I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3909 

To amend subpart 2 of part B of title IV of the Social Security Act to 

authorize grants to eligible entities to develop and implement statewide 

or tribal post-adoption and post-legal guardianship mental health service 

programs for all children who are adopted or placed in legal guardianship, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 23, 2019 

Mr. LANGEVIN (for himself, Ms. BASS, and Mr. BACON) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To amend subpart 2 of part B of title IV of the Social 

Security Act to authorize grants to eligible entities to 

develop and implement statewide or tribal post-adoption 

and post-legal guardianship mental health service programs for all children who are adopted or placed in 

legal guardianship, and for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Supporting Adopted 

5 Children and Families Act of 2019’’. 


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

2 AND POST-LEGAL GUARDIANSHIP MENTAL 

3 HEALTH SERVICES. 

4 Section 437 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 

5 629g) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘(h) POST-ADOPTION AND POST-LEGAL GUARDIAN7 SHIP MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES.— 

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting 

9 through the Administration for Children and Fami10 lies, shall award grants or cooperative agreements to 

11 eligible entities to— 

12 ‘‘(A) develop and implement statewide or 

13 tribal post-adoption and post-legal guardianship 

14 mental health service programs for all children 

15 who are adopted or placed in legal guardianship 

16 and their families; 

17 ‘‘(B) support public organization and pri18 vate nonprofit organizations actively involved in 

19 statewide or tribal post-adoption and post-legal 

20 guardianship mental health service programs; 

21 ‘‘(C) collect and analyze data on State22 sponsored statewide or tribal post-adoption and 

23 post-legal guardianship mental health service 

24 programs that can be used to monitor the effec25 tiveness of such services and for research, tech26 nical assistance, and policy development; 


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1 ‘‘(D) develop and provide adoption and 

2 legal guardianship competent educational and 

3 training opportunities concerning the mental 

4 health needs of children who are adopted or 

5 placed in legal guardianship, and their families, 

6 for use by teachers, social workers, and other 

7 community mental health service providers; 

8 ‘‘(E) develop and provide materials for po9 tential adoptive parents and legal guardians, 

10 both for children who already reside in the 

11 United States at the time of the adoption or 

12 placement in legal guardianship and for those 

13 who at such time reside in other countries, de14 scribing the possible need for post-adoption and 

15 post-legal guardianship mental health services 

16 and available resources; 

17 ‘‘(F) develop and provide respite care serv18 ices for adoptive and legal guardian families; 

19 and 

20 ‘‘(G) support research on, and development 

21 of, promising practices (as defined in section 

22 471(e)(4)(C)(iii)) for post-adoption and post23 legal guardianship mental health services. 

24 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the 

2 term ‘eligible entity’ means— 

3 ‘‘(i) a State; 

4 ‘‘(ii) a public organization or private 

5 nonprofit organization designated by a 

6 State to develop or direct the State-spon7 sored statewide post-adoption and post8 legal guardianship mental health service 

9 program under a grant under this sub10 section; and 

11 ‘‘(iii) a federally recognized Indian 

12 tribe or tribal organization (as defined in 

13 the Indian Self-Determination and Edu14 cation Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450 et 

15 seq.)) or an urban Indian organization (as 

16 defined in the Indian Health Care Im17 provement Act (25 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.)) 

18 that is actively involved in the development 

19 and continuation of a post-adoption and 

20 post-legal guardianship mental health serv21 ice program. 

22 ‘‘(B) LIMITATION.—In carrying out this 

23 subsection, the Secretary shall ensure that each 

24 State is awarded only 1 grant or cooperative 

25 agreement under this subsection. For purposes 


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1 of the preceding sentence, a State shall be con2 sidered to have been awarded a grant or cooper3 ative agreement if the eligible entity involved is 

4 the State or an entity designated by the State 

5 under subparagraph (A)(ii). Nothing in this 

6 subparagraph shall be construed to apply to en7 tities described in subparagraph (A)(iii). 

