when approving plans and payments. State legislatures may need to enact non-appropriations legislation before their plans can fully satisfy the new requirements.
Key Provisions
- Adds legal counseling access to the Chafee Foster Care Program purpose for transition services.
- Requires state plan certification that case planning considers legal issues for current and former foster youth.
- Identifies housing, education, employment, family connections, court records, family recognition, custody, and permanency as covered legal issue areas.
- Provides a one-year effective date for payments under Chafee plans approved by the Secretary of Health and Human Services.
- Allows extra transition time when state legislation is needed to meet the new Chafee requirements.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Adds legal counseling access to Chafee Foster Care Program purposes and requires state Chafee plan certifications to account for legal issues affecting housing, education, employment, family connections, court records, family-relationship recognition, custody, and permanency for current and former foster youth.
Key Policy Areas
Child Welfare, Legal Services, Social Welfare
Primary Purpose
Adds legal counseling access to Chafee Foster Care Program purposes and requires state Chafee plan certifications to account for legal issues affecting housing, education, employment, family connections, court records, family-relationship recognition, custody, and permanency for current and former foster youth.
Policy Domains
Bill provisions
Identified Gains
- Current foster youth
- Former foster youth
- Legal aid providers
- State child welfare agencies
- Secretary of Health and Human Services
Identified Costs
- State child welfare agencies
- State chief executive officers
- Chafee case workers
- HHS Administration for Children and Families staff
- State legislatures
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
ReportedAdditional sponsors: Mr. Schweikert and Mr. Lawler
Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 557.
Reported (Amended) by the Committee on Ways and Means. H. …
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the …
Ordered to be Reported in the Nature of a Substitute …
Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held
Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
Introduced in House
Mr. Davis of Illinois (for himself and Mr. LaHood) introduced …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Current foster youth, Former foster youth, State child welfare agencies
Positive-direction: Current foster youth, Former foster youth
Negative-direction: State child welfare agencies
HHS child welfare program staff, State chief executive officers, State legislatures
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "secretary"
- → Secretary of Health and Human Services
- "state_ceo"
- → State chief executive officer
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology