I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1681 

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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 3, 2011 

Mr. STARK (for himself, Mr. FILNER, Ms. MOORE, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, 

Ms. CHU, Ms. BERKLEY, Mr. QUIGLEY, Ms. TSONGAS, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. 

SERRANO, Mr. SABLAN, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. ELLISON, Mrs. 

DAVIS of California, Mr. OLVER, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. WU, Mr. 

POLIS, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. 

GUTIERREZ, Mr. ROTHMAN of New Jersey, Ms. RICHARDSON, Ms. NORTON, Ms. MATSUI, Mr. MORAN, Ms. BALDWIN, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. NADLER, 

Ms. DELAURO, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. PINGREE of 

Maine, and Mr. WEINER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 

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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Every Child Deserves 

3 a Family Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 

5 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) There is a shortage of qualified individuals 

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

8 system. As a result, thousands of foster children 

9 lack a permanent and safe home. 

10 (2) In order to open more homes to foster chil11 dren, child welfare agencies should work to eliminate 

12 sexual orientation, gender identity, and marital sta13 tus discrimination and bias in adoption and foster 

14 care recruitment, selection, and placement proce15 dures. 

16 (3) Of the estimated 500,000 children in the 

17 United States foster care system, over 129,000 can18 not return to their original families and are legally 

19 free for adoption. 

20 (A) Fifty-one thousand children were 

21 adopted in 2007, while 25,000 youth ‘‘aged 

22 out’’ of the foster care system. 

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

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

25 for poverty, homelessness, incarceration, and 

26 early parenthood. 


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1 (C) Increasing adoption rates, in addition 

2 to establishing permanency and decreasing risk 

3 factors for foster youth, can yield annual na4 tional cost savings between $3,300,000,000 and 

5 $6,300,000,000. 

6 (4) Experts agree that in many States, lesbian, 

7 gay, bisexual and transgender youth experience dis8 crimination, harassment, and violence in the foster 

9 care system because of their sexual orientation or 

10 gender identity. 

11 (5) Approximately 60 percent of homeless les12 bian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth were pre13 viously in foster care. According to the Urban Jus14 tice Center, many of these young people reported 

15 that living on the streets felt ‘‘safer’’ than living in 

16 their group or foster home. 

17 (6) According to data taken from the 2000 

18 Census, an estimated 27 percent of same-sex couples 

19 have at least 1 child under 18 years of age living in 

20 the home. 

21 (7) According to research by Gary Gates of the 

22 Williams Institute, there are approximately 

23 1,000,000 lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender 

24 couples throughout the United States who are rais25 ing approximately 2,000,000 children. 


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1 (8) As of 2007, gay, lesbian, and bisexual par2 ents were raising 4 percent of all adopted children 

3 and fostering for 3 percent of all foster children. A 

4 report from the Williams Institute found that an ad5 ditional 2,000,000 gay, lesbian, and bisexual individ6 uals are interested in adoption. 

7 (9) According to the Urban Institute and the 

8 Williams Institute, same-sex couples raising adopted 

9 children tend to be older than, just as educated as, 

10 and have access to the same economic resources as 

11 other adoptive parents. Studies confirm that children 

12 with same-sex parents have the same advantages 

13 and same expectations for health, social and psycho14 logical adjustment, and development as children 

15 whose parents are heterosexual. 

16 (10) An Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute 

17 study found that one-third of child welfare agencies 

18 in the United States currently reject gay, lesbian, 

19 and bisexual applicants. 

20 (A) The practice of prohibiting applicants 

21 from becoming foster parents or adopting chil22 dren solely on the basis of sexual orientation or 

23 marital status has resulted in reducing the 

24 number of qualified adoptive and foster parents 

25 overall and denying gay, lesbian, bisexual, and 


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1 unmarried relatives the opportunity to become 

2 foster parents for their own kin, including 

3 grandchildren, or to adopt their own kin, in4 cluding grandchildren, from foster care. 

5 (B) According to the Williams Institute, 

6 over 14,000 children are currently in foster 

7 placements with gay, lesbian, and bisexual 

8 adoptive and foster parents. Another 65,000 

9 children are being raised by their adoptive par10 ents. If other States followed the minority of 

11 States and discriminated against qualified indi12 viduals because of their sexual orientation or 

13 marital status, foster care expenditures would 

14 increase between $87,000,000 and 

15 $130,000,000 per year in order to pay for addi16 tional institutional and group care, as well as to 

17 recruit and train new foster and adoptive par18 ents. 

19 (11) Some States allow 1 member of a same20 sex couple to adopt, but do not recognize both mem21 bers of the couple as the child’s legal parents. Rec22 ognition of joint adoption provides children with the 

23 same rights and security that children of hetero24 sexual parents enjoy. These protections include ac25 cess to both parents’ health benefits; survivor’s, SoVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:31 May 04, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1681.IH H1681

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1 cial Security, and child support entitlements; legal 

2 grounds for either parent to provide consent for 

3 medical care, education, and other important deci4 sions; as well as the establishment of permanency 

5 for both parents and child. 

6 (12) Professional organizations in the fields of 

7 medicine, psychology, law, and child welfare have 

8 taken official positions in support of the ability of 

9 qualified gay, lesbian, bisexual, and unmarried cou10 ples to foster and adopt, as supported by scientific 

11 research showing sexual orientation as a nondeter12 minative factor in parental success. 

