I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2449 

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 19, 2015 

Mr. LEWIS (for himself, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Mr. BECERRA, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. CA ́RDENAS, Mr. CICILLINE, Ms. CLARK of 

Massachusetts, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. CROWLEY, Mrs. DAVIS of California, 

Ms. DEGETTE, Mr. DELANEY, Ms. DELBENE, Mr. DEUTCH, Mr. DOGGETT, Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Ms. 

EDWARDS, Ms. KUSTER, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. TED LIEU of California, Mr. 

SEAN PATRICK MALONEY of New York, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. 

MCDERMOTT, Mr. MEEKS, Mr. MURPHY of Florida, Mr. NADLER, Ms. 

NORTON, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. PETERS, Ms. PINGREE, Mr. POLIS, Mr. 

RANGEL, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. SWALWELL of California, 

Mr. THOMPSON of California, Ms. TITUS, Ms. TSONGAS, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. VARGAS, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. YARMUTH, Ms. BASS, 

Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. CARTWRIGHT, and Mr. LOWENTHAL) 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. 


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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’’. 

6 SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 

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

8 (1) There is a shortage of qualified individuals 

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

10 system. As a result, thousands of foster children 

11 lack a permanent and safe home. 

12 (2) In order to open more homes to foster chil13 dren, child welfare agencies should work to eliminate 

14 sexual orientation, gender identity, and marital sta15 tus discrimination and bias in adoption and foster 

16 care recruitment, selection, and placement proce17 dures. 

18 (3) Of the estimated 400,000 children in the 

19 United States foster care system, more than 

20 101,000 cannot return to their original families and 

21 are legally free for adoption. 

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

23 while 23,090 youth ‘‘aged out’’ of the foster 

24 care system. 


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

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

3 for poverty, homelessness, incarceration, and 

4 early parenthood. 

5 (C) Increasing adoption rates, in addition 

6 to establishing permanency and decreasing risk 

7 factors for foster youth, can yield annual na8 tional cost savings between $3,300,000,000 and 

9 $6,300,000,000. 

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

11 gay, bisexual, and transgender youth experience dis12 crimination, harassment, and violence in the foster 

13 care system because of their sexual orientation or 

14 gender identity. 

15 (5) Approximately 60 percent of homeless les16 bian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth were pre17 viously in foster care. According to the Urban Jus18 tice Center, many of these young people reported 

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

20 their group or foster home. 

21 (6) According to the Williams Institute, an esti22 mated 19 percent of same-sex couple households in23 clude children under 18 years of age. 

24 (7) The Williams Institute estimates that 

25 3,000,000 lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender 


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1 people have had a child and as many as 6,000,000 

2 American adults and children have a lesbian, gay, 

3 bisexual, or transgender parent. Among adults under 

4 50 years of age living alone or with a spouse or 

5 partner, 48 percent of lesbian, bisexual, or 

6 transgender women are raising a child under 18 

7 years of age, and 20 percent of gay, bisexual, or 

8 transgender men are doing so. 

9 (8) As of 2013, same-sex couples are raising 

10 1.4 percent of adopted children with 2 parents and 

11 are fostering 1.7 percent of foster children living 

12 with 2 parents. A 2007 report from the Williams In13 stitute found that an additional 2,000,000 gay, les14 bian, and bisexual individuals are interested in adop15 tion. 

16 (9) According to the Williams Institute/Urban 

17 Institute, same-sex couples raising adopted children 

18 tend to be older than, just as educated as, and have 

19 access to the same economic resources as other 

20 adoptive parents. Studies confirm that children with 

21 same-sex parents have the same advantages and 

22 same expectations for health, social, and psycho23 logical adjustment, and development as children 

24 whose parents are heterosexual. 


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1 (10) An Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute 

study found that 1 2 ⁄3 of child welfare agencies in the 

3 United States reject gay, lesbian, and bisexual appli4 cants. 

5 (A) The practice of prohibiting applicants 

6 from becoming foster parents or adopting chil7 dren solely on the basis of sexual orientation or 

8 marital status has resulted in reducing the 

9 number of qualified adoptive and foster parents 

10 overall and denying gay, lesbian, bisexual, and 

11 unmarried relatives the opportunity to become 

12 foster parents for their own kin, including 

13 grandchildren, or to adopt their own kin, in14 cluding grandchildren, from foster care. 

15 (B) According to the Williams Institute, 

16 more than 3,400 children are currently in foster 

17 placements with same-sex couples. Another 

18 22,000 children are being raised by same-sex 

19 adoptive couples. If other States followed the 

20 minority of States and discriminated against 

21 qualified individuals because of their sexual ori22 entation or marital status, foster care expendi23 tures would increase between $87,000,000 and 

24 $130,000,000 per year in order to pay for addi25 tional institutional and group care, as well as to 


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1 recruit and train new foster and adoptive par2 ents. 

3 (11) Some States allow 1 member of a same4 sex couple to adopt, but do not recognize both mem5 bers of the couple as the child’s legal parents. Rec6 ognition of joint adoption provides children with the 

7 same rights and security that children of hetero8 sexual parents enjoy. These protections include ac9 cess to both parents’ health benefits, survivor’s, So10 cial Security, and child support entitlements, legal 

11 grounds for either parent to provide consent for 

12 medical care, education, and other important deci13 sions, as well as the establishment of permanency 

14 for parents and child. 

15 (12) Professional organizations in the fields of 

16 medicine, psychology, law, and child welfare have 

17 taken official positions in support of the ability of 

18 qualified gay, lesbian, bisexual, and unmarried cou19 ples to foster and adopt a child, as supported by sci20 entific research showing sexual orientation as a non21 determinative factor in parental success. 

