I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5830 

To provide for competitive grants for the establishment and expansion of 

programs that use networks of public, private, and faith-based organizations to recruit and train foster and adoptive parents and provide support 

services to foster children and their families. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 22, 2010 

Mr. COOPER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To provide for competitive grants for the establishment and 

expansion of programs that use networks of public, private, and faith-based organizations to recruit and train 

foster and adoptive parents and provide support services 

to foster children and their families. 

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 ‘‘One Church, One Child 

5 Act of 2010’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress makes the following findings: 


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1 (1) Many States are facing serious shortages of 

2 qualified foster parents and qualified adoptive par3 ents. 

4 (2) Though family foster care remains the pre5 ferred placement setting for most children in foster 

6 care, numerous studies have documented States’ in7 ability to effectively recruit and retain qualified fos8 ter families. In 2008, almost 30 percent of children 

9 in foster care were placed in a non-family placement 

10 setting. 

11 (3) The shortage of adoptive parents is equally 

12 dire—while 55,000 children were adopted out of fos13 ter care in 2008, as many as 123,000 were awaiting 

14 adoption. On average, these waiting children had 

15 been in continuous foster care for 38 months. 

16 (4) The costs of not finding adoptive homes for 

17 foster children awaiting adoption are great. Youth 

18 who ‘‘age out’’ of the foster care system—almost 

19 30,000 youth in 2008—are at higher risk of becom20 ing pregnant, homeless, unemployed, and incarcer21 ated than their peers. 

22 (5) A 2005 study found that ‘‘a strong personal 

23 connection’’ does more to attract adoptive parents to 

24 foster care adoption than the media and other cost25 lier recruitment strategies. 


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1 (6) The rapid increase in the annual number of 

2 adoptions from foster care since the enactment of 

3 the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 has cre4 ated a growing need for post-adoption services and 

5 for service providers with the knowledge and skills 

6 required to address the unique issues adoptive fami7 lies and children may face. 

8 (7) One Church, One Child is a national faith9 and community-based foster care and adoption min10 istry established in Chicago, Illinois, in 1980 by Fa11 ther George Clements, whose mission is to provide 

12 comprehensive services that promote the well-being 

13 of at-risk children and the strengthening and em14 powerment of adoptive, foster, and kinship families. 

15 Since its formation, the organization and programs 

16 based on its model have successfully placed more 

17 than 140,000 children in adoptive families nation18 wide. 

19 (8) Despite its success as a model for providing 

20 recruitment, training, and support services for cer21 tified foster and adoptive parents, One Church, One 

22 Child programs and programs based on this concept 

23 have received limited Federal funding. 

24 (9) The creation of a federally funded grant 

25 program to support the establishment and expansion 


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1 of programs for the recruitment of foster parents 

2 and adoptive parents which are modeled on the One 

3 Church, One Child concept will benefit the Nation’s 

4 abused and neglected children by increasing the pool 

5 of qualified adoptive parents and qualified foster 

6 parents. 

7 SEC. 3. ONE CHURCH, ONE CHILD GRANTS. 

8 Part E of title IV of the Social Security Act (42 

9 U.S.C. 670–679c) is amended by adding at the end the 

10 following: 

11 ‘‘SEC. 479C. ONE CHURCH, ONE CHILD GRANTS. 

12 ‘‘(a) COMPETITIVE GRANTS TO ELIGIBLE ENTITIES

13 TO CONDUCT ONE CHURCH, ONE CHILD FOSTER PAR14 ENT AND ADOPTION PARENT RECRUITMENT PRO15 GRAMS.— 

16 ‘‘(1) GRANT AUTHORITY.— 

17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

18 make grants, on a competitive basis, to eligible 

19 entities to support the establishment or expan20 sion of programs that use networks of public, 

21 private and faith-based organizations to recruit 

22 and train qualified foster parents and qualified 

23 adoptive parents and provide support services to 

24 adoptive and foster children and their families. 


