I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4806 

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 

MARCH 10, 2010 

Mr. STARK (for himself, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. LINDA T. SA ́NCHEZ of California, 

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Ms. BERKLEY, Mr. ROTHMAN of New Jersey, Ms. 

BALDWIN, Ms. CHU, and Mr. HASTINGS of Florida) 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. 

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’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 

2 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) There is a shortage of qualified individuals 

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

5 system. As a result, thousands of foster children 

6 lack a permanent and safe home. 

7 (2) In order to open more homes to foster chil8 dren, child welfare agencies should work to eliminate 

9 sexual orientation, gender identity, and marital sta10 tus discrimination and bias in adoption and foster 

11 care recruitment, selection, and placement proce12 dures. 

13 (3) Of the estimated 500,000 children in the 

14 United States foster care system, over 129,000 can15 not return to their original families and are legally 

16 free for adoption. 

17 (A) 51,000 children were adopted in 2007, 

18 while 25,000 youth ‘‘aged out’’ of the foster 

19 care system. 

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

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

22 for poverty, homelessness, incarceration, and 

23 early parenthood. 

24 (C) Increasing adoption rates, in addition 

25 to establishing permanency and decreasing risk 

26 factors for foster youth, can yield annual naVerDate Nov 24 2008 22:03 Mar 11, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4806.IH H4806

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1 tional cost savings between $3,300,000,000 and 

2 $6,300,000,000. 

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

4 gay, bisexual and transgender youth experience dis5 crimination, harassment, and violence in the foster 

6 care system because of their sexual orientation or 

7 gender identity. 

8 (5) Approximately 60 percent of homeless les9 bian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth were pre10 viously in foster care. According to the Urban Jus11 tice Center, many of these young people reported 

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

13 their group or foster home. 

14 (6) According to data taken from the 2000 

15 Census, an estimated 27 percent of same-sex couples 

16 have at least 1 child under 18 years of age living in 

17 the home. 

18 (7) There are approximately 1,000,000 lesbian, 

19 gay, bisexual, and transgender couples throughout 

20 the United States who are raising approximately 

21 2,000,000 children. 

22 (8) As of 2007, gay, lesbian, and bisexual par23 ents were raising 4 percent of all adopted children 

24 and fostering for 3 percent of all foster children. A 

25 report from the Evan B. Donaldson Institute found 


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1 that an additional 2,000,000 gay, lesbian, and bisex2 ual individuals are interested in adoption. 

3 (9) According to the Urban Institute, same-sex 

4 couples raising adopted children tend to be older 

5 than, just as educated as, and have access to the 

6 same economic resources as other adoptive parents. 

7 Studies confirm that children with same-sex parents 

8 have the same advantages and same expectations for 

9 health, social and psychological adjustment, and de10 velopment as children whose parents are hetero11 sexual. 

12 (10) An Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute 

13 study found that one-third of child welfare agencies 

14 in the United States currently reject gay, lesbian, 

15 and bisexual applicants. 

16 (A) The practice of prohibiting applicants 

17 from becoming foster parents or adopting chil18 dren solely on the basis of sexual orientation or 

19 marital status has resulted in reducing the 

20 number of qualified adoptive and foster parents 

21 overall and denying gay, lesbian, bisexual, and 

22 unmarried relatives the opportunity to become 

23 foster parents for their own kin, including 

24 grandchildren, or to adopt their own kin, in25 cluding grandchildren, from foster care. 


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1 (B) Over 14,000 children are currently in 

2 placements with gay, lesbian, and bisexual 

3 adoptive and foster parents. If other States fol4 lowed the minority of States and discriminated 

5 against qualified individuals because of their 

6 sexual orientation or marital status, foster care 

7 expenditures would increase between 

8 $87,000,000 and $130,000,000 per year in 

9 order to pay for additional institutional and 

10 group care, as well as to recruit and train new 

11 foster and adoptive parents. 

12 (11) Some States allow 1 member of a same13 sex couple to adopt, but do not recognize both mem14 bers of the couple as the child’s legal parents. Rec15 ognition of joint adoption provides children with the 

16 same rights and security that children of hetero17 sexual parents enjoy. These protections include ac18 cess to both parents’ health benefits; survivor’s, So19 cial Security, and child support entitlements; legal 

20 grounds for either parent to provide consent for 

21 medical care, education, and other important deci22 sions; as well as the establishment of permanency 

23 for both parents and child. 

24 (12) Professional organizations in the fields of 

25 medicine, psychology, law, and child welfare have 


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1 taken official positions in support of the ability of 

2 qualified gay, lesbian, bisexual, and unmarried cou3 ples to foster and adopt, as supported by scientific 

4 research showing sexual orientation as a nondeter5 minative factor in parental success. 

6 (13) Discrimination against potential foster or 

7 adoptive parents based on sexual orientation, gender 

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

9 of children in the foster care system. 

10 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are to de11 crease the length of time that children wait for perma12 nency with a loving family and to promote the best inter13 ests of children in the child welfare system by preventing 

14 discrimination in adoption and foster care placements 

15 based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital 

16 status. 

