I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2068 

To ensure the safety and well-being of adopted children. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 28, 2015 

Mr. LANGEVIN (for himself, Mr. WITTMAN, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON

of Texas, Ms. NORTON, Mr. CA ́RDENAS, Ms. MOORE, Mr. CICILLINE, and 

Ms. BASS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committees on Energy 

and Commerce and the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To ensure the safety and well-being of adopted 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. ADOPTION SUPPORT SERVICES. 

4 (a) ENSURING WELL-BEING OF ADOPTED CHILDREN

5 AND ADOPTIVE FAMILIES.—Section 421 of the Social Se6 curity Act (42 U.S.C. 621) is amended— 

7 (1) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 

8 end; 


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1 (2) by redesignating paragraph (5) as para2 graph (6); and 

3 (3) by inserting after paragraph (4) the fol4 lowing new paragraph: 

5 ‘‘(5) ensuring the well-being of adopted children 

6 and their adoptive families and promoting efforts to 

7 prevent such children from entering the foster care 

8 system through the provision of pre- and post-adop9 tive support services; and’’. 

10 (b) PRE- AND POST-ADOPTIVE SUPPORT SERV11 ICES.—Paragraph (8) of section 431(a) of such Act (42 

12 U.S.C. 629a(a)) is amended to read as follows: 

13 ‘‘(8) ADOPTION PROMOTION AND SUPPORT

14 SERVICES.— 

15 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘adoption 

16 promotion and support services’ means services 

17 and activities designed to encourage more adop18 tions out of the foster care system and support 

19 domestic adoptions and adoptions from other 

20 countries, consistent with promoting the best 

21 interests of adopted children and their adoptive 

22 families. Such services and activities may in23 clude pre- and post-adoptive support services, 

24 as described in subparagraph (B), that are deVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:03 May 07, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2068.IH H2068

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1 signed to support adopted children and their 

2 adoptive families. 

3 ‘‘(B) PRE- AND POST-ADOPTIVE SUPPORT

4 SERVICES.—The term ‘pre- and post-adoptive 

5 support services’ means the following: 

6 ‘‘(i) Pre-adoptive support services, 

7 which may include— 

8 ‘‘(I) direct services, including 

9 training, educational support, coun10 seling, case management, and other 

11 services for adoptive parents and fam12 ilies that address caregiver interests 

13 and concerns regarding common be14 havioral issues, such as— 

15 ‘‘(aa) issues relating to emo16 tional, behavioral, or develop17 mental health needs; 

18 ‘‘(bb) issues relating to at19 tachment, identity, abandonment, 

20 cultural differences, grief, and 

21 loss; 

22 ‘‘(cc) issues resulting from 

23 birth defects due to fetal alcohol 

24 syndrome or any other substance 


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1 abuse-related developmental dis2 order; 

3 ‘‘(dd) the conditions that a 

4 child is being adopted from, and 

5 how this will influence the child’s 

6 emotional and social develop7 ment; and 

8 ‘‘(ee) the child’s background 

9 information (non-identifying and 

10 identifying when needed or when 

11 agreed upon in an open adop12 tion), including information from 

13 family, agency, court, school, 

14 mental health, and medical files; 

15 ‘‘(II) the provision of educational 

16 resources for adoptive parents regard17 ing the geographic, ethnic, and cul18 tural background of the adopted child; 

19 ‘‘(III) peer-to-peer mentoring and 

20 support groups that permit a newly 

21 adoptive parent to communicate and 

22 learn from more experienced adoptive 

23 parents, including programs that en24 hance communication between adop25 tive parents with children of similar 


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1 geographic, ethnic, or cultural back2 grounds; and 

3 ‘‘(IV) the provision of informa4 tional resources for adoptive parents, 

5 including— 

6 ‘‘(aa) resources available 

7 through Federal and State agen8 cies, including information re9 garding benefits for children with 

10 a medical condition or a physical, 

11 mental, or emotional disability; 

12 ‘‘(bb) newsletters, Web sites, 

13 and other informational resources 

14 regarding adoption-related serv15 ices; 

16 ‘‘(cc) the establishment of 

17 lending libraries containing infor18 mation and resources for adop19 tive parents; and 

20 ‘‘(dd) conferences, parent 

21 support discussion groups, and 

22 seminars that are available to 

23 adoptive parents and other rel24 evant stakeholders. 


