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Title IV — Department of Health and Human Services

S. 1900 · 116th Congress · Jun 19, 2019 · Lineage

IV Department of Health and Human Services

Sec. 401

The Secretary of Health and Human Services (the “Secretary”) shall prioritize use of community-based residential care (including long-term and transitional foster care and small group homes) and shelter care other than large-scale institutional shelter facilities to house unaccompanied alien children in its custody. The Secretary shall prioritize State-licensed and hard-sided dormitories.

Sec. 402

The Office of Refugee Resettlement shall ensure that its grantees and, to the greatest extent practicable, potential sponsors of unaccompanied alien children are aware of current law regarding the use of information collected as part of the sponsor suitability determination process.

Sec. 403

(a)
None of the funds provided by this or any prior appropriations Act may be used to reverse changes in procedures made by operational directives issued to providers by the Office of Refugee Resettlement on December 18, 2018, March 23, 2019, and June 10, 2019 regarding the Memorandum of Agreement on Information Sharing executed April 13, 2018.
(b)
Notwithstanding subsection (a), the Secretary may make changes to such operational directives upon making a determination that such changes are necessary to prevent unaccompanied alien children from being placed in danger, and the Secretary shall provide a written justification to Congress and the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services in advance of implementing such changes.
(c)
Within 15 days of the Secretary’s communication of the justification, the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services shall provide an assessment, in writing, to the Secretary and to Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate of whether such changes to operational directives are necessary to prevent unaccompanied children from being placed in danger.

Sec. 404

None of the funds made available in this Act under the heading “Department of Health and Human Services—Administration for Children and Families—Refugee and Entrant Assistance” may be obligated to a grantee or contractor to house unaccompanied alien children (as such term is defined in section 462(g)(2) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 279(g)(2))) in any facility that is not State-licensed for the care of unaccompanied alien children, except in the case that the Secretary determines that housing unaccompanied alien children in such a facility is necessary on a temporary basis due to an influx of such children or an emergency, provided that—
(1)
the terms of the grant or contract for the operations of any such facility that remains in operation for more than six consecutive months shall require compliance with—
(A)
the same requirements as licensed placements, as listed in Exhibit 1 of the Flores Settlement Agreement that the Secretary determines are applicable to non-State licensed facilities; and
(B)
staffing ratios of one (1) on-duty Youth Care Worker for every eight (8) children or youth during waking hours, one (1) on-duty Youth Care Worker for every sixteen (16) children or youth during sleeping hours, and clinician ratios to children (including mental health providers) as required in grantee cooperative agreements;
(2)
the Secretary may grant a 60-day waiver for a contractor’s or grantee’s non-compliance with paragraph (1) if the Secretary certifies and provides a report to Congress on the contractor’s or grantee’s good-faith efforts and progress towards compliance;
(3)
not more than four consecutive waivers under paragraph (2) may be granted to a contractor or grantee with respect to a specific facility;
(4)
ORR shall ensure full adherence to the monitoring requirements set forth in section 5.5 of its Policies and Procedures Guide as of May 15, 2019;
(5)
for any such unlicensed facility in operation for more than three consecutive months, ORR shall conduct a minimum of one comprehensive monitoring visit during the first three months of operation, with quarterly monitoring visits thereafter; and
(6)
not later than 60 days after the date of enactment of this Act, ORR shall brief the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate outlining the requirements of ORR for influx facilities including any requirement listed in paragraph (1)(A) that the Secretary has determined are not applicable to non-State licensed facilities.

Sec. 405

In addition to the existing Congressional notification for formal site assessments of potential influx facilities, the Secretary shall notify the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate at least 15 days before operationalizing an unlicensed facility, and shall (1) specify whether the facility is hard-sided or soft-sided, and (2) provide analysis that indicates that, in the absence of the influx facility, the likely outcome is that unaccompanied alien children will remain in the custody of the Department of Homeland Security for longer than 72 hours or that unaccompanied alien children will be otherwise placed in danger. Within 60 days of bringing such a facility online, and monthly thereafter, the Secretary shall provide to the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate a report detailing the total number of children in care at the facility, the average length of stay and average length of care of children at the facility, and, for any child that has been at the facility for more than 60 days, their length of stay and reason for delay in release.

Sec. 406

(a)
The Secretary shall ensure that, when feasible, no unaccompanied alien child is at an unlicensed facility if the child—
(1)
is not expected to be placed with a sponsor within 30 days;
(2)
is under the age of 13;
(3)
does not speak English or Spanish as his or her preferred language;
(4)
has known special needs, behavioral health issues, or medical issues that would be better served at an alternative facility;
(5)
is a pregnant or parenting teen; or
(6)
would have a diminution of legal services as a result of the transfer to such an unlicensed facility.
(b)
ORR shall notify a child’s attorney of record in advance of any transfer, where applicable.

Sec. 407

None of the funds made available in this Act may be used to prevent a United States Senator or Member of the House of Representatives from entering, for the purpose of conducting oversight, any facility in the United States used for the purpose of maintaining custody of, or otherwise housing, unaccompanied alien children (as defined in section 462(g)(2) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 279(g)(2))), provided that such Senator or Member has coordinated the oversight visit with the Office of Refugee Resettlement not less than two business days in advance to ensure that such visit would not interfere with the operations (including child welfare and child safety operations) of such facility.

Sec. 408

Not later than 14 days after the date of enactment of this Act, and monthly thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate, and make publicly available online, a report with respect to children who were separated from their parents or legal guardians by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) (regardless of whether or not such separation was pursuant to an option selected by the children, parents, or guardians), subsequently classified as unaccompanied alien children, and transferred to the care and custody of ORR during the previous month. Each report shall contain the following information:
(1)
the number and ages of children so separated subsequent to apprehension at or between ports of entry, to be reported by sector where separation occurred; and
(2)
the documented cause of separation, as reported by DHS when each child was referred.

Sec. 409

Funds made available in this Act under the heading “Department of Health and Human Services—Administration for Children and Families—Refugee and Entrant Assistance” shall be subject to the authorities and conditions of section 224 of division A of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2019 (Public Law 116–6).

Sec. 410

Not later than 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate a detailed spend plan of anticipated uses of funds made available in this account, including the following: a list of existing grants and contracts for both permanent and influx facilities, including their costs, capacity, and timelines; costs for expanding capacity through the use of community-based residential care placements (including long-term and transitional foster care and small group homes) through new or modified grants and contracts; current and planned efforts to expand small-scale shelters and available foster care placements, including collaboration with state child welfare providers; influx facilities being assessed for possible use, costs and services to be provided for legal services, child advocates, and post release services; program administration; and the average number of weekly referrals and discharge rate assumed in the spend plan: Provided, That such plan shall be updated to reflect changes and expenditures and submitted to the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate every 60 days until all funds are expended or expired.