I

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 867

To promote the adoption of children in foster care.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 27, 1997

Mr. CAMP (for himself, Mrs. KENNELLY of Connecticut, and Mr. SHAW) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways

and Means

A BILL

To promote the adoption of children in foster care.

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; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the

5 ‘‘Adoption Promotion Act of 1997’’.

6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of

7 this Act is as follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.

Sec. 2. Clarification of the reasonable efforts required to be made before placing a child in foster care.

Sec. 3. Earlier status reviews and permanency hearings.

Sec. 4. Notice of reviews and hearings; opportunity of parties to be heard.

Sec. 5. States required to initiate proceedings to terminate parental rights for

certain children in foster care.

Sec. 6. Report and recommendations on kinship care.
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Sec. 7. Use of parent locator service in termination of parental rights proceedings.

Sec. 8. Reports on performance of States in protecting children.

Sec. 9. Authority to approve more child protection demonstration projects.

Sec. 10. Technical assistance.

Sec. 11. Adoption bonus for States.

Sec. 12. Effective date.

1 SEC. 2. CLARIFICATION OF THE REASONABLE EFFORTS RE2 QUIRED TO BE MADE BEFORE PLACING A

3 CHILD IN FOSTER CARE.

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 471(a)(15) of the Social

5 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 671(a)(15)) is amended to read

6 as follows:

7 ‘‘(15)(A) provides that—

8 ‘‘(i) except as provided in clauses (ii) and

9 (iii), reasonable efforts shall be made—

10 ‘‘(I) before a child is placed in foster

11 care, to prevent or eliminate the need to

12 remove the child from the child’s home;

13 and

14 ‘‘(II) to make it possible for the child

15 to return home;

16 ‘‘(ii) in a case involving aggravated cir17 cumstances (as defined by the State and ap18 proved by the Secretary) such as a case in

19 which the child has been abandoned, tortured,

20 chronically abused, or sexually abused, in which

21 a parent of the child has been found by a court

22 of competent jurisdiction to have engaged in
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1 conduct described in section 106(b)(2)(A)(xii)

2 of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment

3 Act, or in which the parental rights of a parent

4 with respect to a sibling of the child have been

5 terminated—

6 ‘‘(I) reasonable efforts of the type de7 scribed in clause (i) of this subparagraph

8 shall not be required to be made; and

9 ‘‘(II) if reasonable efforts of the type

10 described in clause (i) of this subparagraph

11 are not made or if the continuation of such

12 efforts is determined to be inappropriate,

13 reasonable efforts shall be made to place

14 the child for adoption, with a legal guard15 ian, or (if adoption or legal guardianship is

16 determined not to be appropriate for the

17 child) in some other planned, permanent

18 living arrangement;

19 ‘‘(iii) in a case in which the continuation of

20 reasonable efforts of the type described in

21 clause (i) of this subparagraph is determined to

22 be inappropriate, reasonable efforts of the type

23 described in clause (ii)(II) shall be made; and
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1 ‘‘(iv) reasonable efforts of the type de2 scribed in clause (ii)(II) may be made concur3 rently with reasonable efforts of the type de4 scribed in clause (i); and

5 ‘‘(B) in determining the reasonable efforts

6 to be made in any case and in making such rea7 sonable efforts, the child’s health and safety

8 shall be of paramount concern;’’.

9 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 472(a)(1)

10 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 672(a)(1)) is amended by inserting

11 ‘‘for a child’’ before ‘‘have been made’’.

12 SEC. 3. EARLIER STATUS REVIEWS AND PERMANENCY

13 HEARINGS.

14 Section 475(5)(C) of the Social Security Act (42

15 U.S.C. 675(5)(C)) is amended—

16 (1) by striking ‘‘eighteen months after’’ and in17 serting ‘‘12 months after’’; and

18 (2) by striking ‘‘dispositional’’ and inserting

19 ‘‘permanency’’.