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1 ‘‘(B) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—In this section, 

2 the term ‘eligible entity’ means a State or local 

3 government, local public agency, community4 based or nonprofit organization, or private enti5 ty, including any charitable or faith-based orga6 nization, that submits to the Secretary, at such 

7 time, in such form, and in such manner as the 

8 Secretary may require, an application that con9 tains such information as the Secretary may re10 quire and the following: 

11 ‘‘(i) PROJECT DESCRIPTION.—A de12 scription of the programs or activities the 

13 entity intends to carry out with funds pro14 vided under this section, including an esti15 mate of the number of children to be 

16 served under such programs or activities 

17 and a description of the services to be pro18 vided to prospective adoptive and foster 

19 parents, including post-placement sup20 portive services. 

21 ‘‘(ii) COORDINATION OF EFFORTS.—A 

22 description of how the entity will coordi23 nate and cooperate with State and local 

24 entities responsible for carrying out pro25 grams related to the recruitment of foster 


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1 parents and adoptive parents, and with the 

2 national clearinghouse established under 

3 section 479D. 

4 ‘‘(iii) RECORDS, REPORTS, AND AU5 DITS.—An agreement to maintain such 

6 records, submit such reports, and cooper7 ate with such reviews and audits as the 

8 Secretary finds necessary for purposes of 

9 oversight. 

10 ‘‘(2) DEFINITION OF STATE.—In this section, 

11 the term ‘State’ means each of the 50 States, the 

12 District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto 

13 Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, 

14 American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the 

15 Northern Mariana Islands. 

16 ‘‘(3) LIMITATIONS ON AUTHORIZATION OF AP17 PROPRIATIONS.—To carry out this section, there are 

18 authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary not 

19 more than $20,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2011 

20 through 2015. 

21 ‘‘(4) 3-YEAR AVAILABILITY OF GRANT FUNDS.— 

22 An eligible entity to which a grant is made under 

23 this section for a fiscal year shall remit to the Sec24 retary any part of the grant that is not expended by 

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1 gether with any earnings on such unexpended 

2 amount. 

3 ‘‘(5) REDISTRIBUTION OF UNUSED GRANT

4 FUNDS.—The Secretary shall redistribute any funds 

5 remitted under paragraph (4) among eligible entities 

6 that the Secretary determines have a need for addi7 tional funds to carry out the programs and activities 

8 referred to in paragraph (1)(B)(i). 

9 ‘‘(b) PROVISIONS RELATING TO RELIGIOUS ORGANI10 ZATIONS.— 

11 ‘‘(1) NONDISCRIMINATION.—For the purpose of 

12 awarding grants under this section, the Secretary 

13 shall consider religious organizations on the same 

14 basis as other nongovernmental organizations, so 

15 long as the grant is to be implemented in a manner 

16 consistent with the Establishment Clause of the 

17 First Amendment to the Constitution of the United 

18 States. A State or local government receiving funds 

19 under this section shall not discriminate against an 

20 organization that seeks to participate in a program 

21 funded under this section on the basis that the orga22 nization has a religious character. 

23 ‘‘(2) NONINTERFERENCE.—Neither the Federal 

24 Government nor a State or local government shall 

25 require a religious organization— 


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1 ‘‘(A) to alter its form of internal govern2 ance; or 

3 ‘‘(B) to remove from its premises religious 

4 art, icons, scripture, or other symbols, 

5 in order to be eligible to receive a grant under this 

6 section or to participate in a program funded under 

7 this section. 

8 ‘‘(3) LIMITATIONS ON USE OF FUNDS.—Funds 

9 provided directly to a religious organization to carry 

10 out a program funded under this section shall not be 

11 expended for sectarian worship, instruction, or pros12 elytization. 

13 ‘‘(4) FISCAL ACCOUNTABILITY.— 

14 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

15 paragraph (B), a religious organization receiv16 ing funds under this section shall be subject to 

17 the same regulations as other nongovernmental 

18 organizations to account in accord with gen19 erally accepted accounting principles for the use 

20 of such funds. 