22 (13) Discrimination against potential foster or 

23 adoptive parents based on sexual orientation, gender 

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

25 of children in the foster care system. 


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1 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are to de2 crease the length of time that children wait for perma3 nency with a loving family and to promote the best inter4 ests of children in the child welfare system by preventing 

5 discrimination in adoption and foster care placements 

6 based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital 

7 status. 

8 SEC. 3. EVERY CHILD DESERVES A FAMILY. 

9 (a) ACTIVITIES.— 

10 (1) PROHIBITION.—An entity that receives Fed11 eral assistance or contracts with an entity that re12 ceives Federal assistance, and is involved in adoption 

13 or foster care placements may not— 

14 (A) deny to any person the opportunity to 

15 become an adoptive or a foster parent on the 

16 basis of the sexual orientation, gender identity, 

17 or marital status of the person, or the sexual 

18 orientation or gender identity of the child in19 volved; 

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

21 for adoption or into foster care on the basis of 

22 the sexual orientation, gender identity, or mar23 ital status of any prospective adoptive or foster 

24 parent, or the sexual orientation or gender iden25 tity of the child; or 


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1 (C) require different or additional 

2 screenings, processes, or procedures for adop3 tive or foster placement decisions on the basis 

4 of the sexual orientation, gender identity, or 

5 marital status of the prospective adoptive or 

6 foster parent, or the sexual orientation or gen7 der identity of the child involved. 

8 (2) DEFINITION OF PLACEMENT DECISION.—In 

9 this section, the term ‘‘placement decision’’ means 

10 the decision to place, or to delay or deny the place11 ment of, a child in a foster care or an adoptive 

12 home, and includes the decision of the agency or en13 tity involved to seek the termination of birth parent 

14 rights or otherwise make a child legally available for 

15 adoptive placement. 

16 (b) EQUITABLE RELIEF.—Any individual who is ag17 grieved by an action in violation of subsection (a) may 

18 bring an action seeking relief in a United States district 

19 court of appropriate jurisdiction. 

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

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

22 Health and Human Services shall publish guidance to con23 cerned entities with respect to compliance with this sec24 tion. 


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

2 compliance with, and ensure understanding of the legal, 

3 practice, and culture changes required by, this Act in mak4 ing foster care and adoption placement decisions, the Sec5 retary shall provide technical assistance to all entities cov6 ered by this Act, including— 

7 (1) identifying laws and regulations inconsistent 

8 with this Act and providing guidance and training to 

9 ensure the laws and regulations are brought into 

10 compliance within the prescribed period of time; 

11 (2) identifying casework practices and proce12 dures inconsistent with this Act and providing guid13 ance and training to ensure the practices and proce14 dures are brought into compliance within the pre15 scribed period of time; 

16 (3) providing guidance in expansion of recruit17 ment efforts to ensure consideration of all interested 

18 and qualified prospective adoptive and foster parents 

19 regardless of the sexual orientation, gender identity, 

20 or marital status of the prospective parent; 

21 (4) comprehensive cultural competency training 

22 for covered entities and prospective adoptive and fos23 ter parents; and 


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1 (5) training judges and attorneys involved in 

2 foster care and adoption cases on the findings and 

3 purposes of this Act. 

4 (e) DEADLINE FOR COMPLIANCE.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para6 graph (2), an entity that receives Federal assistance 

7 and is involved with adoption or foster care place8 ments shall comply with this section not later than 

9 6 months after publication of the guidance referred 

10 to in subsection (c), or 1 year after the date of en11 actment of this Act, whichever occurs first. 

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

13 State demonstrates to the satisfaction of the Sec14 retary of Health and Human Services that it is nec15 essary to amend State statutory law in order to 

16 change a particular practice that is inconsistent with 

17 this section, the Secretary may extend the compli18 ance date for the State and any entities in the State 

19 that are involved with adoption or foster care place20 ments a reasonable number of days after the close 

21 of the 1st State legislative session beginning after 

22 the date the guidance referred to in subsection (c) 

23 is published. 

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

25 State fails to comply with this section, the Secretary 


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1 may withhold payment to the State of amounts oth2 erwise payable to the State under part B or E of 

3 title IV of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 621 

4 et seq., 670 et seq.), to the extent the Secretary 

5 deems the withholding necessary to induce the State 

6 into compliance with this section. 

7 (f) GAO STUDY.— 

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

9 the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller 

10 General of the United States shall conduct a study 

11 to determine whether the States have substantially 

12 complied with this Act, including specifically whether 

13 the States have— 

14 (A) eliminated policies, practices, or stat15 utes that deny to any otherwise qualified person 

16 the opportunity to become an adoptive or foster 

17 parent on the basis of the sexual orientation, 

18 gender identity, or marital status of the person, 

19 or the sexual orientation or gender identity of 

20 the child involved; 

21 (B) removed all program, policy, or statu22 tory barriers that delay or deny the placement 

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

24 basis of the sexual orientation, gender identity, 

25 or marital status of any qualified, prospective 


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1 adoptive or foster parent, or the sexual orienta2 tion or gender identity of the child; and 

3 (C) eliminated all different or additional 

4 screenings, processes, or procedures for adop5 tive or foster placement decisions based on the 

6 sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital 

7 status of the prospective adoptive or foster par8 ent, or the sexual orientation or gender identity 

9 of the child involved. 

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

11 than 1 year after completing the study required by 

12 paragraph (1), the Comptroller General shall submit 

13 to Congress a written report that contains the re14 sults of the study. 

Æ 


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