Foster youth get more money and help aging out of care
H.R. 7432 — Fostering the Future Act · Filed by Darin LaHood (R-IL) · 6 cosponsors · Introduced Feb 9, 2026 · Passed chamber
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What it does
The bill lets foster youth start getting help at age 14 instead of 16. It raises education money from $5,000 to $12,000 per youth. States must help with housing, legal advice, and case management. The bill also covers young people who are parents or expecting babies. States must make it easier to apply and work with housing agencies.
Who it affects
Foster youth aging out gain more education money and housing help. They also get legal support. States must set up new services and coordinate with housing agencies.
One thing to notice
States decide what counts as remedial education. States also decide how long youth can stay in programs. The bill does not say where money for parenting youth services will come from.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
6 cosponsors: 4 Republicans, 2 Democrats.
- Feb 9, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Feb 9, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Financial Services and House Committee on Ways and Means · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Financial Services, for a…”
- Apr 29, 2026 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
- Apr 29, 2026 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported in the Nature of a Substitute by the Yeas and Nays: 40 - 0”
- May 19, 2026 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H3558-3560)”
- May 19, 2026 — Floor vote scheduled · Congress.gov: “Mr. Smith (MO) moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 groups reported lobbying about this bill. They filed 1 reports from Jun 2026 to Jun 2026.
Those reports show $30,000 in lobbying spending. Each report lists about 6 bills. So that money was not all for this bill.
More groups named this bill than 0% of bills with any report.
Darin LaHood, who sponsored the bill, received $1,879,841 from PACs for the 2026 election.
- Washoe County — $30,000 in 1 report
Lobbying is legal. These reports show who lobbied about this bill, not what changed.
Words to know
- foster youth — Children in the care of the government because they cannot live with their parents
- aging out — Turning too old to stay in foster care, usually at age 18
- case management — A person who helps a youth plan for housing, school, and other needs
- remedial education — Classes that help students catch up in reading, math, or other basic skills
- lobbying — Trying to influence lawmakers about a bill. Companies and groups pay people to do this.
- PACs — Groups that collect money and give it to candidates for office.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (16,164 characters) on Jul 2, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,939 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 18, 2026 · page rendered 2026-11-06.
“Foster youth get more money and help aging out of care” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr7432/simple Report an error
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