II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1382 

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 19, 2015 

Mrs. GILLIBRAND (for herself, Mrs. MURRAY, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. 

BLUMENTHAL, Mr. FRANKEN, Ms. HIRONO, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. SCHUMER, Ms. CANTWELL, and Ms. WARREN) 

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 

15 101,000 cannot return to their original families and 

16 are legally free for adoption. 

17 (A) 50,608 children were adopted in 2013, 

18 while 23,090 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 Sep 11 2014 21:12 May 26, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1382.IS S1382

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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 adults and children in the United States have a les21 bian, gay, bisexual, or transgender parent. Among 

22 adults under 50 years of age living alone or with a 

23 spouse or 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 and the 

11 Urban Institute, same-sex couples raising adopted 

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

13 and have access to the same economic resources as 

14 other adoptive parents. Studies confirm that children 

15 with same-sex parents have the same advantages 

16 and 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 

20 study found that one-third of child welfare agencies 

21 in the United States reject gay, lesbian, and bisexual 

22 applicants. 

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 one 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 Sep 11 2014 21:12 May 26, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1382.IS S1382

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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 practical, and cultural changes required by this Act in 

21 making foster care and adoption placement decisions, the 

22 Secretary shall provide technical assistance to all entities 

23 covered 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 of Health and Human Services may withhold pay18 ment to the State of amounts otherwise payable to 

19 the State under part B or E of title IV of the Social 

20 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 621 et seq., 670 et seq.), 

21 to the extent the Secretary of Health and Human 

22 Services deems the withholding necessary to induce 

23 the State into compliance with this section. 

24 (f) GAO STUDY.— 


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

2 the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller 

3 General of the United States shall conduct a study 

4 to determine whether the States have substantially 

5 complied with this Act, including specifically whether 

6 the States have— 

7 (A) eliminated policies, practices, or stat8 utes that deny to any otherwise qualified person 

9 the opportunity to become an adoptive or foster 

10 parent on the basis of the sexual orientation, 

11 gender identity, or marital status of the person, 

12 or the sexual orientation or gender identity of 

13 the child involved; 

14 (B) removed all program, policy, or statu15 tory barriers that delay or deny the placement 

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

17 basis of the sexual orientation, gender identity, 

18 or marital status of any qualified, prospective 

19 adoptive or foster parent, or the sexual orienta20 tion or gender identity of the child; and 

21 (C) eliminated all different or additional 

22 screenings, processes, or procedures for adop23 tive or foster placement decisions based on the 

24 sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital 

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1 ent, or the sexual orientation or gender identity 

2 of the child involved. 

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

4 than 1 year after completing the study required by 

5 paragraph (1), the Comptroller General shall submit 

6 to Congress a written report that contains the re7 sults of the study. 

Æ 


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