Bill · S. 2902· Senate(119-S-2902)
Hidden Foster Care Transparency Act
- Introduced
- 9/18/2025
- Last activity
- 9/18/2025 — Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
- Sponsored by
- John Cornyn
- Cosponsors
- - 0 - 1
- Introduced
- In Committee
What this bill would do
The Hidden Foster Care Transparency Act requires States to track and report data on "hidden foster care arrangements." These are situations where children are separated from parents without a court order or State responsibility for the child's placement. States must provide this data to the Secretary of Health and Human Services as a condition for receiving certain federal funds. The Secretary will then create and publicly release an annual report to Congress. This process aims to provide a national picture of how these informal separations are handled.
Yes· 3 of 5
Does this make what the government does easier for the public to see?+8
Requires public reporting of hidden foster care arrangements to increase oversight.
Would children be better off under this?+7
Increases visibility and tracking of children in informal separations without court oversight.
Does this protect the right to fair treatment by the courts?+6
Tracks and highlights separations occurring without court orders, encouraging better legal oversight.
The opposite
Does this leave more decisions to the states?-3
States must comply with federal reporting requirements to avoid losing funding.
Who it would affect, and how
Potential Positive Impacts for People
-
Increased Transparency: The bill requires the Secretary to make reports submitted to Congress publicly available, which allows the public to see how many children are in hidden foster care arrangements (Section 4(b)(3)(B)).
-
Accountability for Legal Representation: States must report how many parents were provided legal counsel or referred to legal services before or within 72 hours of a hidden foster care arrangement (Section 3(7)).
-
Tracking Support Services: The bill requires reporting on the specific services provided to parents, children, and kinship caregivers, as well as referrals to kinship navigator programs and prevention services (Section 3(5) and Section 3(10)).
-
Monitoring Duration of Separation: The bill mandates tracking the length of time children are in these arrangements, specifically those staying more than 90 days without court orders addressing custody (Section 3(8)).
Potential Negative Impacts for People
- Financial Risk to States: Because reporting this data is a "condition for payment of funds" under part E of title IV of the Social Security Act, States that fail to comply could lose federal funding (Section 3).
Groups and Interests Ranking
Every group the model scored this bill for, from -10 to +10. Hover a score for the reason it gave.
- Governance And Ideology
- Improves Government Transparency+8Improves Due Process+6Increases Federal Power+5Increase States Rights-3
- Demographic And Interest Groups
- Good For Children+7Good For Low Income Households+4
- 9/18/2025
- Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
- 1 Cosponsor added.
- Introduced in Senate
One bill Congress.gov lists as related to this one — companions in the other chamber, earlier versions, and bills this one absorbed or was folded into.
Jon OssoffDemocrat · Georgia