21 ‘‘(B) SEPARATION OF FUNDS.—Such an 

22 organization shall keep all funds provided under 

23 this section in an account separate from all 

24 other funds of the organization.’’. 


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1 SEC. 4. NATIONAL CLEARINGHOUSE FOR ADOPTION PRO2 MOTION AND FOSTER PARENT PROGRAMS; 

3 ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS. 

4 Part E of title IV of the Social Security Act (42 

5 U.S.C. 670–679c) is further amended by adding at the 

6 end the following: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 479D. NATIONAL CLEARINGHOUSE FOR ADOPTION 

8 PROMOTION AND FOSTER PARENT RECRUIT9 MENT PROGRAMS; ANNUAL REPORT TO CON10 GRESS. 

11 ‘‘(a) NATIONAL CLEARINGHOUSE FOR ADOPTION

12 PROMOTION AND FOSTER PARENT RECRUITMENT PRO13 GRAMS.— 

14 ‘‘(1) NATIONAL CLEARINGHOUSE.— 

15 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

16 enter into a contract with a nationally recog17 nized, nonprofit adoption promotion and foster 

18 parent recruitment organization described in 

19 subparagraph (B) to— 

20 ‘‘(i) assist State and local govern21 ments, local public agencies, community22 based organizations, nonprofit organiza23 tions, and private entities, including chari24 table and faith-based organizations in co25 ordinating their activities relating to re26 cruitment of foster parents and adoptive 


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1 parents and the provision of post-place2 ment support to foster families and adop3 tive families; 

4 ‘‘(ii) design and provide technical as5 sistance and training for grantees and 

6 identify and disseminate to grantees ‘best 

7 practices’ for recruiting and training pro8 spective foster and adoptive parents and 

9 providing post-placement support to foster 

10 families and adoptive families; 

11 ‘‘(iii) collect information on the effec12 tiveness of the programs funded under sec13 tion 479C, including the number of chil14 dren placed under the programs, the num15 ber of foster parents and adoptive parents 

16 recruited under such programs, and such 

17 other data as the Secretary requires for 

18 evaluating the effectiveness of such pro19 grams; and 

20 ‘‘(iv) assist the Secretary in the prep21 aration of the reports required by sub22 section (b). 

23 ‘‘(B) NATIONALLY RECOGNIZED, NON24 PROFIT ADOPTION PROMOTION AND FOSTER

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1 SCRIBED.—The nationally recognized, nonprofit 

2 adoption promotion and foster parent recruit3 ment organization described in this subpara4 graph is an organization, selected by the Sec5 retary on a competitive basis, that— 

6 ‘‘(i) has demonstrated experience in 

7 providing consultation and training to 

8 faith-based and community organizations 

9 interested in adoption promotion and fos10 ter parent recruitment; 

11 ‘‘(ii) has an established national rep12 utation in working with faith-based and 

13 community organizations to recruit and 

14 train prospective foster and adoptive par15 ents; and 

16 ‘‘(iii) has extensive experience in es17 tablishing and working with programs 

18 based on the One Church, One Child 

19 model. 

20 ‘‘(2) LIMITATIONS ON AUTHORIZATION OF AP21 PROPRIATIONS.—To carry out this subsection, there 

22 are authorized to be appropriated not more than 

23 $1,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2011 through 

24 2015. 


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1 ‘‘(b) ANNUAL REPORTS.—Not later than 1 year after 

2 the date a grant is first made under section 479C and 

3 annually thereafter, the Secretary shall prepare and sub4 mit to the Congress a report that includes the following 

5 with respect to the year involved: 

6 ‘‘(1) A specification of the number of entities to 

7 which grants have been made under section 479C. 

8 ‘‘(2) A specification of the number of foster 

9 parents and adoptive families recruited by the pro10 grams which have been supported with the grants. 

11 ‘‘(3) A specification of the number of children 

12 placed with such foster parents and adoptive fami13 lies, and the outcomes of such placements. 

14 ‘‘(4) Any other information that the Secretary 

15 determines is relevant to the evaluation of the pro16 gram under section 479C.’’. 

Æ 


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