I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1263

To establish a program that would assist abandoned and medically fragile

infants.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 16, 1995

Mr. PAYNE of New Jersey introduced the following bill; which was referred

to the Committee on Economic and Educational Opportunities

A BILL

To establish a program that would assist abandoned and

medically fragile infants.

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 ‘‘Abandoned and Medi5 cally Fragile Infants Assistance Act of 1995’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress finds that—

8 (1) throughout the Nation, the number of in9 fants and young children who have been exposed to
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1 drugs taken by their mothers during pregnancy has

2 increased dramatically;

3 (2) the inability of parents who abuse drugs to

4 provide adequate care for such infants and young

5 children and a lack of suitable shelter homes for

6 such infants and young children have led to the

7 abandonment of such infants and young children in

8 hospitals for extended periods;

9 (3) an unacceptable number of these infants

10 and young children will be medically cleared for dis11 charge, yet remain in hospitals as boarder babies;

12 (4) hospital-based child care for these infants

13 and young children is extremely costly and deprives

14 them of an adequate nurturing environment;

15 (5) training is inadequate for foster care per16 sonnel working with medically fragile infants and

17 young children and infants and young children ex18 posed to drugs;

19 (6) a particularly devastating development is

20 the increase in the number of infants and young

21 children who are infected with the human

22 immunodeficiency virus (which is believed to cause

23 acquired immune deficiency syndrome and which is

24 commonly known as HIV) or who have been
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1 perinatally exposed to the virus or to a dangerous

2 drug;

3 (7) many such infants and young children have

4 at least one parent who is an intravenous drug

5 abuser;

6 (8) such infants and young children are par7 ticularly difficult to place in foster homes, and are

8 being abandoned in hospitals in increasing numbers

9 by mothers dying of acquired immune deficiency

10 syndrome, or by parents incapable of providing ade11 quate care;

12 (9) there is a need for comprehensive services

13 for such infants and young children, including foster

14 family care services, case management services, fam15 ily support services, respite and crisis intervention

16 services, counseling services, and group residential

17 home services;

18 (10) there is a need to support the families of

19 such infants and young children through the provi20 sion of services that will prevent the abandonment of

21 the infants and children; and

22 (11) there is a need for the development of

23 funding strategies that coordinate and make the op24 timal use of all private resources, and Federal,
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1 State, and local resources, to establish and maintain

2 such services.

3 SEC. 3. GRANTS FOR PROJECTS REGARDING ABANDON4 MENT OF INFANTS AND YOUNG CHILDREN IN

5 HOSPITALS.

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and

7 Human Services may make grants to public and nonprofit

8 private entities for the purpose of developing, implement9 ing, and operating projects—

10 (1) to prevent the abandonment of infants and

11 young children, including the provision of services to

12 members of the natural family for any condition that

13 increases the probability of abandonment of an in14 fant or young child;

15 (2) to identify and address the needs of aban16 doned infants and young children;

17 (3) to assist abandoned infants and young chil18 dren to reside with their natural families or in foster

19 care, as appropriate;

20 (4) to recruit, train, and retain foster families

21 for abandoned infants and young children;

22 (5) to carry out residential care programs for

23 abandoned infants and young children who are un24 able to reside with their families or to be placed in

25 foster care;
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1 (6) to carry out programs of respite care for

2 families and foster families of infants and young

3 children described in subsection (b);

4 (7) to recruit and train health and social serv5 ices personnel to work with families, foster care fam6 ilies, and residential care programs for abandoned

7 infants and young children; and

8 (8) to prevent the abandonment of infants and

9 young children, and to care for the infants and

10 young children who have been abandoned, through

11 model programs providing health, educational, and

12 social services at a single site in a geographic area

13 in which a significant number of infants and young

14 children described in subsection (b) reside (with spe15 cial consideration given to applications from entities

16 that will provide the services of the project through

17 community-based organizations).

18 (b) PRIORITY IN PROVISION OF SERVICES.—The Sec19 retary may not make a grant under subsection (a) unless

20 the applicant for the grant agrees that, in carrying out

21 the purpose described in subsection (a) (other than with

22 respect to paragraph (6) of such subsection), the applicant

23 will give priority to abandoned infants and young chil24 dren—
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1 (1) who are infected with the human

2 immunodeficiency virus or who have been perinatally

3 exposed to the virus; or

4 (2) who have been perinatally exposed to a dan5 gerous drug.

