I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7976 

To modify certain rules and procedures under the Federal foster care and 

adoption assistance program during a public health crisis. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

AUGUST 7, 2020 

Ms. MOORE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To modify certain rules and procedures under the Federal 

foster care and adoption assistance program during a 

public health crisis. 

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 ‘‘Suspend the Timeline 

5 not Parental Rights in a Public Health Crisis Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. MODIFICATION OF CERTAIN RULES AND PROCE2 DURES UNDER THE FEDERAL FOSTER CARE 

3 AND ADOPTION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM DUR4 ING A PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS. 

5 (a) TIMELINE AND COMPELLING REASON.—Section 

6 475(5)(E) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 

7 675(5)(E)) is amended— 

8 (1) in clause (ii), by inserting ‘‘, and any effect 

9 of a public health crisis shall be considered such a 

10 compelling reason’’ before the semicolon; 

11 (2) by adding ‘‘except that’’ at the end of 

12 clause (iii); 

13 (3) by redesignating clauses (i) through (iii) (as 

14 amended by the preceding paragraphs of this sub15 section) as subclauses (I) through (III), respectively; 

16 (4) by inserting ‘‘(i)’’ after ‘‘(E)’’; and 

17 (5) by adding after and below the end the fol18 lowing: 

19 ‘‘(ii) in the case of a child who has been 

20 in foster care under the responsibility of the 

21 State for 15 of the most recent 22 months, the 

22 requirement in clause (i) that the State file a 

23 petition to terminate the parental rights of the 

24 child’s parents (or, if such a petition has been 

25 filed by another party, seek to be joined as a 

26 party to the petition), shall be suspended for 


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1 the duration of any public health crisis period 

2 applicable with respect to the State;’’. 

3 (b) REASONABLE EFFORTS.—Section 471(a)(15) of 

4 such Act (42 U.S.C. 671(a)(15)) is amended— 

5 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subpara6 graph (E); and 

7 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘(G) the State agency shall ensure that— 

9 ‘‘(i) in response to a public health cri10 sis, service or treatment providers develop 

11 and implement alternative methods of 

12 treatment, visitation, and providing serv13 ices, that are tailored to the individual 

14 needs of a child or the family of a child to 

15 meet the reasonable efforts requirements of 

16 this paragraph; 

17 ‘‘(ii) parents who participate in any 

18 such alternative methods of treatment or 

19 receipt of services shall qualify for comple20 tion of the services; and 

21 ‘‘(iii) permanency plans for reunifica22 tion shall not be delayed by service or 

23 treatment gaps that result from a public 

24 health crisis; and 


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1 ‘‘(H) the removal a child during a public 

2 health crisis meets the requirements of this 

3 paragraph if the removal is based on a judicial 

4 determination that removal is necessary to pro5 tect the child from imminent risk of serious 

6 harm and is not necessary due to any effect of 

7 a public health crisis;’’. 

8 (c) DEFINITIONS.—Section 475 of such Act (42 

9 U.S.C. 675) is amended by adding at the end the fol10 lowing: 

11 ‘‘(14) The term ‘public health crisis period’ 

12 means, with respect to a State, a period that begins 

13 when a state of emergency that applies to the State 

14 is declared under a Federal or State law in response 

15 to a threat to public health, and ends 1 year after 

16 the last such state of emergency applicable to the 

17 State is terminated. 

18 ‘‘(15) The term ‘effect of a public health crisis’ 

19 means consequences experienced by an individual 

20 due to a threat to public health with respect to 

21 which a state of emergency described in paragraph 

22 (14) has been declared, including lack of medical, 

23 educational, or therapeutic services for children, loss 

24 of income, loss of employment, loss of contact be25 tween a parent and a child of the parent, housing 


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1 instability, loss of housing, lack of access to child 

2 care, exposure to or contracting an illness or infec3 tious disease, service closure, lack of access or di4 minished access to services, quarantine, shelter-in5 place order, and having to provide care for another 

6 individual who is at risk of contracting, or has con7 tracted, an illness or infectious disease.’’. 

8 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.— 

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

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

11 1st fiscal year beginning on or after the date of the 

12 enactment of this Act, and shall apply to payments 

13 under part E of title IV of the Social Security Act 

14 for calendar quarters beginning on or after such 

15 date. 

16 (2) DELAY PERMITTED IF STATE LEGISLATION

17 REQUIRED.—If the Secretary of Health and Human 

18 Services determines that State legislation (other 

19 than legislation appropriating funds) is required in 

20 order for a State plan developed pursuant to part E 

21 of title IV of the Social Security Act to meet the ad22 ditional requirements imposed by the amendments 

23 made by this Act, the plan shall not be regarded as 

24 failing to meet any of the additional requirements 

25 before the 1st day of the 1st calendar quarter beginVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 Aug 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7976.IH H7976

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1 ning after the first regular session of the State legis2 lature that begins after the date of the enactment of 

3 this Act. For purposes of the preceding sentence, if 

4 the State has a 2-year legislative session, each year 

5 of the session is deemed to be a separate regular 

6 session of the State legislature. 

Æ 


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