Text from SUPPORT Act Section C

Appendix A: Text from SUPPORT Act Section C. 8082

2018 Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and
Treatment (SUPPORT) for Patients and Communities Act (Public Law 115-271)
C. 8082. IMPROVING RECOVERY AND REUNIFYING FAMILIES.
(a) F A MI L Y R E C OV E R Y A N D R E U NI FI CA T I O N P R O G RA M R E P L I CA TI ON
P ROJ E C T .—Section 435 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 629e) is amended by
adding at the end the following:
“(e) F A MI L Y R E C O V E R Y
P ROJ E C T .—

AND

R E UN I F I CA TI ON P R O G RA M R E P L I CA T I ON

“(1) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this subsection is to provide resources to the
Secretary to support the conduct and evaluation of a family recovery and
reunification program replication project (referred to in this subsection as the
‘project’) and to determine the extent to which such programs may be appropriate
for use at different intervention points (such as when a child is at risk of entering
foster care or when a child is living with a guardian while a parent is in treatment).
The family recovery and reunification program conducted under the project shall
use a recovery coach model that is designed to help reunify families and protect
children by working with parents or guardians with a substance use disorder who
have temporarily lost custody of their children.
“(2) PROGRAM COMPONENTS.—The family recovery and reunification
program conducted under the project shall adhere closely to the elements and
protocol determined to be most effective in other recovery coaching programs that
have been rigorously evaluated and shown to increase family reunification and
protect children and, consistent with such elements and protocol, shall provide such
items and services as—
“(A) assessments to evaluate the needs of the parent or guardian;
“(B) assistance in receiving the appropriate benefits to aid the parent or
guardian in recovery;
“(C) services to assist the parent or guardian in prioritizing issues
identified in assessments, establishing goals for resolving such issues that are
consistent with the goals of the treatment provider, child welfare agency,
courts, and other agencies involved with the parent or guardian or their
children, and making a coordinated plan for achieving such goals;
“(D) home visiting services coordinated with the child welfare agency and
treatment provider involved with the parent or guardian or their children;

“(E) case management services to remove barriers for the parent or
guardian to participate and continue in treatment, as well as to re-engage a
parent or guardian who is not participating or progressing in treatment;
“(F) access to services needed to monitor the parent’s or guardian's
compliance with program requirements;
“(G) frequent reporting between the treatment provider, child welfare
agency, courts, and other agencies involved with the parent or guardian or
their children to ensure appropriate information on the parent’s or guardian's
status is available to inform decision-making; and
“(H) assessments and recommendations provided by a recovery coach to
the child welfare caseworker responsible for documenting the parent’s or
guardian's progress in treatment and recovery as well as the status of other
areas identified in the treatment plan for the parent or guardian, including a
recommendation regarding the expected safety of the child if the child is
returned to the custody of the parent or guardian that can be used by the
caseworker and a court to make permanency decisions regarding the child.
“(3) RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE SECRETARY.—
“(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall, through a grant or contract with
1 or more entities, conduct and evaluate the family recovery and reunification
program under the project.
“(B) REQUIREMENTS.—In identifying 1 or more entities to conduct the
evaluation of the family recovery and reunification program, the Secretary
shall—
“(i) determine that the area or areas in which the program will be
conducted have sufficient substance use disorder treatment providers and
other resources (other than those provided with funds made available to
carry out the project) to successfully conduct the program;
“(ii) determine that the area or areas in which the program will be
conducted have enough potential program participants, and will serve a
sufficient number of parents or guardians and their children, so as to allow
for the formation of a control group, evaluation results to be adequately
powered, and preliminary results of the evaluation to be available within 4
years of the program's implementation;
“(iii) provide the entity or entities with technical assistance for the
program design, including by working with 1 or more entities that are or
have been involved in recovery coaching programs that have been
rigorously evaluated and shown to increase family reunification and

