II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1069 

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 

MAY 23, 2013 

Mrs. GILLIBRAND (for herself, Mr. SCHUMER, Ms. WARREN, Mrs. MURRAY, 

Mr. WYDEN, 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’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 

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

3 (1) There is a shortage of qualified individuals 

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

5 system. As a result, thousands of foster children 

6 lack a permanent and safe home. 

7 (2) In order to open more homes to foster chil8 dren, child welfare agencies should work to eliminate 

9 sexual orientation, gender identity, and marital sta10 tus discrimination and bias in adoption and foster 

11 care recruitment, selection, and placement proce12 dures. 

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

14 United States foster care system, more than 

15 104,000 cannot return to their original families and 

16 are legally free for adoption. 

17 (A) 50,516 children were adopted in 2011, 

18 while 26,286 youth ‘‘aged out’’ of the foster 

19 care system. 

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

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

22 for poverty, homelessness, incarceration, and 

23 early parenthood. 

24 (C) Increasing adoption rates, in addition 

25 to establishing permanency and decreasing risk 

26 factors for foster youth, can yield annual naVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:45 May 30, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1069.IS S1069

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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 the Williams Institute, an esti15 mated 19 percent of same-sex couple households in16 clude children under 18 years of age. 

17 (7) The Williams Institute estimates that 

18 3,000,000 lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender 

19 people have had a child and as many as 6,000,000 

20 American adults and children have a lesbian, gay, 

21 bisexual, or transgender parent. Among adults under 

22 50 years of age living alone or with a spouse or 

23 partner, 48 percent of lesbian, bisexual, or 

24 transgender women are raising a child under 18 


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1 years of age, and 20 percent of gay, bisexual, or 

2 transgender men are doing so. 

3 (8) As of 2013, same-sex couples are raising 

4 1.4 percent of adopted children with 2 parents and 

5 are fostering 1.7 percent of foster children living 

6 with 2 parents. A 2007 report from the Williams In7 stitute found that an additional 2,000,000 gay, les8 bian, and bisexual individuals are interested in adop9 tion. 

10 (9) According to the Williams Institute/Urban 

11 Institute, same-sex couples raising adopted children 

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

13 access to the same economic resources as other 

14 adoptive parents. Studies confirm that children with 

15 same-sex parents have the same advantages and 

16 same expectations for health, social, and psycho17 logical adjustment, and development as children 

18 whose parents are heterosexual. 

19 (10) An Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute 

study found that 1 20 ⁄3 of child welfare agencies in the 

21 United States reject gay, lesbian, and bisexual appli22 cants. 

23 (A) The practice of prohibiting applicants 

24 from becoming foster parents or adopting chil25 dren solely on the basis of sexual orientation or 


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1 marital status has resulted in reducing the 

2 number of qualified adoptive and foster parents 

3 overall and denying gay, lesbian, bisexual, and 

4 unmarried relatives the opportunity to become 

5 foster parents for their own kin, including 

6 grandchildren, or to adopt their own kin, in7 cluding grandchildren, from foster care. 

8 (B) According to the Williams Institute, 

9 more than 3,400 children are currently in foster 

10 placements with same-sex couples. Another 

11 22,000 children are being raised by same-sex 

12 adoptive couples. If other States followed the 

13 minority of States and discriminated against 

14 qualified individuals because of their sexual ori15 entation or marital status, foster care expendi16 tures would increase between $87,000,000 and 

17 $130,000,000 per year in order to pay for addi18 tional institutional and group care, as well as to 

19 recruit and train new foster and adoptive par20 ents. 

21 (11) Some States allow 1 member of a same22 sex couple to adopt, but do not recognize both mem23 bers of the couple as the child’s legal parents. Rec24 ognition of joint adoption provides children with the 

25 same rights and security that children of heteroVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:45 May 30, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1069.IS S1069

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1 sexual parents enjoy. These protections include ac2 cess to both parents’ health benefits, survivor’s, So3 cial Security, and child support entitlements, legal 

4 grounds for either parent to provide consent for 

5 medical care, education, and other important deci6 sions, as well as the establishment of permanency 

7 for parents and child. 

8 (12) Professional organizations in the fields of 

9 medicine, psychology, law, and child welfare have 

10 taken official positions in support of the ability of 

11 qualified gay, lesbian, bisexual, and unmarried cou12 ples to foster and adopt a child, as supported by sci13 entific research showing sexual orientation as a non14 determinative factor in parental success. 

15 (13) Discrimination against potential foster or 

16 adoptive parents based on sexual orientation, gender 

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

18 of children in the foster care system. 

19 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are to de20 crease the length of time that children wait for perma21 nency with a loving family and to promote the best inter22 ests of children in the child welfare system by preventing 

23 discrimination in adoption and foster care placements 

24 based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital 

25 status. 


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1 SEC. 3. EVERY CHILD DESERVES A FAMILY. 

