II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1770 

To prohibit discrimination in adoption or foster care placements based on 

the sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status of any prospective adoptive or foster parent, or the sexual orientation or gender identity 

of the child involved. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 1, 2011 

Mrs. GILLIBRAND (for herself, Mr. KERRY, Mr. SANDERS, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. 

FRANKEN, and Mr. LAUTENBERG) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To prohibit discrimination in adoption or foster care placements based on the sexual orientation, gender identity, 

or marital status of any prospective adoptive or foster 

parent, or the sexual orientation or gender identity of 

the child involved. 

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 ‘‘Every Child Deserves 

5 a Family Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) There is a shortage of qualified individuals 

2 willing to adopt or foster a child in the child welfare 

3 system. As a result, thousands of foster children 

4 lack a permanent and safe home. 

5 (2) In order to open more homes to foster chil6 dren, child welfare agencies should work to eliminate 

7 sexual orientation, gender identity, and marital sta8 tus discrimination and bias in adoption and foster 

9 care recruitment, selection, and placement proce10 dures. 

11 (3) Of the estimated 400,000 children in the 

12 United States foster care system, more than 

13 107,000 cannot return to their original families and 

14 are legally free for adoption. 

15 (A) 52,891 children were adopted in 2010, 

16 while 27,854 youth ‘‘aged out’’ of the foster 

17 care system. 

18 (B) Research shows that youth who ‘‘age 

19 out’’ of the foster care system are at a high risk 

20 for poverty, homelessness, incarceration, and 

21 early parenthood. 

22 (C) Increasing adoption rates, in addition 

23 to establishing permanency and decreasing risk 

24 factors for foster youth, can yield annual naVerDate Mar 15 2010 06:30 Nov 02, 2011 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1770.IS S1770

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1 tional cost savings between $3,300,000,000 and 

2 $6,300,000,000. 

3 (4) Experts agree that in many States, lesbian, 

4 gay, bisexual, and transgender youth experience dis5 crimination, harassment, and violence in the foster 

6 care system because of their sexual orientation or 

7 gender identity. 

8 (5) Approximately 60 percent of homeless les9 bian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth were pre10 viously in foster care. According to the Urban Jus11 tice Center, many of these young people reported 

12 that living on the streets felt ‘‘safer’’ than living in 

13 their group or foster home. 

14 (6) According to data taken from the 2010 

15 Census and reviewed by the Williams Institute, an 

16 estimated 17 percent of same-sex couples have at 

17 least 1 child under 18 years of age living in the 

18 home. 

19 (7) According to Gary Gates of the Williams In20 stitute, there are approximately 1,000,000 lesbian, 

21 gay, bisexual, and transgender couples throughout 

22 the United States who are raising approximately 

23 2,000,000 children. 

24 (8) As of 2007, gay, lesbian, and bisexual par25 ents were raising 4 percent of all adopted children 


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1 and fostering for 3 percent of all foster children. A 

2 report from the Williams Institute found that an ad3 ditional 2,000,000 gay, lesbian, and bisexual individ4 uals are interested in adoption. 

5 (9) According to the Williams Institute/Urban 

6 Institute, same-sex couples raising adopted children 

7 tend to be older than, just as educated as, and have 

8 access to the same economic resources as other 

9 adoptive parents. Studies confirm that children with 

10 same-sex parents have the same advantages and 

11 same expectations for health, social, and psycho12 logical adjustment, and development as children 

13 whose parents are heterosexual. 

14 (10) An Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute 

15 study found that one-third of child welfare agencies 

16 in the United States currently reject gay, lesbian, 

17 and bisexual applicants. 

18 (A) The practice of prohibiting applicants 

19 from becoming foster parents or adopting chil20 dren solely on the basis of sexual orientation or 

21 marital status has resulted in reducing the 

22 number of qualified adoptive and foster parents 

23 overall and denying gay, lesbian, bisexual, and 

24 unmarried relatives the opportunity to become 

25 foster parents for their own kin, including 


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1 grandchildren, or to adopt their own kin, in2 cluding grandchildren, from foster care. 

