Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Forgotten Families Recovery Act of 2017”.
Forgotten Families Recovery Act of 2017
A BILL
To prioritize, in certain substance abuse prevention, treatment, and recovery programs, the treatment and recovery of addicted minors, and individuals responsible for the care of dependent minors who are at risk of entering the foster care system.
Sec. 2 Sense of Congress on prioritizing rural families and at-risk youth within substance abuse prevention programs
Findings— The Congress finds as follows:
Behavioral health and detoxification (detox) services are not as readily available in rural communities. For those that are available, their range of services is frequently limited.
Patients who require treatment for substance abuse may need to travel long distances to access these services.
Rural first responders or the rural hospital emergency room (ER) staff may have limited experience in providing care to a patient presenting the physical effects of a drug overdose.
Law enforcement and prevention programs may be spread sparsely over large rural geographic areas.
According to a 2012 study published by the Maine Rural Health Research Center, alcohol use and binge drinking are more common among rural youth aged 12 to 13 than among urban youth the same age.
Rural adolescents reported higher rates of binge drinking and driving under the influence (DUI) than urban adolescents.
A 2014 JAMA Psychiatry article concluded that heroin users entering treatment over the past 50 years have demonstrated a changing geographical composition, with an increasing percentage in more recent years arriving from communities outside of large urban areas.
Sense of congress— It is the sense of Congress that the Secretary of Health and Human Services, in carrying out substance abuse prevention, treatment, and recovery programs, should prioritize appropriate funding for activities within rural populations, especially those with high rates of substance abuse among families, or high rates of dependent minors at risk of entering the foster care system.
Sec. 3 Priority for the treatment and recovery of addicted minors, and individuals responsible for the care of dependent minors who are at risk of entering the foster care system
Section 516(b)(2) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 290bb–22(b)(2)) is amended—
in subparagraph (B), by striking “and” at the end;
by redesignating subparagraph (C) as subparagraph (D); and
by inserting after subparagraph (B) the following:
“(C) promoting the treatment and recovery of addicted minors, and individuals responsible for the care of dependent minors who are at risk of entering the foster care system; and”