8 ‘‘(3) PREFERENCE.—In providing assistance 

9 under a grant or cooperative agreement under this 

10 subsection, the Secretary shall give preference to— 

11 ‘‘(A) eligible entities that have dem12 onstrated success in increasing the level of 

13 adoption and legal guardianship competency 

14 among mental health providers, adoption and 

15 legal guardianship lawyers, social workers, case 

16 workers, adoptive parents, and legal guardians; 

17 and 

18 ‘‘(B) eligible entities that plan to partner 

19 with their State mental health agency in car20 rying out the activities for which the grant or 

21 cooperative agreement is made. 

22 ‘‘(4) REQUIREMENT FOR DIRECT SERVICES.— 

23 Not less than 85 percent of funds received under a 

24 grant or cooperative agreement under this sub25 section shall be used to provide direct services, of 


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1 which not less than 5 percent shall be used for ac2 tivities authorized under paragraph (1)(C). 

3 ‘‘(5) COORDINATION AND COLLABORATION.— 

4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out this 

5 subsection, the Secretary shall collaborate with 

6 relevant Federal agencies and adoption and 

7 legal guardianship-related working groups to 

8 promote interaction between domestic foster 

9 care agencies and private adoption agencies in 

10 other countries. 

11 ‘‘(B) CONSULTATION.—In carrying out 

12 this subsection, the Secretary shall consult 

13 with— 

14 ‘‘(i) State and social service agencies 

15 engaged in the placement of children for 

16 adoption, domestically or from other coun17 tries; 

18 ‘‘(ii) local and national organizations 

19 that serve foster and adopted youth and 

20 youth placed in legal guardianship; 

21 ‘‘(iii) health and education specialists 

22 who focus on adoption, legal guardianship, 

23 and foster care medicine; 

24 ‘‘(iv) youth who have been in foster 

25 care, adopted, or in legal guardianship, doVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:57 Aug 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3909.IH H3909

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1 mestically or from other countries, includ2 ing youth who have experienced adoption 

3 or guardianship disruptions or dissolutions; 

4 ‘‘(v) families and friends of youth who 

5 have been in foster care, adopted, or in 

6 legal guardianship, domestically or from 

7 other countries, including foster and adop8 tive parents and legal guardians; and 

9 ‘‘(vi) qualified professionals who pos10 sess the specialized knowledge, skills, expe11 rience, and relevant attributes needed to 

12 serve children who are adopted or placed in 

13 legal guardianship and their families. 

14 ‘‘(C) POLICY DEVELOPMENT.—In carrying 

15 out this subsection, the Secretary shall— 

16 ‘‘(i) coordinate and collaborate on pol17 icy development with other relevant De18 partment of Health and Human Services 

19 agencies and adoption and legal guardian20 ship-related working groups; and 

21 ‘‘(ii) consult on policy development at 

22 the Federal level with those in the private 

23 sector engaged in the recruitment of foster 

24 and adoptive parents and legal guardians, 

25 the placement of children in foster care, 


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1 for adoption, and in legal guardianship, 

2 and the provision of post-adoption and 

3 post-legal guardianship services. 

4 ‘‘(6) EVALUATION AND REPORT.— 

5 ‘‘(A) EVALUATIONS BY ELIGIBLE ENTI6 TIES.—Not later than 18 months after receipt 

7 of a grant or cooperative agreement under this 

8 subsection, an eligible entity shall submit to the 

9 Secretary the results of an evaluation to be con10 ducted by the entity concerning the effective11 ness of the activities carried out under the 

12 grant or agreement. 

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

14 after the date of the enactment of this sub15 section, the Secretary shall submit to the appro16 priate committees of Congress a report con17 cerning the results of— 

18 ‘‘(i) the evaluations conducted under 

19 subparagraph (A); and 

20 ‘‘(ii) an evaluation conducted by the 

21 Secretary to analyze the effectiveness and 

22 efficacy of the activities conducted with 

23 grants, collaborations, and consultations 

24 under this subsection. 

