Sec. 304. Planning for emergencies and influxes

365 words·~2 min read·/bill/117/s/4529/is/section-304

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Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director shall develop a plan for— maintaining and expanding emergency capacity in licensed foster care homes and small congregate care facilities for housing unaccompanied noncitizen children so as to eliminate the need for influx facilities; and in the case of an emergency or influx, placing unaccompanied noncitizen children with sponsors as expeditiously as possible. The Director shall develop and maintain a supplemental placement list of facilities that have, in the aggregate, not fewer than 200 beds available to accept unaccompanied noncitizen children in the case of an emergency or influx, which shall be in addition to the number of beds available for placements under normal circumstances.

Any facility on the supplemental placement list shall be— licensed in the State in which it is located; and in compliance with all standards and procedures applicable to State-licensed programs under this Act. The supplemental placement list shall include, for each facility, the following: The name of the facility. The number of beds available in the facility in the case of an emergency or influx. The name and telephone number of 1 or more contact persons, including a contact person for nights, holidays, and weekends.

Any limitation on categories of child the facility may accept, such as age categories. A description of any special service available. To the extent practicable, the Director shall attempt to include on the supplemental placement list facilities located in geographic areas in which culturally and linguistically appropriate community services are available. If the operational capacity of all childcare facilities and foster care placements reaches or exceeds 75 percent for a period of 3 consecutive days, the Director shall contact the facilities on the supplemental placement list to determine the number of available supplemental placements.

If the number of unaccompanied noncitizen children in need of placement in the case of an emergency or influx exceeds the available appropriate placements on the supplemental placement list, the Director shall— locate additional placements through State-licensed programs and nonprofit child and family services agencies providing placement services; and expedite the reunification and release of unaccompanied noncitizen children from U.S. Customs and Border Protection custody.