3 (B) According to the Williams Institute, 

4 more than 14,000 children are currently in fos5 ter placements with gay, lesbian, and bisexual 

6 parents. Another 65,000 children are being 

7 raised by their adoptive parents. If other States 

8 followed the minority of States and discrimi9 nated against qualified individuals because of 

10 their sexual orientation or marital status, foster 

11 care expenditures would increase between 

12 $87,000,000 and $130,000,000 per year in 

13 order to pay for additional institutional and 

14 group care, as well as to recruit and train new 

15 foster and adoptive parents. 

16 (11) Some States allow 1 member of a same17 sex couple to adopt, but do not recognize both mem18 bers of the couple as the child’s legal parents. Rec19 ognition of joint adoption provides children with the 

20 same rights and security that children of hetero21 sexual parents enjoy. These protections include ac22 cess to both parents’ health benefits, survivor’s, So23 cial Security, and child support entitlements, legal 

24 grounds for either parent to provide consent for 

25 medical care, education, and other important deciVerDate Mar 15 2010 06:30 Nov 02, 2011 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1770.IS S1770

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1 sions, as well as the establishment of permanency 

2 for both parents and child. 

3 (12) Professional organizations in the fields of 

4 medicine, psychology, law, and child welfare have 

5 taken official positions in support of the ability of 

6 qualified gay, lesbian, bisexual, and unmarried cou7 ples to foster and adopt, as supported by scientific 

8 research showing sexual orientation as a nondeter9 minative factor in parental success. 

10 (13) Discrimination against potential foster or 

11 adoptive parents based on sexual orientation, gender 

12 identity, or marital status is not in the best interests 

13 of children in the foster care system. 

14 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are to de15 crease the length of time that children wait for perma16 nency with a loving family and to promote the best inter17 ests of children in the child welfare system by preventing 

18 discrimination in adoption and foster care placements 

19 based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital 

20 status. 

21 SEC. 3. EVERY CHILD DESERVES A FAMILY. 

22 (a) ACTIVITIES.— 

23 (1) PROHIBITION.—An entity that receives Fed24 eral assistance or contracts with an entity that reVerDate Mar 15 2010 06:30 Nov 02, 2011 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1770.IS S1770

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1 ceives Federal assistance, and is involved in adoption 

2 or foster care placements may not— 

3 (A) deny to any person the opportunity to 

4 become an adoptive or a foster parent on the 

5 basis of the sexual orientation, gender identity, 

6 or marital status of the person, or the sexual 

7 orientation or gender identity of the child in8 volved; 

9 (B) delay or deny the placement of a child 

10 for adoption or into foster care on the basis of 

11 the sexual orientation, gender identity, or mar12 ital status of any prospective adoptive or foster 

13 parent, or the sexual orientation or gender iden14 tity of the child; or 

15 (C) require different or additional 

16 screenings, processes, or procedures for adop17 tive or foster placement decisions on the basis 

18 of the sexual orientation, gender identity, or 

19 marital status of the prospective adoptive or 

20 foster parent, or the sexual orientation or gen21 der identity of the child involved. 

22 (2) DEFINITION OF PLACEMENT DECISION.—In 

23 this section, the term ‘‘placement decision’’ means 

24 the decision to place, or to delay or deny the place25 ment of, a child in a foster care or an adoptive 


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1 home, and includes the decision of the agency or en2 tity involved to seek the termination of birth parent 

3 rights or otherwise make a child legally available for 

4 adoptive placement. 

5 (b) EQUITABLE RELIEF.—Any individual who is ag6 grieved by an action in violation of subsection (a) may 

7 bring an action seeking relief in a United States district 

8 court of appropriate jurisdiction. 

9 (c) FEDERAL GUIDANCE.—Not later than 6 months 

10 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 

11 Health and Human Services shall publish guidance to con12 cerned entities with respect to compliance with this sec13 tion. 

