II

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1016

To recognize grandparents who serve as the primary caregivers to their

grandchildren and to provide assistance to such grandparents under

certain programs.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MAY 25 (legislative day, APRIL 19), 1993

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

to the Committee on Finance

A BILL

To recognize grandparents who serve as the primary

caregivers to their grandchildren and to provide assistance to such grandparents under certain programs.

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 ‘‘Grandparents Raising

5 Grandchildren Assistance Act of 1993’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress finds that—

8 (1) many grandparents throughout the United

9 States are the primary caregivers to their grand-
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1 children and such grandparents are essentially start2 ing over as parents;

3 (2) grandparents are acting as parents for a

4 second time primarily because of problems relating

5 to the natural parents of their grandchildren such as

6 drug and alcohol addiction, abuse, divorce, AIDS

7 and other health problems, and teenage pregnancy;

8 (3) grandparents and the grandchildren for

9 whom they provide care often suffer legal, financial,

10 emotional, and bureaucratic hardships; and

11 (4) it is desirable to develop national policies

12 that assist grandparents who are serving as the pri13 mary caregivers to their grandchildren.

14 SEC. 3. GRANDCHILD SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS BASED

15 ONLY ON DEPENDENCY.

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (e) of section 216 of

17 the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 416) is amended—

18 (1) by striking ‘‘, but only if’’ in the first sen19 tence and all that follows through ‘‘such individual

20 died’’; and

21 (2) by striking the last sentence.

22 (b) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS IF PARENTS ARE

23 ALIVE.—Section 202(d)(9) of the Social Security Act (42

24 U.S.C. 402(d)(9)) is amended by adding at the end the

25 following new subparagraph:
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1 ‘‘(C) If—

2 ‘‘(i) a child is treated as a child of an individual

3 under clause (3) of the first sentence of section

4 216(e), and

5 ‘‘(ii) a natural or adoptive parent of the child

6 is living at the time specified in paragraph (1)(C) of

7 this subsection,

8 such child shall not be treated as dependent on such indi9 vidual as of such time unless the period described in sub10 paragraphs (A) and (B) is two years, and the natural or

11 adoptive parent, if over the age of 18 years, is not a de12 pendent for whom a deduction is allowable under section

13 151 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to such individ14 ual.’’.

15 (c) SUSPENSION OF BENEFITS IF CHILD REUNITES

16 WITH PARENTS.—Section 202(d)(1) of the Social Secu17 rity Act (42 U.S.C. 402(d)(1)) is amended—

18 (1) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of subparagraph

19 (F);

20 (2) by striking the period at the end of sub21 paragraph (G) and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and

22 (3) by inserting after subparagraph (G) the fol23 lowing new subparagraph:

24 ‘‘(H) in the case of a child described in para25 graph (9)(C), the first month during which such
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1 child lives with such child’s natural or adoptive par2 ent who has attained the age of 18 and who is not

3 a dependent as described in such paragraph.’’.

4 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by

5 this section shall apply to benefits payable for months

6 after the date of the enactment of this Act, but only on

7 the basis of applications filed after such date.

8 SEC. 4. DEVELOPMENT OF OPTIONAL MODEL PROCEDURE

9 FOR NOTIFYING RELATIVES PRIOR TO

10 PLACEMENT OF A CHILD IN FOSTER CARE.

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part E of title IV of the Social

12 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 670 et seq.) is amended by insert13 ing after section 477 the following new section:

14 ‘‘DEVELOPMENT OF MODEL PROCEDURE FOR NOTIFYING

15 RELATIVES PRIOR TO PLACEMENT OF A CHILD IN

16 FOSTER CARE

17 ‘‘SEC. 478. Not later than 180 days after the date

18 of the enactment of this section, the Secretary shall de19 velop a model procedure to be used by any State with a

20 plan approved under this part which ensures that reason21 able efforts will be made prior to the placement of a child

22 in foster care to give notice to a relative (including a ma23 ternal or fraternal grandparent, adult sibling, aunt, or

24 uncle) who might be available to care for the child.’’.
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1 (b) STATE OPTION TO ESTABLISH MODEL PROCE2 DURE.—Subsection (a) of section 471 of the Social Secu3 rity Act (42 U.S.C. 671) is amended—

4 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph

5 (16);

6 (2) by striking the period at the end of para7 graph (17) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

8 (3) by adding at the end the following new

9 paragraph:

10 ‘‘(18) at the option of the State, provides that

11 the State agency will establish the procedure devel12 oped by the Secretary under section 478 or an alter13 nate procedure for notifying relatives prior to the

14 placement of a child in foster care.’’.

