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[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 178 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 178

To amend the Social Security Act to clarify that the reasonable efforts 
  requirement includes consideration of the health and safety of the 
                                 child.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 21, 1997

  Mr. DeWine introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
                  referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
To amend the Social Security Act to clarify that the reasonable efforts 
  requirement includes consideration of the health and safety of the 
                                 child.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. CLARIFICATION OF REASONABLE EFFORTS REQUIREMENT BEFORE 
              PLACEMENT IN FOSTER CARE.

    (a) In General.--Section 471(a)(15) of the Social Security Act (42 
U.S.C. 671(a)(15)) is amended to read as follows:
            ``(15) provides that, in each case--
                    ``(A) reasonable efforts will be made--
                            ``(i) prior to the placement of the child 
                        in foster care, to prevent or eliminate the 
                        need for removing the child from the child's 
                        home; and
                            ``(ii) to make it possible for the child to 
                        return home; and
                    ``(B) in determining reasonable efforts, the best 
                interests of the child, including the child's health 
                and safety, shall be of primary concern;''.
    (b) Effective Date.--
            (1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (2), the 
        amendment made by subsection (a) shall be effective on the date 
        of enactment of this Act.
            (2) Exception.--In the case of a State plan for foster care 
        and adoption assistance under part E of title IV of the Social 
        Security Act which the Secretary of Health and Human Services 
        determines requires State legislation (other than legislation 
        appropriating funds) in order for the plan to meet the 
        additional requirement imposed by the amendment made by 
        subsection (a), such plan shall not be regarded as failing to 
        comply with the requirements of such title solely on the basis 
        of its failure to meet this additional requirement before the 
        first day of the first calendar quarter beginning after the 
        close of the first regular session of the State legislature 
        that begins after the date of enactment of this Act. For 
        purposes of the previous sentence, in the case of a State that 
        has a 2-year legislative session, each year of such session 
        shall be deemed to be a separate regular session of the State 
        legislature.
                                 <all>
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