13 (13) Discrimination against potential foster or 

14 adoptive parents based on sexual orientation, gender 

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

16 of children in the foster care system. 

17 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are to de18 crease the length of time that children wait for perma19 nency with a loving family and to promote the best inter20 ests of children in the child welfare system by preventing 

21 discrimination in adoption and foster care placements 

22 based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital 

23 status. 

24 SEC. 3. EVERY CHILD DESERVES A FAMILY. 

25 (a) ACTIVITIES.— 


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1 (1) PROHIBITION.—An entity that receives Fed2 eral assistance or contracts with an entity that re3 ceives Federal assistance, and is involved in adoption 

4 or foster care placements may not— 

5 (A) deny to any person the opportunity to 

6 become an adoptive or a foster parent on the 

7 basis of the sexual orientation, gender identity, 

8 or marital status of the person, or the sexual 

9 orientation or gender identity of the child in10 volved; 

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

12 for adoption or into foster care on the basis of 

13 the sexual orientation, gender identity, or mar14 ital status of any prospective adoptive or foster 

15 parent, or the sexual orientation or gender iden16 tity of the child; or 

17 (C) require different or additional 

18 screenings, processes, or procedures for adop19 tive or foster placement decisions on the basis 

20 of the sexual orientation, gender identity, or 

21 marital status of the prospective adoptive or 

22 foster parent, or the sexual orientation or gen23 der identity of the child involved. 

24 (2) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 

25 ‘‘placement decision’’ means the decision to place, or 


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1 to delay or deny the placement of, a child in a foster 

2 care or an adoptive home, and includes the decision 

3 of the agency or entity involved to seek the termi4 nation of birth parent rights or otherwise make a 

5 child legally available for adoptive placement. 

6 (b) EQUITABLE RELIEF.—Any individual who is ag7 grieved by an action in violation of subsection (a) may 

8 bring an action seeking relief in a United States district 

9 court of appropriate jurisdiction. 

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

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

12 of Health and Human Services shall publish guidance to 

13 concerned entities with respect to compliance with this 

14 section. 

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

16 compliance with, and ensure understanding of the legal, 

17 practice, and culture changes required by, this Act in mak18 ing foster care and adoption placement decisions, the Sec19 retary shall provide technical assistance to all entities cov20 ered by this Act, including— 

21 (1) identifying laws and regulations inconsistent 

22 with this Act and providing guidance and training to 

23 ensure the laws and regulations are brought into 

24 compliance within the prescribed period of time; 


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1 (2) identifying casework practices and proce2 dures inconsistent with this Act and providing guid3 ance and training to ensure the practices and proce4 dures are brought into compliance within the pre5 scribed period of time; 

6 (3) providing guidance in expansion of recruit7 ment efforts to ensure consideration of all interested 

8 and qualified prospective adoptive and foster parents 

9 regardless of the sexual orientation, gender identity, 

10 or marital status of the prospective parent; 

11 (4) comprehensive cultural competency training 

12 for covered entities and prospective adoptive and fos13 ter parents; and 

14 (5) training judges and attorneys involved in 

15 foster care and adoption cases on the findings and 

16 purposes of this Act. 

17 (e) DEADLINE FOR COMPLIANCE.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para19 graph (2), an entity that receives Federal assistance 

20 and is involved with adoption or foster care place21 ments shall comply with this section not later than 

22 6 months after publication of the guidance referred 

23 to in subsection (c), or 1 year after the date of the 

24 enactment of this Act, whichever occurs first. 


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

2 State demonstrates to the satisfaction of the Sec3 retary of Health and Human Services that it is nec4 essary to amend State statutory law in order to 

5 change a particular practice that is inconsistent with 

6 this section, the Secretary may extend the compli7 ance date for the State a reasonable number of days 

8 after the close of the 1st State legislative session be9 ginning after the date the guidance referred to in 

10 subsection (c) is published. 

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

12 State fails to comply with this section, the Secretary 

13 may withhold payment to the State of amounts oth14 erwise payable to the State under part B or E of 

15 title IV of the Social Security Act, to the extent the 

16 Secretary deems the withholding necessary to induce 

17 the State into compliance with this section. 

18 (f) GAO STUDY.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—Within 5 years after the 

20 date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller 

21 General of the United States shall conduct a study 

22 to determine whether the States have substantially 

23 complied with this Act, including specifically whether 

24 the States have— 


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1 (A) eliminated policies, practices, or stat2 utes that deny to any otherwise qualified person 

3 the opportunity to become an adoptive or foster 

4 parent on the basis of the sexual orientation, 

5 gender identity, or marital status of the person, 

6 or the sexual orientation or gender identity of 

7 the child involved; 

8 (B) removed all program, policy, or statu9 tory barriers that delay or deny the placement 

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

11 basis of the sexual orientation, gender identity, 

12 or marital status of any qualified, prospective 

13 adoptive or foster parent, or the sexual orienta14 tion or gender identity of the child; and 

15 (C) eliminated all different or additional 

16 screenings, processes, or procedures for adop17 tive or foster placement decisions based on the 

18 sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital 

19 status of the prospective adoptive or foster par20 ent, or the sexual orientation or gender identity 

21 of the child involved. 

22 (2) REPORT TO THE CONGRESS.—Within 1 year 

23 after completing the study required by paragraph 

24 (1), the Comptroller General shall submit to the 


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1 Congress a written report that contains the results 

2 of the study. 

Æ 


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