II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1462 

To amend part E of title IV of the Social Security Act to promote the 

adoption of children with special needs. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 23, 2007 

Mr. ROCKEFELLER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To amend part E of title IV of the Social Security Act 

to promote the adoption of children with special needs. 

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 ‘‘Adoption Equality Act 

5 of 2007’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 

8 (1) In 1997, Congress enacted the Adoption 

9 and Safe Families Act of 1997 (Public Law 105–89; 

10 111 Stat. 2115), clearly stating that a child’s health 

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1 and safety are paramount, and that each child de2 serves a permanent home. 

3 (2) The Adoption and Safe Families Act of 

4 1997 provides incentives for adoptions, and for fiscal 

5 year 2005, States placed nearly 51,323 children 

6 from State care. 

7 (3) In 2003, the Adoption Promotion Act (Pub8 lic Law 108–145, 117 Stat. 1879), which reauthor9 ized the incentive program, gave greater emphasis 

10 on moving older children into permanency. 

11 (4) Despite the increase in adoptions, in 2005 

12 more than 100,949 children in foster care have the 

13 permanency goal of adoption but are still waiting to 

14 be adopted. 

15 (5) Some States have chosen to limit services 

16 provided to special needs adopted children who are 

17 not eligible for adoption assistance under part E of 

18 title IV of the Social Security Act, in effect discrimi19 nating against a child whose parental rights have 

20 been terminated by basing the child’s eligibility for 

21 such assistance on the financial status of adults who 

22 are no longer the child’s legal parents. 

23 (6) These children have many special needs and 

24 require Federal financial assistance and support to 

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1 start the physical and emotional healing after past 

2 years of abuse and neglect. 

3 SEC. 3. PROMOTION OF ADOPTION OF CHILDREN WITH 

4 SPECIAL NEEDS. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 473(a) of the Social Secu6 rity Act (42 U.S.C. 673(a)) is amended by striking para7 graph (2) and inserting the following: 

8 ‘‘(2)(A) For purposes of paragraph (1)(B)(ii), a child 

9 meets the requirements of this paragraph if such child— 

10 ‘‘(i)(I) at the time of termination of parental 

11 rights was in the care of a public or licensed private 

12 child placement agency or Indian tribal organization 

13 pursuant to a voluntary placement agreement, relin14 quishment, or involuntary removal of the child from 

15 the home, and the State has determined, pursuant 

16 to criteria established by the State (which may, but 

17 need not, include a judicial determination), that con18 tinuation in the home would be contrary to the safe19 ty or welfare of such child; 

20 ‘‘(II) meets all medical or disability require21 ments of title XVI with respect to eligibility for sup22 plemental security income benefits; or 

23 ‘‘(III) was residing in a foster family home or 

24 child care institution with the child’s minor parent 

25 (pursuant to a voluntary placement agreement, relinmstockstill on PROD1PC66 with BILLS

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1 quishment, or involuntary removal of the child from 

2 the home, and the State has determined, pursuant 

3 to criteria established by the State (which may, but 

4 need not, include judicial determination), that con5 tinuation in the home would be contrary to the safe6 ty or welfare of such child); and 

7 ‘‘(ii) has been determined by the State, pursu8 ant to subsection (c), to be a child with special 

9 needs, which needs shall be considered by the State, 

10 together with the circumstances of the adopting par11 ents, in determining the amount of any payments to 

12 be made to the adopting parents. 

13 ‘‘(B) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, and 

14 except as provided in paragraph (7), a child who is not 

15 a citizen or resident of the United States and who meets 

16 the requirements of subparagraph (A) shall be treated as 

17 meeting the requirements of this paragraph for purposes 

18 of paragraph (1)(B)(ii). 

19 ‘‘(C) A child who meets the requirements of subpara20 graph (A), who was determined eligible for adoption as21 sistance payments under this part with respect to a prior 

22 adoption (or who would have been determined eligible for 

23 such payments had the Adoption and Safe Families Act 

24 of 1997 been in effect at the time that such determination 

25 would have been made), and who is available for adoption 

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1 because the prior adoption has been dissolved and the pa2 rental rights of the adoptive parents have been terminated 

3 or because the child’s adoptive parents have died, shall be 

4 treated as meeting the requirements of this paragraph for 

5 purposes of paragraph (1)(B)(ii).’’. 

6 (b) EXCEPTION.—Section 473(a) of the Social Secu7 rity Act (42 U.S.C. 673(a)) is amended by adding at the 

8 end the following: 

9 ‘‘(7)(A) Notwithstanding any other provision of this 

10 subsection, no payment may be made to parents with re11 spect to any child that— 

12 ‘‘(i) would be considered a child with special 

13 needs under subsection (c); 

14 ‘‘(ii) is not a citizen or resident of the United 

15 States; and 

16 ‘‘(iii) was adopted outside of the United States 

17 or was brought into the United States for the pur18 pose of being adopted. 

19 ‘‘(B) Subparagraph (A) shall not be construed as pro20 hibiting payments under this part for a child described 

21 in subparagraph (A) that is placed in foster care subse22 quent to the failure, as determined by the State, of the 

23 initial adoption of such child by the parents described in 

24 such subparagraph.’’. 

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1 (c) REQUIREMENT FOR USE OF STATE SAVINGS.— 

2 Section 473(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 

3 673(a)), as amended by subsection (b), is amended by 

4 adding at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘(8) A State shall spend an amount equal to the 

6 amount of savings (if any) in State expenditures under 

7 this part resulting from the application of paragraph (2) 

8 on and after the effective date of the amendment to such 

9 paragraph made by section 3(a) of the Adoption Equality 

10 Act of 2007 to provide to children or families any service 

11 (including post-adoption services) that may be provided 

12 under this part or part B.’’. 

13 (d) DETERMINATION OF A CHILD WITH SPECIAL

14 NEEDS.—Section 473(c) of the Social Security Act (42 

15 U.S.C. 673(c)) is amended to read as follows: 

16 ‘‘(c) For purposes of this section, a child shall not 

17 be considered a child with special needs unless— 

18 ‘‘(1)(A) the State has determined, pursuant to 

19 a criteria established by the State (which may or 

20 may not include a judicial determination), that the 

21 child cannot or should not be returned to the home 

22 of his parents; or 

23 ‘‘(B) the child meets all medical or disability re24 quirements of title XVI with respect to eligibility for 

25 supplemental security income benefits; and 

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1 ‘‘(2) the State has determined— 

2 ‘‘(A) that there exists with respect to the 

3 child a specific factor or condition (such as eth4 nic background, age, or membership in a minor5 ity or sibling group, or the presence of factors 

6 such as medical conditions or physical, mental, 

7 or emotional handicaps) because of which it is 

8 reasonable to conclude that the child cannot be 

9 placed with adoptive parents without providing 

10 adoption assistance under this section and med11 ical assistance under title XIX; and 

12 ‘‘(B) that except where it would be against 

13 the best interests of the child because of such 

14 factors as the existence of significant emotional 

15 ties with prospective adoptive parents while in 

16 the care of such parents as a foster child, a rea17 sonable, but unsuccessful, effort has been made 

18 to place the child with appropriate adoptive 

19 parents without providing adoption assistance 

20 under this section or medical assistance under 

21 title XIX.’’. 

22 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

23 this section shall take effect on October 1, 2007. 

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