Senators Portman and Baldwin Lead Bipartisan Effort to Improve Family Care Services for America's Most Vulnerable Youth

Press Release

U.S. Senators Rob Portman (R-OH) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) today, introduced bipartisan legislation to improve home-based health and mental health services for thousands of America's most vulnerable youth. The Family-Based Care Services Act increases access to quality care by clarifying Medicaid policy that directly affects children, including foster children, with special behavioral health needs and/or medical disabilities, as well as vulnerable children living with kinship and biological caregivers. Original cosponsors included Senators Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Roy Blunt (R-MO).

"This commonsense bill will allow vulnerable children to have better access to high-quality foster care," said Senator Portman. "By improving health care and mental health services for kids with unique needs, we will provide a sense of stability for these children and better equip foster parents to care for them."

"Our bipartisan legislation will improve health care and mental health services for some of the most vulnerable youths in our country and ensures that effective, community-based options are available to our families who need it most," said Senator Baldwin. "By strengthening access to supports for families and foster families to care for children's unique needs, we can help grow strong families and help vulnerable young people find some stability in their home life, often for the very first time."

Therapeutic Family Care, often referred to as "Treatment /Therapeutic Foster Care" or TFC, is the evidence-informed, trauma-informed, and highly effective placement of children and youth with serious medical, psychological, emotional and social needs. In TFC care, foster parents as well as other parents and caregivers are given special training to address the needs of youths with major mental health challenges and children receive intensive in-home services to sustain them in the community. Kinship and biological families may also receive TFC training to care for their youth to help avoid out-of -home care, to support kinship placements and sustain strong family homes.

TFC provides critical services to approximately 45,000 foster children across the country. The intervention works to keep its particularly vulnerable youth out of costly and often ineffective institutional care. In addition, it provides needed clinical therapy options to youth in lieu of overmedication.

Despite the clear benefits of TFC, current law does not provide for a standard definition of TFC under Medicaid. Though TFC services are provided across the country--and are reimbursed under Medicaid and other child welfare funding streams--the lack of a federal standard definition impairs TFC quality and access. The Family-Based Services Act fixes this problem by establishing a federal Medicaid definition for TFC. This commonsense clarification will promote accountability for states offering TFC, identify financing options, and drive personnel training and standards.

Ohio has long offered a treatment foster care model for vulnerable foster youth who have been impacted by complex trauma, intensive mental health needs, and medically fragile conditions. Pressley Ridge, located in Cincinnati, works with children and foster care to provide a haven for safety, renewal, and return. Pressley Ridge works with foster parents, therapists, and caseworkers to provide services that help children thrive with intensive, individualized treatment within a safe, supportive, and nurturing home environment. This kind of evidence-based practice ensures that children and youth receive the services and support they need to enhance their overall quality of life.

The legislation is endorsed by a significant number of national children's and mental health organizations, including: The Foster Family-based Treatment Association, the Children's Defense Fund, Generations United, Child Welfare League of America, National Foster Care Coalition, First Focus Campaign for Children, KidsPeace, the Bair Foundation, the Alliance for Strong Families and Communities, the Children's Leadership Council, National Council for Behavioral Health, and Voice for Adoption.

Senators Portman and Baldwin introduced a similar bill, the Family-Based Foster Care Services Act, during the last Congress in 2015. Bipartisan companion legislation has been introduced in the House of Representatives (H.R. 2290) by Representatives Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Tom Cole (R-OK), Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) and Diana DeGette (D-CO).

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