25 ‘‘(7) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 


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1 ‘‘(A) ADOPTION AND LEGAL GUARDIAN2 SHIP COMPETENCY.—The term ‘adoption and 

3 legal guardianship competency’ means an un4 derstanding of— 

5 ‘‘(i) the nature of adoption and legal 

6 guardianship as a form of family formation 

7 and the different types of adoption and 

8 legal guardianship; 

9 ‘‘(ii) relevant emotional and physical 

10 issues involved in the adoption and legal 

11 guardianship process, including issues re12 lating to separation, loss, attachment, 

13 abuse, trauma, and neglect; 

14 ‘‘(iii) common developmental chal15 lenges associated with adoption and legal 

16 guardianship; 

17 ‘‘(iv) the characteristics and skills 

18 that allow for successful adoptive and legal 

19 guardian families; 

20 ‘‘(v) proper sensitivity with respect to 

21 the different geographic, ethnic, or cultural 

22 backgrounds of children who are adopted 

23 or placed in legal guardianship and their 

24 families; and 


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1 ‘‘(vi) the necessary skills for effec2 tively advocating on behalf of birth and 

3 adoptive and legal guardian families. 

4 ‘‘(B) POST-ADOPTION AND POST-LEGAL

5 GUARDIANSHIP MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES.— 

6 The term ‘post-adoption and post-legal guard7 ianship mental health services’ includes— 

8 ‘‘(i) adoption and legal guardianship 

9 competent mental health direct services, in10 cluding training, educational support, 

11 counseling, and other services for adoptive 

12 and legal guardian parents and families 

13 that address caregiver interests and con14 cerns regarding child behavioral issues that 

15 are common among children who are 

16 adopted, placed in legal guardianship, or 

17 placed in foster care, including, as appro18 priate— 

19 ‘‘(I) caring for a child who is 

20 adopted or placed in legal guardian21 ship and has emotional, behavioral, or 

22 developmental health needs; and 

23 ‘‘(II) providing for the emotional 

24 needs of a child who is adopted or 

25 placed in legal guardianship, including 


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1 issues relating to attachment, identity, 

2 abandonment, cultural differences, 

3 grief, loss, and trauma; 

4 ‘‘(ii) peer-to-peer mentoring and sup5 port groups that permit a newly adoptive 

6 parent or legal guardian to communicate 

7 and learn from more experienced adoptive 

8 parents and legal guardians; 

9 ‘‘(iii) the provision of informational 

10 resources and available services for adop11 tive parents and legal guardians; 

12 ‘‘(iv) direct services, including coun13 seling, peer-to-peer mentoring and support 

14 groups, and other services for children who 

15 are adopted or placed in legal guardianship 

16 that address common behavioral and ad17 justment issues, including, as appro18 priate— 

19 ‘‘(I) support services for a child 

20 who is adopted or placed in legal 

21 guardianship with emotional, behav22 ioral, or developmental health needs; 

23 ‘‘(II) support services that ad24 dress the emotional needs of a child 

25 who is adopted or placed in legal 


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1 guardianship, including issues relating 

2 to attachment, identity, abandonment, 

3 cultural differences, grief, loss, and 

4 trauma; and 

5 ‘‘(III) treatment services that are 

6 specialized for children who are adopt7 ed or placed in legal guardianship, in8 cluding psychiatric residential serv9 ices, outpatient mental health services, 

10 social skills training, intensive in11 home supervision services, recreational 

12 therapy, suicide prevention, and sub13 stance abuse treatment; 

14 ‘‘(v) peer-to-peer mentoring and sup15 port groups that allow children who are 

16 adopted or placed in legal guardianship to 

17 communicate and socialize with other such 

18 children; and 

19 ‘‘(vi) crisis intervention and family 

20 preservation services. 

21 ‘‘(8) LIMITATIONS ON AUTHORIZATION OF AP22 PROPRIATIONS.—For grants under this subsection, 

23 there are authorized to be appropriated to the SecVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:57 Aug 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3909.IH H3909

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1 retary not more than $10,000,000 for fiscal year 

2 2020, to remain available until expended.’’. 

Æ 


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