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1 ‘‘(ii) Post-adoptive support services, 

2 which may include— 

3 ‘‘(I) continued provision to adop4 tive parents of pre-adoptive support 

5 services described in clause (i); 

6 ‘‘(II) the provision of accessible 

7 and reliable respite services for adop8 tive parents; 

9 ‘‘(III) direct services and coun10 seling for adopted child and family, 

11 including, as appropriate— 

12 ‘‘(aa) support services for an 

13 adopted child with emotional, be14 havioral, or developmental health 

15 needs; 

16 ‘‘(bb) support services that 

17 address issues relating to attach18 ment, identity, abandonment, cul19 tural differences, grief, and loss; 

20 and 

21 ‘‘(cc) treatment services that 

22 are specialized for adopted chil23 dren, including psychiatric resi24 dential services, outpatient men25 tal health services, social skills 


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1 training, intensive in-home super2 vision services, recreational ther3 apy, suicide prevention, and sub4 stance abuse treatment; 

5 ‘‘(IV) peer-to-peer mentoring and 

6 support groups that allow adopted 

7 children to communicate and socialize 

8 with other adopted children, including 

9 programs that provide for communica10 tion between adopted children from 

11 similar geographic, ethnic, or cultural 

12 backgrounds; and 

13 ‘‘(V) crisis and family preserva14 tion services, including respite care 

15 and crisis counseling and a 24-hour 

16 emergency hotline for adoptive par17 ents.’’. 

18 SEC. 2. FEDERAL GRANT PROGRAM FOR POST-ADOPTION 

19 MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES. 

20 Subpart 3 of part B of title V of the Public Health 

21 Service Act (42 U.S.C. 290bb–3 et seq.) is amended by 

22 adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 520L. POST-ADOPTION MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES. 

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting through 

3 the Administrator, shall award grants or cooperative 

4 agreements to eligible entities to— 

5 ‘‘(1) develop and implement Statewide or tribal 

6 post-adoption mental health service programs for all 

7 adopted children; 

8 ‘‘(2) support public organization and private 

9 nonprofit organizations actively involved in State10 wide or tribal post-adoption mental health service 

11 programs; 

12 ‘‘(3) collect and analyze data on State-spon13 sored Statewide or tribal post-adoption mental 

14 health service programs that can be used to monitor 

15 the effectiveness of such services and for research, 

16 technical assistance, and policy development; 

17 ‘‘(4) develop and provide educational and train18 ing opportunities concerning the mental health needs 

19 of adopted children and their families for use by 

20 teachers, social workers, and other community men21 tal health service providers; and 

22 ‘‘(5) develop and provide materials for potential 

23 adoptive parents, both for domestic adoptions and 

24 adoptions from other countries, describing the pos25 sible need for post-adoption mental health services 

26 and available resources. 


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1 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.— 

2 ‘‘(1) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term 

3 ‘eligible entity’ means— 

4 ‘‘(A) a State; 

5 ‘‘(B) a public organization or private non6 profit organization designated by a State to de7 velop or direct the State-sponsored Statewide 

8 post-adoption mental health service program 

9 under a grant under this section; and 

10 ‘‘(C) a Federally recognized Indian tribe or 

11 tribal organization (as defined in the Indian 

12 Self-Determination and Education Assistance 

13 Act (25 U.S.C. 450 et seq.)) or an urban In14 dian organization (as defined in the Indian 

15 Health Care Improvement Act (25 U.S.C. 1601 

16 et seq.)) that is actively involved in the develop17 ment and continuation of a post-adoption men18 tal health service program. 