20 SEC. 4. NOTICE OF REVIEWS AND HEARINGS; OPPOR21 TUNITY OF PARTIES TO BE HEARD.

22 Section 475(5) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.

23 675(5)) is amended—

24 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subpara25 graph (C);
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1 (2) by striking the period at the end of sub2 paragraph (D) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

3 (3) by adding at the end the following:

4 ‘‘(E) the foster parents (if any) of a child

5 and any relative providing care for the child are

6 provided with notice of, and an opportunity to

7 be heard in, any review or hearing to be held

8 with respect to the child.’’.

9 SEC. 5. STATES REQUIRED TO INITIATE PROCEEDINGS TO

10 TERMINATE PARENTAL RIGHTS FOR CER11 TAIN CHILDREN IN FOSTER CARE.

12 Section 475(5) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.

13 675(5)), as amended by section 4 of this Act, is amend14 ed—

15 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subpara16 graph (D);

17 (2) by striking the period at the end of sub18 paragraph (E) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

19 (3) by adding at the end the following:

20 ‘‘(F) in the case of a child who has not at21 tained 10 years of age and has been in foster

22 care under the responsibility of the State for 18

23 months (after the date of the enactment of this

24 subparagraph) of the most recent 24 months,
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1 the State shall initiate a proceeding to termi2 nate the parental rights of the child’s parents,

3 unless—

4 ‘‘(i) at the option of the State, the

5 child is being cared for by a relative; or

6 ‘‘(ii) a State court has determined

7 that doing so would not be in the best in8 terests of the child.’’.

9 SEC. 6. REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS ON KINSHIP

10 CARE.

11 (a) REPORT.—

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and

13 Human Services shall—

14 (A) not later than August 1, 1997, convene

15 the advisory panel provided for in subsection

16 (b)(1) and prepare and submit to the advisory

17 panel an initial report on the extent to which

18 children in foster care are placed in the care of

19 a relative (in this section referred to as ‘‘kin20 ship care’’); and

21 (B) not later than April 1, 1998, submit to

22 the Committee on Ways and Means of the

23 House of Representatives and the Committee

24 on Finance of the Senate a final report on the
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1 matter described in subparagraph (A), which

2 shall—

3 (i) be based on the comments submit4 ted by the advisory panel pursuant to sub5 section (b)(2) and other information and

6 considerations; and

7 (ii) include the policy recommenda8 tions of the Secretary with respect to the

9 matter.

10 (2) REQUIRED CONTENTS.—Each report re11 quired by paragraph (1) shall—

12 (A) include, for each State, information

13 on—

14 (i) the policy of the State regarding

15 kinship care;

16 (ii) the characteristics of the kinship

17 care providers (such as age and income);

18 (iii) the characteristics of the house19 hold of such providers (such as number of

20 other persons in the household and family

21 composition);

22 (iv) how much access to the child is

23 afforded to the parent from whom the

24 child has been removed;
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1 (v) the cost of, and source of funds

2 for, kinship care (including any subsidies

3 such as medicaid and cash assistance);

4 (vi) the goal for a permanent living

5 arrangement for the child and the actions

6 being taken by the State to achieve the

7 goal;

8 (vii) the services being provided to the

9 parent from whom the child has been re10 moved; and

11 (viii) the services being provided to

12 the kinship care provider; and

13 (B) specifically note the circumstances or

14 conditions under which children enter kinship

15 care.

16 (b) ADVISORY PANEL.—

17 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Health

18 and Human Services, in consultation with the Chair19 man of the Committee on Ways and Means of the

20 House of Representatives and the Chairman of the

21 Committee on Finance of the Senate, shall convene

22 an advisory panel which shall include parents, foster
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1 parents, former foster children, State and local pub2 lic officials responsible for administering child wel3 fare programs, private persons involved in the deliv4 ery of child welfare services, judges, and academic

5 experts.