protect children so as to make sure the program conducted under the
project adheres closely to the elements and protocol determined to be
most effective in such other recovery coaching programs;
“(iv) assist the entity or entities in securing adequate coaching,
treatment, child welfare, court, and other resources needed to successfully
conduct the family recovery and reunification program under the project;
and
“(v) ensure the entity or entities will be able to monitor the impacts of
the program in the area or areas in which it is conducted for at least 5
years after parents or guardians and their children are randomly assigned
to participate in the program or to be part of the program's control group.
“(4) EVALUATION REQUIREMENTS.—
“(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in consultation with the entity or
entities conducting the family recovery and reunification program under the
project, shall conduct an evaluation to determine whether the program has
been implemented effectively and resulted in improvements for children and
families. The evaluation shall have 3 components: a pilot phase, an impact
study, and an implementation study.
“(B) PILOT PHASE.—The pilot phase component of the evaluation shall
consist of the Secretary providing technical assistance to the entity or entities
conducting the family recovery and reunification program under the project to
ensure—
“(i) the program's implementation adheres closely to the elements and
protocol determined to be most effective in other recovery coaching
programs that have been rigorously evaluated and shown to increase
family reunification and protect children; and
“(ii) random assignment of parents or guardians and their children to
be participants in the program or to be part of the program's control group
is being carried out.
“(C) IMPACT STUDY.—The impact study component of the evaluation
shall determine the impacts of the family recovery and reunification program
conducted under the project on the parents and guardians and their children
participating in the program. The impact study component shall—
“(i) be conducted using an experimental design that uses a random
assignment research methodology;

“(ii) consistent with previous studies of other recovery coaching
programs that have been rigorously evaluated and shown to increase
family reunification and protect children, measure outcomes for parents
and guardians and their children over multiple time periods, including for a
period of 5 years; and
“(iii) include measurements of family stability and parent, guardian,
and child safety for program participants and the program control group
that are consistent with measurements of such factors for participants and
control groups from previous studies of other recovery coaching programs
so as to allow results of the impact study to be compared with the results
of such prior studies, including with respect to comparisons between
program participants and the program control group regarding—
“(I) safe family reunification;
“(II) time to reunification;
“(III) permanency (such as through measures of reunification,
adoption, or placement with guardians);
“(IV) safety (such as through measures of subsequent
maltreatment);
“(V) parental or guardian treatment persistence and engagement;
“(VI) parental or guardian substance use;
“(VII) juvenile delinquency;
“(VIII) cost; and
“(IX) other measurements agreed upon by the Secretary and the
entity or entities operating the family recovery and reunification
program under the project.
“(D) IMPLEMENTATION STUDY.—The implementation study component
of the evaluation shall be conducted concurrently with the conduct of the
impact study component and shall include, in addition to such other information
as the Secretary may determine, descriptions and analyses of—
“(i) the adherence of the family recovery and reunification program
conducted under the project to other recovery coaching programs that
have been rigorously evaluated and shown to increase family reunification
and protect children; and

“(ii) the difference in services received or proposed to be received by
the program participants and the program control group.
“(E) REPORT.—The Secretary shall publish on an internet website
maintained by the Secretary the following information:
“(i) A report on the pilot phase component of the evaluation.
“(ii) A report on the impact study component of the evaluation.
“(iii) A report on the implementation study component of the
evaluation.
“(iv) A report that includes—
“(I) analyses of the extent to which the program has resulted in
increased reunifications, increased permanency, case closures, net
savings to the State or States involved (taking into account both costs
borne by States and the Federal government), or other outcomes, or
if the program did not produce such outcomes, an analysis of why the
replication of the program did not yield such results;
“(II) if, based on such analyses, the Secretary determines the
program should be replicated, a replication plan; and
“(III) such recommendations for legislation and administrative
action as the Secretary determines appropriate.
“(5) APPROPRIATION.—In addition to any amounts otherwise made available
to carry out this subpart, out of any money in the Treasury of the United States not
otherwise appropriated, there are appropriated $15,000,000 for fiscal year 2019 to
carry out the project, which shall remain available through fiscal year 2026.”.