19 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—In carrying out this section, 

20 the Secretary shall ensure that each State is award21 ed only 1 grant or cooperative agreement under this 

22 section. For purposes of the preceding sentence, a 

23 State shall be considered to have been awarded a 

24 grant or cooperative agreement if the eligible entity 

25 involved is the State or an entity designated by the 


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1 State under paragraph (1)(B). Nothing in this para2 graph shall be construed to apply to entities de3 scribed in paragraph (1)(C). 

4 ‘‘(c) PREFERENCE.—In providing assistance under a 

5 grant or cooperative agreement under this section, the 

6 Secretary shall give preference to eligible entities that have 

7 demonstrated success in increasing the level of adoption 

8 competency among mental health providers, adoption law9 yers, social workers, case workers, and adoptive parents. 

10 ‘‘(d) REQUIREMENT FOR DIRECT SERVICES.—Not 

11 less than 85 percent of funds received under a grant or 

12 cooperative agreement under this section shall be used to 

13 provide direct services, of which not less than 5 percent 

14 shall be used for activities authorized under subsection 

15 (a)(3). 

16 ‘‘(e) COORDINATION AND COLLABORATION.— 

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out this sec18 tion, the Secretary shall collaborate with relevant 

19 Federal agencies and adoption-related working 

20 groups to promote interaction between domestic fos21 ter care agencies and private adoption agencies in 

22 other countries. 

23 ‘‘(2) CONSULTATION.—In carrying out this sec24 tion, the Secretary shall consult with— 


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1 ‘‘(A) State and social service agencies en2 gaged in the placement of children for adoption, 

3 domestically or from other countries; 

4 ‘‘(B) local and national organizations that 

5 serve foster and adopted youth; 

6 ‘‘(C) health and education specialists who 

7 focus on adoption and foster care medicine; 

8 ‘‘(D) youth who have been in foster care or 

9 adopted, domestically or from other countries; 

10 ‘‘(E) families and friends of youth who 

11 have been in foster care or adopted, domesti12 cally or from other countries; and 

13 ‘‘(F) qualified professionals who possess 

14 the specialized knowledge, skills, experience, 

15 and relevant attributes needed to serve adopted 

16 children and their families. 

17 ‘‘(3) POLICY DEVELOPMENT.—In carrying out 

18 this section, the Secretary shall— 

19 ‘‘(A) coordinate and collaborate on policy 

20 development with the Administration for Chil21 dren and Families and other relevant Depart22 ment of Health and Human Services agencies 

23 and adoption-related working groups; and 

24 ‘‘(B) consult on policy development at the 

25 Federal level with those in the private sector 


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1 engaged in the recruitment of foster and adop2 tive parents, the placement of children in foster 

3 care and for adoption, and the provision of 

4 post-adoption services. 

5 ‘‘(f) EVALUATION AND REPORT.— 

6 ‘‘(1) EVALUATIONS BY ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.— 

7 Not later than 18 months after receipt of a grant or 

8 cooperative agreement under this section, an eligible 

9 entity shall submit to the Secretary the results of an 

10 evaluation to be conducted by the entity concerning 

11 the effectiveness of the activities carried out under 

12 the grant or agreement. 

13 ‘‘(2) REPORT.—Not later than 2 years after the 

14 date of enactment of this section, the Secretary shall 

15 submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a 

16 report concerning the results of— 

17 ‘‘(A) the evaluations conducted under 

18 paragraph (1); and 

19 ‘‘(B) an evaluation conducted by the Sec20 retary to analyze the effectiveness and efficacy 

21 of the activities conducted with grants, collabo22 rations, and consultations under this section. 

23 ‘‘(g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

24 ‘‘(1) ADOPTED CHILD.—The term ‘adopted 

25 child’ means an individual who is under 21 years of 


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1 age and was adopted from foster care, through a 

2 private placement agency, or from another country. 

