Child Welfare Oversight and Accountability Act of 2017

This bill address foster care services in state child welfare programs, including the use of private, for-profit foster care services.

Specifically, the bill:

• supports states placing children with family members, including by providing financial support to states for all children placed with family members, not just children removed from poor families;
• expands oversight of state child welfare systems, including by requiring states to annually review child fatalities from maltreatment;
• establishes workload and training standards for child welfare workers;
• requires states to assess and report to the Department of Health and Human Services on the performance of foster care providers; and
• gives an individual who is or was a child in foster care the right to seek relief in civil court if a state fails to meet certain case plan and case review requirements.