I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7664 

To amend parts B and E of title IV of the Social Security Act to expand 

nondiscrimination protections for children and families and offer greater 

flexibility to States before petitioning to terminate parental rights, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 13, 2024 

Ms. KAMLAGER-DOVE (for herself and Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To amend parts B and E of title IV of the Social Security 

Act to expand nondiscrimination protections for children 

and families and offer greater flexibility to States before 

petitioning to terminate parental rights, and for other 

purposes. 

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 ‘‘21st Century Children 

5 and Families Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. EXPANSION OF NONDISCRIMINATION PROTEC2 TIONS FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES IN 

3 ADOPTION AND FOSTER CARE PLACEMENT. 

4 (a) STATE PLAN REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO

5 ADOPTION AND FOSTER CARE PLACEMENT.—Section 

6 471(a)(18) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 

7 671(a)(18)) is amended to read as follows: 

8 ‘‘(18) provides that— 

9 ‘‘(A) neither the State nor any other entity 

10 in the State that receives funds from the Fed11 eral Government and is involved in adoption or 

12 foster care placements may— 

13 ‘‘(i) deny to any person the oppor14 tunity to become an adoptive or a foster 

15 parent, on the basis of the race, color, sex 

16 (including sexual orientation, gender iden17 tity, and gender expression), religion, or 

18 national origin of the person, or of the 

19 child, involved; 

20 ‘‘(ii) delay or deny the provision of 

21 foster care prevention support and services, 

22 family preservation or reunification serv23 ices, kinship supports, or adoption or 

24 guardianship subsidies to children, parents 

25 or kin caregivers on the basis of the race, 

26 color, sex (including sexual orientation, 


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1 gender identity, and gender expression), 

2 religion, or national origin of the parent, 

3 kin caregiver, or of the child, involved; or 

4 ‘‘(iii) significantly delay or deny the 

5 placement of a child for adoption or into 

6 foster care, or otherwise discriminate in 

7 making a placement decision solely on the 

8 basis of the race, color, sex (including sex9 ual orientation, gender identity, and gen10 der expression), religion, or national origin 

11 of the adoptive or foster parent, or the 

12 child, involved; and 

13 ‘‘(B) an agency or entity to which subpara14 graph (A) applies— 

15 ‘‘(i) may consider, among the factors 

16 used to determine the best interests of the 

17 child, the capacity of the prospective foster 

18 or adoptive parents to affirm the cultural, 

19 ethnic, sexual orientation, gender identity, 

20 gender expression, racial, or religious back21 ground of the child; and 

22 ‘‘(ii) when requested by the child or a 

23 parent of the child, shall consider, among 

24 the factors used to determine the best in25 terests of the child— 


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1 ‘‘(I) the cultural, ethnic, sexual 

2 orientation, gender identity, gender 

3 expression, racial, or religious back4 ground of the child; and 

5 ‘‘(II) the capacity of the prospec6 tive foster or adoptive parents to af7 firm the identities of the child;’’. 

8 (b) STATE PLAN REQUIREMENT RELATING TO PRO9 VISION OF CHILD WELFARE SERVICES.—Section 

10 422(b)(7) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 622(b)(7)) is amended 

11 by inserting ‘‘substantiate with clear and convincing data 

12 and analysis that the child welfare agency is addressing 

13 disproportionality in the State child welfare system, and 

14 disparities in access to community-based services, array, 

15 and contracting; and’’ before ‘‘provide’’. 

16 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—The amendments made by 

18 this section shall take effect on the 1st day of the 

19 1st fiscal year beginning on or after the date of the 

20 enactment of this Act, and shall apply to payments 

21 under subpart 1 of part B and part E of title IV 

22 of the Social Security Act for calendar quarters be23 ginning on or after such date. 

24 (2) DELAY PERMITTED IF STATE LEGISLATION

25 REQUIRED.—If the Secretary of Health and Human 


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1 Services determines that State legislation (other 

2 than legislation appropriating funds) is required in 

3 order for a State plan developed pursuant to subpart 

4 1 of part B or part E of title IV of the Social Secu5 rity Act to meet the additional requirements imposed 

6 by the amendments made by this section, the plan 

7 shall not be regarded as failing to meet any of the 

8 additional requirements before the 1st day of the 1st 

9 calendar quarter beginning after the first regular 

10 session of the State legislature that begins after the 

11 date of the enactment of this Act. For purposes of 

12 the preceding sentence, if the State has a 2-year leg13 islative session, each year of the session is deemed 

14 to be a separate regular session of the State legisla15 ture. 

16 (3) APPLICATION TO PROGRAMS OPERATED BY

17 INDIAN TRIBAL ORGANIZATIONS.—In the case of an 

18 Indian tribe, tribal organization, or tribal consortium 

19 which the Secretary of Health and Human Services 

20 determines requires time to take action necessary to 

21 comply with the additional requirements imposed by 

22 the amendments made by this section (whether the 

23 tribe, organization, or tribal consortium has a plan 

24 under section 479B of the Social Security Act or a 

25 cooperative agreement or contract entered into with 


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1 a State), the Secretary shall provide the tribe, orga2 nization, or tribal consortium with such additional 

3 time as the Secretary determines is necessary for the 

4 tribe, organization, or tribal consortium to take the 

5 action to comply with the additional requirements 

6 before being regarded as failing to comply with the 

7 requirements. 

