II 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1539 

To amend part E of title IV of the Social Security Act to promote the 

adoption of children with special needs. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 28, 2005 

Mr. ROCKEFELLER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To amend part E of title IV of the Social Security Act 

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 2005’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 

8 (1) In 1997, Congress enacted the Adoption 

9 and Safe Families Act of 1997 (Public Law 105–89; 

10 111 Stat. 2115), clearly stating that a child’s health 
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1 and safety are paramount, and that each child de2 serves a permanent home. 

3 (2) The Adoption and Safe Families Act of 

4 1997 provides incentives for adoptions, and for fiscal 

5 year 2002, States placed nearly 53,000 children 

6 from State care. 

7 (3) In 2003, the Adoption Promotion Act (Pub8 lic Law 108–145, 117 Stat. 1879), which reauthor9 ized the incentive program, gave greater emphasis 

10 on moving older children into permanency. 

11 (4) Despite the increase in adoptions, in 2003 

12 more than 118,000 children in foster care have the 

13 permanency goal of adoption but are still waiting to 

14 be adopted. 

15 (5) These children have many special needs and 

16 require Federal financial assistance and support to 

17 start the physical and emotional healing after past 

18 years of abuse and neglect. 

19 SEC. 3. PROMOTION OF ADOPTION OF CHILDREN WITH 

20 SPECIAL NEEDS. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 473(a) of the Social Secu22 rity Act (42 U.S.C. 673(a)) is amended by striking para23 graph (2) and inserting the following: 

24 ‘‘(2)(A) For purposes of paragraph (1)(B)(ii), a child 

25 meets the requirements of this paragraph if such child— 
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1 ‘‘(i)(I) at the time of termination of parental 

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

3 child placement agency or Indian tribal organization 

4 pursuant to a voluntary placement agreement, relin5 quishment, or involuntary removal of the child from 

6 the home, and the State has determined, pursuant 

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

8 need not, include a judicial determination), that con9 tinuation in the home would be contrary to the safe10 ty or welfare of such child; 

11 ‘‘(II) meets all medical or disability require12 ments of title XVI with respect to eligibility for sup13 plemental security income benefits; or 

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

15 child care institution with the child’s minor parent 

16 (pursuant to a voluntary placement agreement, relin17 quishment, or involuntary removal of the child from 

18 the home, and the State has determined, pursuant 

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

20 need not, include judicial determination), that con21 tinuation in the home would be contrary to the safe22 ty or welfare of such child); and 

23 ‘‘(ii) has been determined by the State, pursu24 ant to subsection (c), to be a child with special 

25 needs, which needs shall be considered by the State, 
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1 together with the circumstances of the adopting par2 ents, in determining the amount of any payments to 

3 be made to the adopting parents. 

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

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

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

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

8 meeting the requirements of this paragraph for purposes 

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

10 ‘‘(C) A child who meets the requirements of subpara11 graph (A), who was determined eligible for adoption as12 sistance payments under this part with respect to a prior 

13 adoption (or who would have been determined eligible for 

14 such payments had the Adoption and Safe Families Act 

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

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

17 because the prior adoption has been dissolved and the pa18 rental rights of the adoptive parents have been terminated 

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

20 treated as meeting the requirements of this paragraph for 

21 purposes of paragraph (1)(B)(ii).’’. 

22 (b) EXCEPTION.—Section 473(a) of the Social Secu23 rity Act (42 U.S.C. 673(a)) is amended by adding at the 

24 end the following: 
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1 ‘‘(7)(A) Notwithstanding any other provision of this 

2 subsection, no payment may be made to parents with re3 spect to any child that— 

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

5 needs under subsection (c); 

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

7 States; and 

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

9 or was brought into the United States for the pur10 pose of being adopted. 

11 ‘‘(B) Subparagraph (A) shall not be construed as pro12 hibiting payments under this part for a child described 

13 in subparagraph (A) that is placed in foster care subse14 quent to the failure, as determined by the State, of the 

15 initial adoption of such child by the parents described in 

16 such subparagraph.’’. 

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

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

19 673(a)), as amended by subsection (b), is amended by 

20 adding at the end the following: 

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

22 amount of savings (if any) in State expenditures under 

23 this part resulting from the application of paragraph (2) 

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

25 paragraph made by section 3(a) of the Adoption Equality 
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1 Act of 2005 to provide to children or families any service 

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

3 under this part or part B.’’. 

4 (d) DETERMINATION OF A CHILD WITH SPECIAL

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

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

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

8 be considered a child with special needs unless— 

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

10 a criteria established by the State (which may or 

11 may not include a judicial determination), that the 

12 child cannot or should not be returned to the home 

13 of his parents; or 

14 ‘‘(B) the child meets all medical or disability re15 quirements of title XVI with respect to eligibility for 

16 supplemental security income benefits; and 

17 ‘‘(2) the State has determined— 

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

19 child a specific factor or condition (such as eth20 nic background, age, or membership in a minor21 ity or sibling group, or the presence of factors 

22 such as medical conditions or physical, mental, 

23 or emotional handicaps) because of which it is 

24 reasonable to conclude that the child cannot be 

25 placed with adoptive parents without providing 
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1 adoption assistance under this section and med2 ical assistance under title XIX; and 

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

4 the best interests of the child because of such 

5 factors as the existence of significant emotional 

6 ties with prospective adoptive parents while in 

7 the care of such parents as a foster child, a rea8 sonable, but unsuccessful, effort has been made 

9 to place the child with appropriate adoptive 

10 parents without providing adoption assistance 

11 under this section or medical assistance under 

12 title XIX.’’. 

13 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

14 this section shall take effect on October 1, 2005. 

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