2 (a) ACTIVITIES.— 

3 (1) PROHIBITION.—An entity that receives Fed4 eral assistance or contracts with an entity that re5 ceives Federal assistance, and is involved in adoption 

6 or foster care placements may not— 

7 (A) deny to any person the opportunity to 

8 become an adoptive or a foster parent on the 

9 basis of the sexual orientation, gender identity, 

10 or marital status of the person, or the sexual 

11 orientation or gender identity of the child in12 volved; 

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

14 for adoption or into foster care on the basis of 

15 the sexual orientation, gender identity, or mar16 ital status of any prospective adoptive or foster 

17 parent, or the sexual orientation or gender iden18 tity of the child; or 

19 (C) require different or additional 

20 screenings, processes, or procedures for adop21 tive or foster placement decisions on the basis 

22 of the sexual orientation, gender identity, or 

23 marital status of the prospective adoptive or 

24 foster parent, or the sexual orientation or gen25 der identity of the child involved. 


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1 (2) DEFINITION OF PLACEMENT DECISION.—In 

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

3 the decision to place, or to delay or deny the place4 ment of, a child in a foster care or an adoptive 

5 home, and includes the decision of the agency or en6 tity involved to seek the termination of birth parent 

7 rights or otherwise make a child legally available for 

8 adoptive placement. 

9 (b) EQUITABLE RELIEF.—Any individual who is ag10 grieved by an action in violation of subsection (a) may 

11 bring an action seeking relief in a United States district 

12 court of appropriate jurisdiction. 

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

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

15 Health and Human Services shall publish guidance to con16 cerned entities with respect to compliance with this sec17 tion. 

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

19 compliance with, and ensure understanding of the legal, 

20 practice, and culture changes required by, this Act in mak21 ing foster care and adoption placement decisions, the Sec22 retary shall provide technical assistance to all entities cov23 ered by this Act, including— 

24 (1) identifying laws and regulations inconsistent 

25 with this Act and providing guidance and training to 


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1 ensure the laws and regulations are brought into 

2 compliance within the prescribed period of time; 

3 (2) identifying casework practices and proce4 dures inconsistent with this Act and providing guid5 ance and training to ensure the practices and proce6 dures are brought into compliance within the pre7 scribed period of time; 

8 (3) providing guidance in expansion of recruit9 ment efforts to ensure consideration of all interested 

10 and qualified prospective adoptive and foster parents 

11 regardless of the sexual orientation, gender identity, 

12 or marital status of the prospective parent; 

13 (4) comprehensive cultural competency training 

14 for covered entities and prospective adoptive and fos15 ter parents; and 

16 (5) training judges and attorneys involved in 

17 foster care and adoption cases on the findings and 

18 purposes of this Act. 

19 (e) DEADLINE FOR COMPLIANCE.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para21 graph (2), an entity that receives Federal assistance 

22 and is involved with adoption or foster care place23 ments shall comply with this section not later than 

24 6 months after publication of the guidance referred 


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1 to in subsection (c), or 1 year after the date of en2 actment of this Act, whichever occurs first. 

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

4 State demonstrates to the satisfaction of the Sec5 retary of Health and Human Services that it is nec6 essary to amend State statutory law in order to 

7 change a particular practice that is inconsistent with 

8 this section, the Secretary may extend the compli9 ance date for the State and any entities in the State 

10 that are involved with adoption or foster care place11 ments a reasonable number of days after the close 

12 of the 1st State legislative session beginning after 

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

14 is published. 

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

16 State fails to comply with this section, the Secretary 

17 may withhold payment to the State of amounts oth18 erwise payable to the State under part B or E of 

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

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

21 deems the withholding necessary to induce the State 

22 into compliance with this section. 

23 (f) GAO STUDY.— 

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

25 the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller 


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1 General of the United States shall conduct a study 

2 to determine whether the States have substantially 

3 complied with this Act, including specifically whether 

4 the States have— 

5 (A) eliminated policies, practices, or stat6 utes that deny to any otherwise qualified person 

7 the opportunity to become an adoptive or foster 

8 parent on the basis of the sexual orientation, 

9 gender identity, or marital status of the person, 

10 or the sexual orientation or gender identity of 

11 the child involved; 

12 (B) removed all program, policy, or statu13 tory barriers that delay or deny the placement 

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

15 basis of the sexual orientation, gender identity, 

16 or marital status of any qualified, prospective 

17 adoptive or foster parent, or the sexual orienta18 tion or gender identity of the child; and 

19 (C) eliminated all different or additional 

20 screenings, processes, or procedures for adop21 tive or foster placement decisions based on the 

22 sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital 

23 status of the prospective adoptive or foster par24 ent, or the sexual orientation or gender identity 

25 of the child involved. 


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

2 than 1 year after completing the study required by 

3 paragraph (1), the Comptroller General shall submit 

4 to Congress a written report that contains the re5 sults of the study. 

Æ 


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