8 SEC. 3. GREATER FLEXIBILITY FOR STATES BEFORE PETI9 TIONING TO MODIFY PARENTAL RIGHTS. 

10 Section 475(5)(E) of the Social Security Act (42 

11 U.S.C. 675(5)(E)) is amended— 

12 (1) by striking ‘‘15 of the most recent 22 

13 months’’ and inserting ‘‘24 consecutive months and 

14 who is not in the care of kin (including fictive kin), 

15 the State may consider filing or joining a petition 

16 for modification or termination of parental rights 

17 only after demonstrating by clear and convincing 

18 evidence that the State has provided to the family of 

19 the child such services, supports, and time needed to 

20 address the reasons for foster care and enable the 

21 family to safely reunify, and by demonstrating com22 pelling reasons why the modification or termination 

23 is in the best interest of the child, and if the child 

24 is living with a kinship (including fictive kinship) 

25 caregiver, the State agency shall provide a meaningVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:17 Mar 20, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7664.IH H7664

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1 ful opportunity for the kinship (including fictive kin2 ship) caregiver to express whether modification or 

3 termination is or is not in the best interests of the 

4 child and shall document such in the case plan of 

5 the child’’; 

6 (2) by striking clause (i) and redesignating 

7 clauses (ii) and (iii) as clauses (i) and (ii), respec8 tively; 

9 (3) in clause (ii) (as so redesignated by para10 graph (2) of this section), by striking the semicolon 

11 and inserting a comma; and 

12 (4) by inserting after and below clause (ii) (as 

13 so redesignated) the following: 

14 ‘‘except that, in the case of a child to whom 

15 this subparagraph applies solely because the 

16 child has been in foster care under the responsi17 bility of the State for 24 consecutive months 

18 and is not in the care of kin (including fictive 

19 kin), the State may not file or join such a peti20 tion if a parent of the child is actively engaged 

21 in services to address the reasons the child en22 tered care (including treatment for substance 

23 use disorder, mental health concerns, or par24 enting skills), if based principally on the incar25 ceration of a parent, or if based principally on 


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1 the detention of the parent by the Department 

2 of Homeland Security or the deportation of the 

3 parent;’’. 

4 SEC. 4. EXPANSION OF PURPOSES OF COURT IMPROVE5 MENT PROGRAM. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 438 of the Social Security 

7 Act (42 U.S.C. 629h) is amended— 

8 (1) in subsection (a)(2)— 

9 (A) in the matter preceding subparagraph 

10 (A), by striking ‘‘state’’ and inserting ‘‘State’’; 

11 (B) in subparagraph (A)— 

12 (i) by inserting ‘‘and their families’’ 

13 before ‘‘in a timely and complete manner’’; 

14 and 

15 (ii) by striking ‘‘, as set forth in the 

16 Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 

17 (Public Law 105–89), including the re18 quirements in the Act related to concur19 rent planning’’; 

20 (C) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

21 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

22 (D) in subparagraph (C), by striking the 

23 period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

24 (E) by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(D) to increase access to high quality 

2 legal representation at all stages of a child wel3 fare case for all parties to the case, including 

4 the children, the parents of the children, and, 

5 where applicable, kinship care providers and In6 dian tribes.’’; and 

7 (2) by striking subsection (b) and inserting the 

8 following: 

9 ‘‘(b) APPLICATIONS.—In order to be eligible to re10 ceive a grant under this section, a highest State court shall 

11 have in effect a rule requiring State courts to ensure that 

12 foster parents, pre-adoptive parents, and kinship (includ13 ing fictive kinship) caregivers of a child in foster care 

14 under the responsibility of the State are notified of any 

15 proceeding to be held with respect to the child, shall pro16 vide for the training of judicial officers, attorneys, and 

17 court and child welfare staff in child welfare cases on Fed18 eral child welfare policies and payment limitations with re19 spect to children in foster care who are placed in settings 

20 that are not a foster family home, and shall submit to 

21 the Secretary an application at such time, in such form, 

22 and including such information and assurances as the Sec23 retary may require, including— 

24 ‘‘(1) a description of how courts and child wel25 fare agencies on the local and State levels will use 


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1 not less than 30 percent of grant funds to collabo2 rate and jointly plan for the collection and sharing 

3 of all relevant data and information to demonstrate 

4 how improved case tracking and analysis of child 

5 abuse and neglect cases will produce safe and timely 

6 permanency decisions; 

7 ‘‘(2) a demonstration that a portion of the 

8 grant will be used for cross-training initiatives that 

9 are jointly planned and executed with the State 

10 agency or any other agency under contract with the 

11 State to administer the State program under the 

12 State plan under subpart 1, the State plan approved 

13 under section 434, or the State plan approved under 

14 part E; 

15 ‘‘(3) a demonstration that a portion of the 

16 grant will be used to develop and implement, on an 

17 ongoing and regular basis, training for judicial offi18 cers, attorneys, and court and child welfare staff on 

19 race, culture, and equity, and, in the development 

20 and implementation of that training, will include 

21 current and former foster children, parents who have 

22 experienced child removals by State child welfare 

23 agencies, and kinship (including fictive kinship) care 

24 providers; and 


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1 ‘‘(4) a demonstration of meaningful and ongo2 ing collaboration among the courts in the State, the 

3 State agency or any other agency under contract 

4 with the State who is responsible for administering 

5 the State program under part B or E, and, where 

6 applicable, Indian tribes.’’. 

7 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

8 subsection (a) of this section shall take effect on October 

9 1, 2024. 

Æ 


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