3 ‘‘(2) ADOPTION COMPETENCY.—The term 

4 ‘adoption competency’ means an understanding of— 

5 ‘‘(A) the nature of adoption as a form of 

6 family formation and the different types of 

7 adoption; 

8 ‘‘(B) relevant emotional and physical 

9 issues involved in the adoption process, includ10 ing issues relating to separation, loss, attach11 ment, abuse, trauma, and neglect; 

12 ‘‘(C) common developmental challenges as13 sociated with adoption; 

14 ‘‘(D) the characteristics and skills that 

15 allow for successful adoptive families; 

16 ‘‘(E) proper sensitivity with respect to the 

17 different geographic, ethnic, or cultural back18 grounds of adopted children and adoptive fami19 lies; and 

20 ‘‘(F) the necessary skills for effectively ad21 vocating on behalf of birth and adoptive fami22 lies. 

23 ‘‘(3) POST-ADOPTION MENTAL HEALTH SERV24 ICES.—The term ‘post-adoption mental health serv25 ices’ includes— 


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1 ‘‘(A) adoption competent mental health di2 rect services, including training, educational 

3 support, counseling, and other services for 

4 adoptive parents and families that address care5 giver interests and concerns regarding child be6 havioral issues that are common among adopted 

7 children and children in foster care, including, 

8 as appropriate— 

9 ‘‘(i) caring for an adopted child with 

10 emotional, behavioral, or developmental 

11 health needs; and 

12 ‘‘(ii) providing for the emotional needs 

13 of an adopted child, including issues relat14 ing to attachment, identity, abandonment, 

15 cultural differences, grief, and loss; 

16 ‘‘(B) peer-to-peer mentoring and support 

17 groups that permit a newly adoptive parent to 

18 communicate and learn from more experienced 

19 adoptive parents; 

20 ‘‘(C) the provision of informational re21 sources and available services for adoptive par22 ents; 

23 ‘‘(D) direct services, including counseling, 

24 peer-to-peer mentoring and support groups, and 

25 other services for adopted children that address 


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1 common behavioral and adjustment issues, in2 cluding, as appropriate— 

3 ‘‘(i) support services for an adopted 

4 child with emotional, behavioral, or devel5 opmental health needs; 

6 ‘‘(ii) support services that address the 

7 emotional needs of an adopted child, in8 cluding issues relating to attachment, iden9 tity, abandonment, cultural differences, 

10 grief, and loss; and 

11 ‘‘(iii) treatment services that are spe12 cialized for adopted children, including 

13 psychiatric residential services, outpatient 

14 mental health services, social skills train15 ing, intensive in-home supervision services, 

16 recreational therapy, suicide prevention, 

17 and substance abuse treatment; 

18 ‘‘(E) peer-to-peer mentoring and support 

19 groups that allow adopted children to commu20 nicate and socialize with other adopted children; 

21 and 

22 ‘‘(F) crisis intervention and family preser23 vation services. 

24 ‘‘(h) FUNDING FOR POST-ADOPTION MENTAL

25 HEALTH SERVICES.—From amounts appropriated to 


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1 carry out titles III, V, or XIX of the Public Health Service 

2 Act for each fiscal year, $20,000,000 shall be used by the 

3 Secretary in each such fiscal year to fund services and 

4 programs authorized under this section.’’. 

5 SEC. 3. DATA COLLECTION ON ADOPTION DISRUPTION AND 

6 DISSOLUTION. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 479 of the Social Security 

8 Act (42 U.S.C. 679) is amended by adding at the end the 

9 following new subsection: 

10 ‘‘(e)(1) Not later than 12 months after the date of 

11 enactment of this subsection, the Secretary shall, as part 

12 of the data collection system established under this sec13 tion, promulgate final regulations providing for the collec14 tion and analysis of information regarding children who 

15 enter into State custody as a result of the disruption of 

16 a placement for adoption or the dissolution of an adoption, 

17 which shall require States to collect and report— 

18 ‘‘(A) information on children who are adopted 

19 within the United States or from other countries and 

20 who enter into State custody as a result of the dis21 ruption of a placement for adoption or the dissolu22 tion of an adoption, including— 

23 ‘‘(i) the number of children who enter into 

24 State custody as a result of the dissolution of 

25 an adoption; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) for each child identified under clause 

2 (i)— 

3 ‘‘(I) as applicable, the country of birth 

4 for any child who was not born in the 

5 United States; 

6 ‘‘(II) the reason for the disruption or 

7 dissolution; and 

8 ‘‘(III) the agencies who handled the 

9 placement for adoption; and 

10 ‘‘(B) such other information as determined ap11 propriate by the Secretary. 

