I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1881 

To ensure that organizations with religious or moral convictions are allowed 

to continue to provide services for children. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 4, 2017 

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania (for himself, Mr. PITTENGER, Mr. DUNCAN of 

South Carolina, Mr. ROTHFUS, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. 

HULTGREN, Mr. JONES, Mr. PALAZZO, Mr. RENACCI, Mr. KING of Iowa, 

Mr. PALMER, Mr. MOONEY of West Virginia, Mr. GROTHMAN, and Mr. 

SESSIONS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To ensure that organizations with religious or moral convictions are allowed to continue to provide services for children. 

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 ‘‘Child Welfare Provider 

5 Inclusion Act of 2017’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 

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


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1 (1) Child welfare service providers, both individ2 uals and organizations, have the inherent, funda3 mental, and inalienable right to free exercise of reli4 gion protected by the United States Constitution. 

5 (2) The right to free exercise of religion for 

6 child welfare service providers includes the freedom 

7 to refrain from conduct that conflicts with their sin8 cerely held religious beliefs. 

9 (3) Most States provide government-funded 

10 child welfare services through various charitable, re11 ligious, and private organizations. 

12 (4) Religious organizations, in particular, have 

13 a lengthy and distinguished history of providing 

14 child welfare services that predates government in15 volvement. 

16 (5) Religious organizations have long been and 

17 should continue contracting with and receiving 

18 grants from governmental entities to provide child 

19 welfare services. 

20 (6) Religious organizations cannot provide cer21 tain child welfare services, such as foster-care or 

22 adoption placements, without receiving a government 

23 contract, grant or license. 

24 (7) Religious organizations display particular 

25 excellence when providing child welfare services. 


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1 (8) Children and families benefit greatly from 

2 the child welfare services provided by religious orga3 nizations. 

4 (9) Governmental entities and officials admin5 istering federally funded child welfare services in 

6 some States, including Massachusetts, California, Il7 linois, and the District of Columbia, have refused to 

8 contract with religious organizations that are unable, 

9 due to sincerely held religious beliefs or moral con10 victions, to provide a child welfare service that con11 flicts, or under circumstances that conflict, with 

12 those beliefs or convictions; and that refusal has 

13 forced many religious organizations to end their long 

14 and distinguished history of excellence in the provi15 sion of child welfare services. 

16 (10) Ensuring that religious organizations can 

17 continue to provide child welfare services will benefit 

18 the children and families that receive those federally 

19 funded services. 

20 (11) States also provide government-funded 

21 child welfare services through individual child wel22 fare service providers with varying religious and 

23 moral convictions. 

24 (12) Many individual child welfare service pro25 viders maintain sincerely held religious beliefs or 


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1 moral convictions that relate to their work and 

2 should not be forced to choose between their liveli3 hood and adherence to those beliefs or convictions. 

4 (13) Because governmental entities provide 

5 child welfare services through many charitable, reli6 gious, and private organizations, each with varying 

7 religious beliefs or moral convictions, and through 

8 diverse individuals with varying religious beliefs or 

9 moral convictions, the religiously impelled inability 

10 of some religious organizations or individuals to pro11 vide certain services will not have a material effect 

12 on a person’s ability to access federally funded child 

13 welfare services. 

14 (14) The activities of funding and admin15 istering these child welfare services substantially af16 fect interstate commerce. 

17 (15) Taking adverse actions against child wel18 fare service providers that are unable, due to their 

19 sincerely held religious beliefs or moral convictions, 

20 to provide certain services (or provide services under 

21 certain circumstances) substantially affects inter22 state commerce. 

23 (16) The provisions of this Act are remedial 

24 measures that are congruent and proportional to 

25 protecting the constitutional rights of child welfare 


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1 service providers guaranteed under the Fourteenth 

2 Amendment to the United States Constitution. 

3 (17) Congress has the authority to pass this 

4 Act pursuant to its spending clause power, com5 merce clause power, and enforcement power under 

6 section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the 

7 United States Constitution. 

8 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are as fol9 lows: 

10 (1) To prohibit governmental entities from dis11 criminating or taking an adverse action against a 

12 child welfare service provider on the basis that the 

13 provider declines to provide a child welfare service 

14 that conflicts, or under circumstances that conflict, 

15 with the sincerely held religious beliefs or moral con16 victions of the provider. 

17 (2) To protect child welfare service providers’ 

18 exercise of religion and to ensure that governmental 

19 entities will not be able to force those providers, ei20 ther directly or indirectly, to discontinue all or some 

21 of their child welfare services because they decline to 

22 provide a child welfare service that conflicts, or 

23 under circumstances that conflict, with their sin24 cerely held religious beliefs or moral convictions. 


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1 (3) To provide relief to child welfare service 

2 providers whose rights have been violated. 