6 (c) CASE PLAN WITH RESPECT TO FOSTER CARE.—

7 The Secretary may not make a grant under subsection (a)

8 unless the applicant for the grant agrees that, if the appli9 cant expends the grant to carry out any program of pro10 viding care to infants and young children in foster homes

11 or in other nonmedical residential settings away from their

12 parents, the applicant will ensure that—

13 (1) a case plan of the type described in para14 graph (1) of section 475 of the Social Security Act

15 is developed for each such infant and young child (to

16 the extent that such infant and young child is not

17 otherwise covered by such a plan); and

18 (2) the program includes a case review system

19 of the type described in paragraph (5) of such sec20 tion (covering each such infant and young child who

21 is not otherwise subject to such a system).

22 (d) ADMINISTRATION OF GRANT.—

23 (1) The Secretary may not make a grant under

24 subsection (a) unless the applicant for the grant

25 agrees—
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1 (A) to use the funds provided under this

2 section only for the purposes specified in the

3 application submitted to, and approved by, the

4 Secretary pursuant to subsection (e);

5 (B) to establish such fiscal control and

6 fund accounting procedures as may be nec7 essary to ensure proper disbursement and ac8 counting of Federal funds paid to the applicant

9 under this section; and

10 (C) to report to the Secretary annually on

11 the utilization, cost, and outcome of activities

12 conducted, and services furnished, under this

13 section.

14 (e) REQUIREMENT OF APPLICATION.—The Secretary

15 may not make a grant under subsection (a) unless—

16 (1) an application for the grant is submitted to

17 the Secretary;

18 (2) with respect to carrying out the purpose for

19 which the grant is to be made, the application pro20 vides assurances of compliance satisfactory to the

21 Secretary; and

22 (3) the application otherwise is in such form, is

23 made in such manner, and contains such agree24 ments, assurances, and information as the Secretary

25 determines to be necessary to carry out this section.
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1 SEC. 4. GRANTS TO PROVIDE NURTURING HOME ENVIRON2 MENTS AND FAMILY-CENTERED SERVICES

3 FOR MEDICALLY FRAGILE INFANTS.

4 The Secretary may make grants to public and non5 profit entities for the purposes of developing, implement6 ing, or operating—

7 (1) programs and activities to prevent the medi8 cal neglect of disabled infants with life-threatening

9 conditions;

10 (2) information, education, and training pro11 grams designed to improve the provision of services

12 to disabled infants with life-threatening conditions

13 for—

14 (A) professional and paraprofessional per15 sonnel concerned with the welfare of disabled

16 infants with life-threatening conditions, includ17 ing personnel employed in child protective serv18 ices programs and health care facilities; and

19 (B) the parents of such infants; and

20 (3) programs to assist in obtaining or coordi21 nating necessary services for families of disabled in22 fants with life-threatening conditions, including—

23 (A) existing social and health services;

24 (B) financial assistance; and
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1 (C) services necessary to facilitate adoptive

2 placement of any such infant who is legally free

3 for adoption.

4 SEC. 5. EVALUATIONS, STUDIES, AND REPORTS BY SEC5 RETARY.

6 The Secretary shall, directly or through contracts

7 with public and nonprofit private entities, provide for eval8 uations of projects carried out under this Act and for the

9 dissemination of information developed as result of such

10 projects.

11 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.

12 For purposes of this Act:

13 (1) The terms ‘‘abandoned’’ and ‘‘abandon14 ment’’, with respect to infants and young children,

15 mean that the infants and young children are medi16 cally cleared for discharge from acute-care hospital

17 settings, but remain hospitalized because of a lack of

18 appropriate out-of-hospital placement alternatives.

19 (2) The term ‘‘dangerous drug’’ means a con20 trolled substance, as defined in section 102 of the

21 Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802).

22 (3) The term ‘‘natural family’’ shall be broadly

23 interpreted to include natural parents, grandparents,

24 family members, guardians, children residing in the

25 Household, and individuals residing in the household
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1 on a continuing basis who are in a care-giving situa2 tion with respect to infants and young children cov3 ered under this Act.

4 (4) The term ‘‘acquired immune deficiency syn5 drome’’ includes infection with the etiologic agent

6 for such syndrome, any condition indicating that an

7 individual is infected with such etiologic agent, and

8 any condition arising from such etiologic agent.

9 (5) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary

10 of Health and Human Services.

11 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—For the purpose of carrying out

13 this Act, there are authorized to be appropriated

14 $15,000,000 for fiscal year 1996 and such sums as may

15 be necessary for each of the fiscal years 1997, 1998, 1999,

16 and 2000.

17 (b) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Amounts appro18 priated under this section shall remain available until ex19 pended.

20 (1) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section

21 421(7) of the Domestic Volunteer Service Act of

22 1973 (42 U.S.C. 5061(7)) is amended to read as fol23 lows:
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1 ‘‘(7) the term ‘border baby’ means an infant de2 scribed in section 6(1) of the Abandoned and Medi3 cally Fragile Infants Assistance Act of 1995.’’.

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