II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1067

To promote the adoption of children with special needs.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MAY 18 (legislative day, MAY 14), 1999

Mr. ROCKEFELLER (for himself, Mr. CHAFEE, Mr. DEWINE, Ms. COLLINS,

Ms. LANDRIEU, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. MOYNIHAN, Mr. KERREY, Mr. DORGAN,

Mr. CONRAD, Mr. INOUYE, Mr. BREAUX, Mr. DURBIN, and Mr.

TORRICELLI) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

A BILL

To promote the adoption of children with special needs.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Adoption Equality Act

5 of 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. PROMOTION OF ADOPTION OF CHILDREN WITH

7 SPECIAL NEEDS.

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 473(a) of the Social Secu9 rity Act (42 U.S.C. 673(a)) is amended by striking para10 graph (2) and inserting the following:
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1 ‘‘(2)(A) For purposes of paragraph (1)(B)(ii), a child

2 meets the requirements of this paragraph if such child—

3 ‘‘(i)(I) at the time of termination of parental

4 rights was in the care of a public or licensed private

5 child placement agency or Indian tribal organization

6 pursuant to a voluntary placement agreement, relin7 quishment, or involuntary removal of the child from

8 the home, and the State has determined, pursuant

9 to criteria established by the State (which may, but

10 need not, include a judicial determination), that con11 tinuation in the home would be contrary to the safe12 ty or welfare of such child;

13 ‘‘(II) meets all medical or disability require14 ments of title XVI with respect to eligibility for sup15 plemental security income benefits; or

16 ‘‘(III) was residing in a foster family home or

17 child care institution with the child’s minor parent

18 (pursuant to a voluntary placement agreement, relin19 quishment, or involuntary removal of the child from

20 the home, and the State has determined, pursuant

21 to criteria established by the State (which may, but

22 need not, include judicial determination), that con23 tinuation in the home would be contrary to the safe24 ty or welfare of such child); and
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1 ‘‘(ii) has been determined by the State, pursu2 ant to subsection (c), to be a child with special

3 needs, which needs shall be considered by the State,

4 together with the circumstances of the adopting par5 ents, in determining the amount of any payments to

6 be made to the adopting parents.

7 ‘‘(B) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, and

8 except as provided in paragraph (7), a child who is not

9 a citizen or resident of the United States and who meets

10 the requirements of subparagraph (A) shall be treated as

11 meeting the requirements of this paragraph for purposes

12 of paragraph (1)(B)(ii).

13 ‘‘(C) A child who meets the requirements of subpara14 graph (A), who was determined eligible for adoption as15 sistance payments under this part with respect to a prior

16 adoption (or who would have been determined eligible for

17 such payments had the Adoption and Safe Families Act

18 of 1997 been in effect at the time that such determination

19 would have been made), and who is available for adoption

20 because the prior adoption has been dissolved and the pa21 rental rights of the adoptive parents have been terminated

22 or because the child’s adoptive parents have died, shall be

23 treated as meeting the requirements of this paragraph for

24 purposes of paragraph (1)(B)(ii).’’.
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1 (b) EXCEPTION.—Section 473(a) of the Social Secu2 rity Act (42 U.S.C. 673(a)) is amended by adding at the

3 end the following:

4 ‘‘(7)(A) Notwithstanding any other provision of this

5 subsection, no payment may be made to parents with re6 spect to any child that—

7 ‘‘(i) would be considered a child with special

8 needs under subsection (c);

9 ‘‘(ii) is not a citizen or resident of the United

10 States; and

11 ‘‘(iii) was adopted outside of the United States

12 or was brought into the United States for the pur13 pose of being adopted.

14 ‘‘(B) Subparagraph (A) shall not be construed as pro15 hibiting payments under this part for a child described

16 in subparagraph (A) that is placed in foster care subse17 quent to the failure, as determined by the State, of the

18 initial adoption of such child by the parents described in

19 such subparagraph.’’.

20 (c) REQUIREMENT FOR USE OF STATE SAVINGS.—

21 Section 473(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.

22 673(a)), as amended by subsection (b), is amended by

23 adding at the end the following:

24 ‘‘(8) A State shall spend an amount equal to the

25 amount of savings (if any) in State expenditures under
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1 this part resulting from the application of paragraph (2)

2 on and after the effective date of the amendment to such

3 paragraph made by section 2(a) of the Adoption Equality

4 Act of 1999 to provide to children or families any service

5 (including post-adoption services) that may be provided

6 under this part or part B.’’.

7 (d) DETERMINATION OF A CHILD WITH SPECIAL

8 NEEDS.—Section 473(c) of the Social Security Act (42

9 U.S.C. 673(c)) is amended to read as follows:

10 ‘‘(c) For purposes of this section, a child shall not

11 be considered a child with special needs unless—

12 ‘‘(1)(A) the State has determined, pursuant to

13 a criteria established by the State (which may or

14 may not include a judicial determination), that the

15 child cannot or should not be returned to the home

16 of his parents; or

17 ‘‘(B) the child meets all medical or disability re18 quirements of title XVI with respect to eligibility for

19 supplemental security income benefits; and

20 ‘‘(2) the State has determined—

21 ‘‘(A) that there exists with respect to the

22 child a specific factor or condition (such as eth23 nic background, age, or membership in a minor24 ity or sibling group, or the presence of factors

25 such as medical conditions or physical, mental,
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1 or emotional handicaps) because of which it is

2 reasonable to conclude that the child cannot be

3 placed with adoptive parents without providing

4 adoption assistance under this section and med5 ical assistance under title XIX; and

6 ‘‘(B) that except where it would be against

7 the best interests of the child because of such

8 factors as the existence of significant emotional

9 ties with prospective adoptive parents while in

10 the care of such parents as a foster child, a rea11 sonable, but unsuccessful, effort has been made

12 to place the child with appropriate adoptive

13 parents without providing adoption assistance

14 under this section or medical assistance under

15 title XIX.’’.

16 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by

17 this section shall take effect on October 1, 1999.

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