12 ‘‘(2) The regulations shall require a State that re13 ports the information described in paragraph (1) to use 

14 the information— 

15 ‘‘(A) to consolidate and expand the collection of 

16 information on adoption disruption and dissolution; 

17 ‘‘(B) to improve research and data collection 

18 systems in order to more accurately determine and 

19 measure the rates, outcomes, and causes of adoption 

20 disruption and dissolution; 

21 ‘‘(C) to identify pre- and post-adoptive support 

22 services (including services described in section 

23 431(a)(8)(B)) that result in lower rates of disrup24 tion and dissolution of adoptions; 


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1 ‘‘(D) to develop an understanding of the rela2 tionship between the rate of incidence of adoption 

3 disruptions and dissolutions and the support services 

4 that are provided to adoptive families in order to 

5 identify and develop effective evidence-based strate6 gies, programs, and support services that help to 

7 prevent adoption disruption and dissolution; and 

8 ‘‘(E) to develop and enhance training and edu9 cational services regarding strategies for prevention 

10 of adoption disruption and dissolution. 

11 ‘‘(3)(A) Not later than 6 months after the date of 

12 enactment of this subsection, the Secretary shall, subject 

13 to subparagraph (B), establish an advisory committee to 

14 study methods to effectively collect data regarding disrup15 tion and dissolution of adoptions that are not included in 

16 the data collection system established under this section, 

17 including— 

18 ‘‘(i) data on children whose adoptions are dis19 rupted or dissolved but do not enter into State cus20 tody as a result of such disruption or dissolution; 

21 ‘‘(ii) data on adoption displacements, whereby 

22 an adopted child is temporarily placed out of the 

23 home of an adoptive parent in order to receive med24 ical, mental health, behavioral, or other forms of 

25 treatment; and 


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1 ‘‘(iii) such other data as determined appropriate 

2 by the Secretary. 

3 ‘‘(B) The membership and organization of the advi4 sory committee described in subparagraph (A) shall be de5 termined by the Secretary and shall include— 

6 ‘‘(i) State and child welfare agencies that are 

7 engaged in the placement of children for adoption 

8 domestically or from other countries; 

9 ‘‘(ii) local and national organizations that serve 

10 adopted children and children in foster care; and 

11 ‘‘(iii) members of State and local judiciary and 

12 court staff. 

13 ‘‘(C) Not later than 12 months after establishment 

14 of the advisory committee described in subparagraph (A), 

15 the Secretary shall submit to the appropriate committees 

16 of Congress a report containing recommendations of the 

17 advisory committee for improvement of the data collection 

18 system established under this section.’’. 

19 (b) ANNUAL REPORT.—Section 479A of the Social 

20 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 679b) is amended— 

21 (1) in paragraph (6), by striking ‘‘and’’ after 

22 the semicolon; 

23 (2) in paragraph (7), by striking the period at 

24 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 


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1 (3) by adding at the end the following new 

2 paragraph: 

3 ‘‘(8) include in the report submitted pursuant 

4 to paragraph (5) for fiscal year 2016 or any suc5 ceeding fiscal year, national and State-by-State data 

6 on the numbers and rates of disruptions and dissolu7 tions of adoptions, as collected pursuant to section 

8 479(e)(1).’’. 

9 SEC. 4. EXPANSION OF DEFINITION OF CHILD EXPLOI10 TATION. 

11 Paragraph (1) of section 2 of the PROTECT Our 

12 Children Act of 2008 (42 U.S.C. 17601(1)) is amended 

13 by inserting before the period at the end the following: 

14 ‘‘, or the offer to engage or engaging in the transfer of 

15 permanent custody or control of a minor in contravention 

16 of a required legal procedure’’. 

Æ 


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