US HB579

Requires states to develop "family partnership plans" for identifying, recruiting, screening, licensing, supporting, and retaining foster and adoptive families, with input from birth families, kinship families, foster/adoptive families, service providers, and youth with lived foster care experience

Mandates states report annually on foster family capacity, including demographics and characteristics of licensed foster families, number of families not receiving placements and reasons why, and data on children in congregate care both in-state and out-of-state

Requires states to analyze and report on barriers to recruiting families that reflect the racial and ethnic backgrounds of children in foster care, and describe efforts to overcome those barriers

Adds new requirements to the annual Child Welfare Outcomes Report to Congress starting fiscal year 2025, including state-by-state data on foster and adoptive families and summaries of challenges to recruitment and retention

Takes effect October 1, 2026, with delayed compliance permitted for states requiring legislative changes to implement the new requirements