14 (d) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—In order to ensure 

15 compliance with, and ensure understanding of the legal, 

16 practice, and culture changes required by, this Act in mak17 ing foster care and adoption placement decisions, the Sec18 retary shall provide technical assistance to all entities cov19 ered by this Act, including— 

20 (1) identifying laws and regulations inconsistent 

21 with this Act and providing guidance and training to 

22 ensure the laws and regulations are brought into 

23 compliance within the prescribed period of time; 

24 (2) identifying casework practices and proce25 dures inconsistent with this Act and providing guidVerDate Mar 15 2010 06:30 Nov 02, 2011 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1770.IS S1770

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1 ance and training to ensure the practices and proce2 dures are brought into compliance within the pre3 scribed period of time; 

4 (3) providing guidance in expansion of recruit5 ment efforts to ensure consideration of all interested 

6 and qualified prospective adoptive and foster parents 

7 regardless of the sexual orientation, gender identity, 

8 or marital status of the prospective parent; 

9 (4) comprehensive cultural competency training 

10 for covered entities and prospective adoptive and fos11 ter parents; and 

12 (5) training judges and attorneys involved in 

13 foster care and adoption cases on the findings and 

14 purposes of this Act. 

15 (e) DEADLINE FOR COMPLIANCE.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para17 graph (2), an entity that receives Federal assistance 

18 and is involved with adoption or foster care place19 ments shall comply with this section not later than 

20 6 months after publication of the guidance referred 

21 to in subsection (c), or 1 year after the date of en22 actment of this Act, whichever occurs first. 

23 (2) AUTHORITY TO EXTEND DEADLINE.—If a 

24 State demonstrates to the satisfaction of the Sec25 retary of Health and Human Services that it is necVerDate Mar 15 2010 06:30 Nov 02, 2011 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1770.IS S1770

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1 essary to amend State statutory law in order to 

2 change a particular practice that is inconsistent with 

3 this section, the Secretary may extend the compli4 ance date for the State and any entities in the State 

5 that are involved with adoption or foster care place6 ments a reasonable number of days after the close 

7 of the 1st State legislative session beginning after 

8 the date the guidance referred to in subsection (c) 

9 is published. 

10 (3) AUTHORITY TO WITHHOLD FUNDS.—If a 

11 State fails to comply with this section, the Secretary 

12 may withhold payment to the State of amounts oth13 erwise payable to the State under part B or E of 

14 title IV of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 621 

15 et seq., 670 et seq.), to the extent the Secretary 

16 deems the withholding necessary to induce the State 

17 into compliance with this section. 

18 (f) GAO STUDY.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 5 years after 

20 the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller 

21 General of the United States shall conduct a study 

22 to determine whether the States have substantially 

23 complied with this Act, including specifically whether 

24 the States have— 


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1 (A) eliminated policies, practices, or stat2 utes that deny to any otherwise qualified person 

3 the opportunity to become an adoptive or foster 

4 parent on the basis of the sexual orientation, 

5 gender identity, or marital status of the person, 

6 or the sexual orientation or gender identity of 

7 the child involved; 

8 (B) removed all program, policy, or statu9 tory barriers that delay or deny the placement 

10 of a child for adoption or into foster care on the 

11 basis of the sexual orientation, gender identity, 

12 or marital status of any qualified, prospective 

13 adoptive or foster parent, or the sexual orienta14 tion or gender identity of the child; and 

15 (C) eliminated all different or additional 

16 screenings, processes, or procedures for adop17 tive or foster placement decisions based on the 

18 sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital 

19 status of the prospective adoptive or foster par20 ent, or the sexual orientation or gender identity 

21 of the child involved. 

22 (2) REPORT TO THE CONGRESS.—Not later 

23 than 1 year after completing the study required by 

24 paragraph (1), the Comptroller General shall submit 


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1 to Congress a written report that contains the re2 sults of the study. 

Æ 


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