Recruiting Families Using Data Act of 2025
Introduced January 21, 2025 · Last action June 15, 2026
Plain English Summary
This bill requires states to develop and implement 'family partnership plans' to improve recruitment and retention of foster and adoptive parents, including detailed data collection on foster family capacity, utilization rates, and demographic matching with children in care. States must report annually to Congress on foster and adoptive family numbers, characteristics, reasons families stop fostering or adoptions fail, and barriers to recruiting families from racial and ethnic backgrounds matching children in the system. The requirements take effect October 1, 2027, with a delay option for states needing new legislation.
Who benefits
Foster care and adoption service agencies, non-profit organizations specializing in family recruitment (such as Christian Alliance for Orphans, Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, Children's Rights), state child welfare departments seeking federal funding compliance, private licensed foster care family recruitment contractors, family advocacy organizations, kinship care support networks, and youth advocacy groups focused on foster care system reform.
Who pays / loses
State child welfare agencies bear implementation and reporting costs; state legislatures may need to enact enabling legislation; foster parents and adoptive parents already in the system bear the burden of data collection surveys and feedback requests; congregate care facilities (group homes, residential treatment centers) may face reduced utilization if recruitment of family placements increases as intended.
Funding & Lobbying Interests
Child welfare advocacy groups including the Child Welfare Information Gateway, National Foster Parent Association, North American Council on Adoptable Children, and Casey Family Programs have lobbied for improved foster family recruitment and data transparency for years. Private adoption and foster care agencies (licensees) benefit from requirements that drive states toward family-based placements rather than congregate care. States receive Title IV-B and IV-E federal child welfare funding and must comply with these amendments to maintain eligibility.
Political Impact
Affected Groups
Approximately 400,000+ children in U.S. foster care (as of recent HHS data); 150,000+ licensed foster families currently active; families interested in fostering or adopting who may encounter recruitment efforts; kinship caregivers (relatives caring for children); congregate care facilities and their staff; state child welfare agencies (all 50 states); BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) families and youth, who face historical under-recruitment into foster and adoptive family pools despite their representation in the foster care population.
Political Subtext
Proponents argue this bill increases transparency and accountability in foster family recruitment, closing capacity gaps where licensed homes sit empty while children enter congregate care, and ensures demographic matching improves outcomes for children. Proponents cite research showing family-based placements produce better stability and permanency than group homes. Critics could argue the data reporting burden adds state compliance costs without funding increases, and that annual feedback requirements from families may discourage participation. Non-partisan child welfare research (Casey Family Programs, Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative) consistently shows family-based care outperforms congregate settings on stability and permanency metrics, supporting the bill's underlying premise. The emphasis on racial and ethnic recruitment reflects decades of advocacy research showing foster and adoptive parent pools do not reflect children's demographics, contributing to placement instability.
Real-World Stakes
If passed, states will be required to inventory unused foster family capacity and report reasons—likely revealing systemic recruitment, licensing, or training gaps. Congregate care utilization may decline if recruitment improves, affecting residential treatment center staffing and operations. States that fail to develop compliant family partnership plans by October 1, 2027, risk Title IV-B and IV-E federal funding sanctions (which fund most state child welfare operations). The data transparency requirement creates accountability: states must publicly explain why licensed families are not being used and why racial/ethnic recruitment lags. Precedent: similar data transparency requirements in child welfare (e.g., state scorecards on adoption and permanency rates) have led to targeted recruitment initiatives and policy adjustments. The bill does not fund new recruitment programs, meaning implementation costs fall to states, potentially straining agencies already facing budgetary pressure. The racial demographic reporting requirement may expose and pressure states to address documented disparities in family matching.
What's Inside This Bill
Non-obvious provisions not apparent from the headline summary.
Demographic Matching Data Collection and Reporting
States must collect and annually report data on barriers to recruiting foster and adoptive families from specific racial and ethnic backgrounds to match children in the system, potentially requiring states to track and publicly report race-based recruitment outcomes and disparities.
AffectsState child welfare agencies will be required to collect sensitive demographic data and may face federal scrutiny or funding consequences if they cannot demonstrate progress in recruiting families from specific racial/ethnic groups; adoption and foster care agencies may face pressure to implement race-conscious recruitment policies.
Undefined 'Family Partnership Plans' Implementation Requirements
The bill mandates states develop 'family partnership plans' but does not specify detailed minimum standards, allowing the federal government or HHS to define requirements through regulation or guidance, potentially creating unstated compliance obligations.
AffectsStates will need to comply with federal regulatory definitions of acceptable plans that may not be visible in the statute; child welfare agencies may face federal enforcement action based on regulatory standards not established in law.
Annual Congressional Reporting on Adoption Failure Reasons
States must report annually on reasons adoptions fail and families stop fostering, requiring collection and federal reporting of detailed case-level data on family circumstances and satisfaction.
AffectsFoster and adoptive families' personal information about why they discontinued participation may be aggregated and reported to Congress; state agencies must develop new data collection systems to track these outcomes.
October 1, 2027 Compliance Deadline with Limited Flexibility
States must implement by October 1, 2027, or request a delay only if they need new legislation, creating a hard deadline with minimal exemption authority.
AffectsStates with legislative processes that move slowly may struggle to meet the deadline; federal enforcement action could begin immediately after the deadline if states are not in compliance.
Sponsor
Co-sponsors (4)
RSen. Wicker, Roger F. [R-MS]DSen. Hassan, Margaret Wood [D-NH]DSen. Ossoff, Jon [D-GA]DSen. Klobuchar, Amy [D-MN]
Vote Record
No recorded votes.
Campaign Finance — Primary Sponsor
Top contributing industries
Other$251,966.06
Technology$6,847
Finance$1,634.25
Healthcare$488.71
Construction$100
501(c)(4) disclosure: Contributions from 501(c)(4) "dark money" organizations are not required to be publicly disclosed and are not reflected in the figures above. Data sourced from FEC public disclosure filings.
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