17 SEC. 3. EVERY CHILD DESERVES A FAMILY. 

18 (a) ACTIVITIES.— 

19 (1) PROHIBITION.—An entity that receives Fed20 eral assistance or contracts with an entity that re21 ceives Federal assistance, and is involved in adoption 

22 or foster care placements may not— 

23 (A) deny to any person the opportunity to 

24 become an adoptive or a foster parent on the 

25 basis of the sexual orientation, gender identity, 


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1 or marital status of the person, or the sexual 

2 orientation or gender identity of the child in3 volved; 

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

5 for adoption or into foster care on the basis of 

6 the sexual orientation, gender identity, or mar7 ital status of any prospective adoptive or foster 

8 parent, or the sexual orientation or gender iden9 tity of the child; or 

10 (C) require different or additional 

11 screenings, processes, or procedures for adop12 tive or foster placement decisions on the basis 

13 of the sexual orientation, gender identity, or 

14 marital status of the prospective adoptive or 

15 foster parent, or the sexual orientation or gen16 der identity of the child involved. 

17 (2) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 

18 ‘‘placement decision’’ means the decision to place, or 

19 to delay or deny the placement of, a child in a foster 

20 care or an adoptive home, and includes the decision 

21 of the agency or entity involved to seek the termi22 nation of birth parent rights or otherwise make a 

23 child legally available for adoptive placement. 

24 (b) EQUITABLE RELIEF.—Any individual who is ag25 grieved by an action in violation of subsection (a) may 


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1 bring an action seeking relief in a United States district 

2 court of appropriate jurisdiction. 

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

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

5 of Health and Human Services shall publish guidance to 

6 concerned entities with respect to compliance with this 

7 section. 

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

9 compliance with, and ensure understanding of the legal, 

10 practice, and culture changes required by, this Act in mak11 ing foster care and adoption placement decisions, the Sec12 retary shall provide technical assistance to all entities cov13 ered by this Act, including— 

14 (1) identifying laws and regulations inconsistent 

15 with this Act and providing guidance and training to 

16 ensure the laws and regulations are brought into 

17 compliance within the prescribed period of time; 

18 (2) identifying casework practices and proce19 dures inconsistent with this Act and providing guid20 ance and training to ensure the practices and proce21 dures are brought into compliance within the pre22 scribed period of time; 

23 (3) providing guidance in expansion of recruit24 ment efforts to ensure consideration of all interested 

25 and qualified prospective adoptive and foster parents 


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1 regardless of the sexual orientation, gender identity, 

2 or marital status of the prospective parent; 

3 (4) comprehensive cultural competency training 

4 for covered entities and prospective adoptive and fos5 ter parents; and 

6 (5) training judges and attorneys involved in 

7 foster care and adoption cases on the findings and 

8 purposes of this Act. 

9 (e) DEADLINE FOR COMPLIANCE.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para11 graph (2), an entity that receives Federal assistance 

12 and is involved with adoption or foster care place13 ments shall comply with this section not later than 

14 6 months after publication of the guidance referred 

15 to in subsection (c), or 1 year after the date of the 

16 enactment of this Act, whichever occurs first. 

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

18 State demonstrates to the satisfaction of the Sec19 retary of Health and Human Services that it is nec20 essary to amend State statutory law in order to 

21 change a particular practice that is inconsistent with 

22 this section, the Secretary may extend the compli23 ance date for the State a reasonable number of days 

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1 ginning after the date the guidance referred to in 

2 subsection (c) is published. 

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

4 State fails to comply with this section, the Secretary 

5 may withhold payment to the State of amounts oth6 erwise payable to the State under part B or E of 

7 title IV of the Social Security Act, to the extent the 

8 Secretary deems the withholding necessary to induce 

9 the State into compliance with this section. 

10 (f) GAO STUDY.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—Within 5 years after the 

12 date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller 

13 General of the United States shall conduct a study 

14 to determine whether the States have substantially 

15 complied with this Act, including specifically whether 

16 the States have— 

17 (A) eliminated policies, practices, or stat18 utes that deny to any otherwise qualified person 

19 the opportunity to become an adoptive or foster 

20 parent on the basis of the sexual orientation, 

21 gender identity, or marital status of the person, 

22 or the sexual orientation or gender identity of 

23 the child involved; 

24 (B) removed all program, policy, or statu25 tory barriers that delay or deny the placement 


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

2 basis of the sexual orientation, gender identity, 

3 or marital status of any qualified, prospective 

4 adoptive or foster parent, or the sexual orienta5 tion or gender identity of the child; and 

6 (C) eliminated all different or additional 

7 screenings, processes, or procedures for adop8 tive or foster placement decisions based on the 

9 sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital 

10 status of the prospective adoptive or foster par11 ent, or the sexual orientation or gender identity 

12 of the child involved. 

13 (2) REPORT TO THE CONGRESS.—Within 1 year 

14 after completing the study required by paragraph 

15 (1), the Comptroller General shall submit to the 

16 Congress a written report that contains the results 

17 of the study. 

Æ 


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