II

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 637

To remove barriers to interracial and interethnic adoptions, and for other

purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MARCH 28 (legislative day, MARCH 27), 1995

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

to the Committee on Finance

A BILL

To remove barriers to interracial and interethnic adoptions,

and for other purposes.

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 Antidiscrimi5 nation Act of 1995’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—

8 (1) nearly 500,000 children are in foster care in

9 the United States;
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1 (2) tens of thousands of children in foster care

2 are waiting for adoption;

3 (3) 2 years and 8 months is the median length

4 of time that children wait to be adopted, and minor5 ity children often wait twice as long as other chil6 dren to be adopted; and

7 (4) child welfare agencies should work to elimi8 nate racial, ethnic, and national origin discrimina9 tion and bias in adoption and foster care recruit10 ment, selection, and placement procedures.

11 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to promote

12 the best interests of children by—

13 (1) decreasing the length of time that children

14 wait to be adopted; and

15 (2) preventing discrimination in the placement

16 of children on the basis of race, color, or national or17 igin.

18 SEC. 3. REMOVAL OF BARRIERS TO INTERRACIAL AND

19 INTERETHNIC ADOPTIONS.

20 (a) PROHIBITION.—A State or other entity that re21 ceives funds from the Federal Government and is involved

22 in adoption or foster care placements may not—

23 (1) deny to any person the opportunity to be24 come an adoptive or a foster parent, on the basis of
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1 the race, color, or national origin of the person, or

2 of the child, involved; or

3 (2) delay or deny the placement of a child for

4 adoption or into foster care, or otherwise discrimi5 nate in making a placement decision, on the basis of

6 the race, color, or national origin of the adoptive or

7 foster parent, or the child, involved.

8 (b) PENALTIES.—

9 (1) STATE VIOLATORS.—A State that violates

10 subsection (a) shall remit to the Secretary of Health

11 and Human Services all funds that were paid to the

12 State under part E of title IV of the Social Security

13 Act (42 U.S.C. 670 et seq.) (relating to foster care

14 and adoption assistance) during the period of the

15 violation.

16 (2) PRIVATE VIOLATORS.—Any other entity

17 that violates subsection (a) shall remit to the Sec18 retary of Health and Human Services all funds that

19 were paid to the entity during the period of the vio20 lation by a State from funds provided under part E

21 of title IV of the Social Security Act.

22 (c) PRIVATE CAUSE OF ACTION.—

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—Any individual or class of in24 dividuals aggrieved by a violation of subsection (a)

25 by a State or other entity may bring an action seek-
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1 ing relief in any United States district court or State

2 court of appropriate jurisdiction.

3 (2) STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS.—An action

4 under this subsection may not be brought more than

5 2 years after the date the alleged violation occurred.

6 (d) ATTORNEY’S FEES.—In any action or proceeding

7 under this Act, the court, in the discretion of the court,

8 may allow the prevailing party, other than the United

9 States, a reasonable attorney’s fee, including litigation ex10 penses and costs, and the States and the United States

11 shall be liable for the fee to the same extent as a private

12 individual.

13 (e) STATE IMMUNITY.—A State shall not be immune

14 under the 11th amendment to the Constitution from an

15 action in Federal or State court of appropriate jurisdiction

16 for a violation of this Act.

17 (f) NO EFFECT ON INDIAN CHILD WELFARE ACT OF

18 1978.—Nothing in this Act shall be construed to affect

19 the application of the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978

20 (25 U.S.C. 1901 et seq.).

21 SEC. 4. REPEAL.

22 Subpart 1 of part E of title V of the Improving Amer23 ica’s Schools Act of 1994 (42 U.S.C. 5115a) is amended—

24 (1) by repealing sections 551 through 553; and

25 (2) by redesignating section 554 as section 551.
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1 SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE.

2 This Act, and the amendments made by this Act,

3 shall take effect 90 days after the date of enactment of

4 this Act.

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