3 SEC. 3. DISCRIMINATION AND ADVERSE ACTIONS PROHIB4 ITED. 

5 (a) The Federal Government, and any State that re6 ceives Federal funding for any program that provides child 

7 welfare services under part B or part E of title IV of the 

8 Social Security Act (and any subdivision, office or depart9 ment of such State) shall not discriminate or take an ad10 verse action against a child welfare service provider on the 

11 basis that the provider has declined or will decline to pro12 vide, facilitate, or refer for a child welfare service that con13 flicts with, or under circumstances that conflict with, the 

14 provider’s sincerely held religious beliefs or moral convic15 tions. 

16 (b) Subsection (a) does not apply to conduct forbid17 den by paragraph (18) of section 471(a) of such Act. 

18 SEC. 4. FUNDS WITHHELD FOR VIOLATION. 

19 The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall 

20 withhold from a State 15 percent of the Federal funds 

21 the State receives for a program that provides child wel22 fare services under part B or part E of title IV of the 

23 Social Security Act if the State violates section 3 when 

24 administering or disbursing funds under such program. 


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1 SEC. 5. PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION. 

2 (a) A child welfare service provider aggrieved by a 

3 violation of section 3 may assert that violation as a claim 

4 or defense in a judicial proceeding and obtain all appro5 priate relief, including declaratory relief, injunctive relief, 

6 and compensatory damages, with respect to that violation. 

7 (b) A child welfare service provider that prevails in 

8 an action by establishing a violation of section 3 is entitled 

9 to recover reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs. 

10 (c) By accepting or expending Federal funds in con11 nection with a program that provides child welfare services 

12 under part B or part E of title IV of the Social Security 

13 Act, a State waives its sovereign immunity for any claim 

14 or defense that is raised under this section. 

15 SEC. 6. SEVERABILITY. 

16 If any provision of this Act, or any application of such 

17 provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be un18 constitutional, the remainder of this Act and the applica19 tion of the provision to any other person or circumstance 

20 shall not be affected. 

21 SEC. 7. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

22 (a) The amendments made by this Act shall take ef23 fect on the 1st day of the 1st fiscal year beginning on 

24 or after the date of the enactment of this Act, and the 

25 withholding of funds authorized by section 4 shall apply 


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1 to payments under parts B and E of such Act for calendar 

2 quarters beginning on or after such date. 

3 (b) If legislation (other than legislation appropriating 

4 funds) is required for a governmental entity to bring itself 

5 into compliance with this Act, the governmental entity 

6 shall not be regarded as violating this Act before the 1st 

7 day of the 1st calendar quarter beginning after the first 

8 regular session of the legislative body that begins after the 

9 date of the enactment of this Act. For purposes of the 

10 preceding sentence, if the governmental entity has a 2- 

11 year legislative session, each year of the session is deemed 

12 to be a separate regular session. 

13 SEC. 8. DEFINITIONS. 

14 The following definitions apply throughout this Act: 

15 (1) The term ‘‘child welfare service provider’’ 

16 includes organizations, corporations, groups, entities, 

17 or individuals that provide or seek to provide, or 

18 that apply for or receive a contract, subcontract, 

19 grant, or subgrant for the provision of, child welfare 

20 services. The provider need not be engaged exclu21 sively in child welfare services to be considered a 

22 child welfare service provider. 

23 (2) The term ‘‘child welfare services’’ means so24 cial services provided to or on behalf of children, in25 cluding assisting abused, neglected, or troubled chilVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:12 Apr 08, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1881.IH H1881

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1 dren, counseling children or parents, promoting fos2 ter parenting, providing foster homes or temporary 

3 group shelters for children, recruiting foster parents, 

4 placing children in foster homes, licensing foster 

5 homes, promoting adoption, recruiting adoptive par6 ents, assisting adoptions, supporting adoptive fami7 lies, assisting kinship guardianships, assisting kin8 ship caregivers, providing family preservation serv9 ices, providing family support services, and providing 

10 time-limited family reunification services. 

11 (3) The term ‘‘State’’ includes any of the sev12 eral States, the District of Columbia, any common13 wealth, territory or possession of the United States, 

14 and any political subdivision thereof. 

15 (4) The terms ‘‘funding’’, ‘‘funded’’, or ‘‘funds’’ 

16 include money paid pursuant to a contract, grant, 

17 voucher, or similar means. 

18 (5) The term ‘‘adverse action’’ includes, but is 

19 not limited to, denying a child welfare service pro20 vider’s application for funding, refusing to renew the 

21 provider’s funding, canceling the provider’s funding, 

22 declining to enter into a contract with the provider, 

23 refusing to renew a contract with the provider, can24 celing a contract with the provider, declining to issue 

25 a license to the provider, refusing to renew the proVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:12 Apr 08, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1881.IH H1881

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1 vider’s license, canceling the provider’s license, ter2 minating the provider’s employment, or any other 

3 adverse action that materially alters the terms or 

4 conditions of the provider’s employment, funding, 

5 contract, or license. 

Æ 


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