15 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by

16 this section shall be effective on the date of the enactment

17 of this Act.

18 SEC. 5. MODEL STANDARDS FOR INSURANCE COVERAGE OF

19 DEPENDENTS.

20 (a) DEVELOPMENT OF MODEL STANDARDS.—If,

21 within 1-year after the date of the enactment of this sec22 tion, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners

23 has not developed model standards for the coverage of de24 pendents under health insurance policies, the Secretary of

25 Health and Human Services (hereafter in this section re-
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1 ferred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’), shall develop such standards

2 not later than 180 days after the end of such 1-year pe3 riod.

4 (b) DISTRIBUTION OF MODEL STANDARDS.—If the

5 Secretary develops model standards under subsection (a),

6 the Secretary shall distribute such standards to the com7 missioner of insurance, or any similar official, of each

8 State.

9 SEC. 6. CENSUS DATA ON GRANDPARENTS AS PRIMARY

10 CAREGIVERS FOR THEIR GRANDCHILDREN.

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the

12 date of the enactment of this section, the Secretary of

13 Commerce (hereafter in this section referred to as the

14 ‘‘Secretary’’), in carrying out the provisions of section 141

15 of title 13, United States Code, shall expand the data col16 lection efforts of the Bureau of the Census (hereafter in

17 this section referred to as the ‘‘Bureau’’) to enable the

18 Bureau to collect statistically significant data, in connec19 tion with its decennial census and its mid-decade census,

20 concerning the growing trend of grandparents who are the

21 primary caregivers for their grandchildren.

22 (b) EXPANDED CENSUS QUESTION.—In carrying out

23 the provisions of subsection (a), the Secretary shall expand

24 the Bureau’s census question that details households

25 which include both grandparents and their grandchildren.
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1 The expanded question shall be formulated to distinguish

2 between the following households:

3 (1) a household in which a grandparent tempo4 rarily provides a home for a grandchild for a period

5 of weeks or months during periods of parental dis6 tress; and

7 (2) a household in which a grandparent pro8 vides a home for a grandchild and serves as the pri9 mary caregiver for the grandchild.

10 SEC. 7. GRANTS FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT AND OPER11 ATION OF A NATIONAL RESOURCE CENTER

12 FOR GRANDPARENTS.

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 202 of the Older Ameri14 cans Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 3012) is amended by adding

15 at the end the following:

16 ‘‘(f)(1) The Commissioner shall make grants to, or

17 enter into contracts with, one eligible entity to establish

18 and operate the National Resource Center for Grand19 parents (referred to in this subsection as the ‘Center’) to

20 serve as a central source of information and assistance to

21 older individuals who—

22 ‘‘(A) raise their grandchildren;

23 ‘‘(B) encounter problems obtaining access to

24 their grandchildren for purposes of visitation; or
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1 ‘‘(C) need financial, legal, emotional, or infor2 mational assistance regarding their relationship with

3 their grandchildren.

4 ‘‘(2) The Center shall—

5 ‘‘(A) be staffed by employees and volunteers, in6 cluding such older individuals;

7 ‘‘(B) provide a toll-free telephone number to in8 crease access to the information and assistance

9 available from the Center;

10 ‘‘(C) collect and make available to such older

11 individuals information regarding programs,

12 projects, and activities of public and private entities

13 (including governmental entities) relating to the

14 matters described in subparagraphs (A), (B), and

15 (C) of paragraph (1), including information on State

16 law regarding grandparent visitation and Federal as17 sistance available to such older individuals; and

18 ‘‘(D) refer individual grandparents to public

19 and private entities that provide information or as20 sistance regarding the rearing of grandchildren, in21 cluding information regarding the prevention of drug

22 abuse and the promotion of good health and nutri23 tion.

24 ‘‘(3) For purposes of this subsection, the term ‘eligi25 ble entity’ means a nonprofit private organization with a
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1 demonstrated record of experience in representing the con2 cerns of older individuals with respect to their relationship

3 to their grandchildren.’’.

4 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by

5 subsection (a) shall take effect on the first day of the first

6 fiscal year beginning after the date of the enactment of

7 this Act.

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