6 (2) DUTIES.—The advisory panel convened pur7 suant to paragraph (1) shall review the report pre8 pared pursuant to subsection (a), and, not later than

9 February 1, 1998, submit to the Secretary com10 ments on the report.

11 SEC. 7. USE OF PARENT LOCATOR SERVICE IN TERMI12 NATION OF PARENTAL RIGHTS PROCEED13 INGS.

14 Section 453 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.

15 653) is amended—

16 (1) in subsection (a)—

17 (A) by striking ‘‘or enforcing child custody

18 or visitation orders’’ and inserting ‘‘enforcing

19 child custody or visitation orders, or terminat20 ing parental rights’’; and

21 (B) in paragraph (1)—

22 (i) by striking the comma at the end

23 of subparagraph (C) and inserting ‘‘; or’’;

24 and
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1 (ii) by inserting after subparagraph

2 (C) the following:

3 ‘‘(D) who has or may have parental rights

4 with respect to a child,’’; and

5 (2) in subsection (c)—

6 (A) by striking the period at the end of

7 paragraph (3) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

8 (B) by adding at the end the following:

9 ‘‘(4) a State agency that is administering a pro10 gram operated under a State plan under subpart 1

11 of part B, or a State plan approved under subpart

12 2 of part B or under part E.’’.

13 SEC. 8. REPORTS ON PERFORMANCE OF STATES IN PRO14 TECTING CHILDREN.

15 The Secretary of Health and Human Services, in con16 sultation with the American Public Welfare Association,

17 the National Governors’ Association, and child advocacy

18 organizations, shall—

19 (1) develop a set of outcome measures (includ20 ing length of stay in foster care, number of foster

21 care placements, and number of adoptions) that can

22 be used to assess the performance of States in oper23 ating child protection programs pursuant to parts B

24 and E of title IV of the Social Security Act to en25 sure the safety of children;
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1 (2) to the maximum extent possible, the out2 come measures should be developed from data avail3 able from the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis

4 and Reporting System;

5 (3) develop a system for rating the performance

6 of States with respect to the outcome measures, and

7 provide to the States an explanation of the rating

8 system and how scores are determined under the

9 rating system;

10 (4) prescribe such regulations as may be nec11 essary to ensure that States provide to the Secretary

12 the data necessary to determine State performance

13 with respect to each outcome measure, as a condi14 tion of the State receiving funds under part E of

15 title IV of the Social Security Act;

16 (5) on October 1, 1998, and annually there17 after, prepare and submit to the Congress a report

18 on the performance of each State on each outcome

19 measure, which shall examine the reasons for high

20 performance and low performance and, where pos21 sible, make recommendations as to how State per22 formance could be improved.
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1 SEC. 9. AUTHORITY TO APPROVE MORE CHILD PROTEC2 TION DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS.

3 Section 1130(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.

4 1320a–9(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘10’’ and inserting

5 ‘‘15’’.

6 SEC. 10. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and

8 Human Services shall provide technical assistance to as9 sist States and local communities to reach their targets

10 for increased numbers of adoptions and, to the extent that

11 adoption is not possible, alternative permanent place12 ments, for children in foster care.

13 (b) LIMITATIONS.—The technical assistance provided

14 under subsection (a) shall support the goal of encouraging

15 more adoptions out of the foster care system, when adop16 tions promote the best interests of children, and shall in17 clude the following:

18 (1) The development of best practice guidelines

19 for expediting termination of parental rights.

20 (2) Models to encourage the use of concurrent

21 planning.

22 (3) The development of specialized units and

23 expertise in moving children toward adoption as a

24 permanency goal.
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1 (4) The development of risk assessment tools to

2 facilitate early identification of the children who will

3 be at risk of harm if returned home.

4 (5) Models to encourage the fast tracking of

5 children who have not attained 1 year of age into

6 foster and adoptive placements.

7 (c) LIMITATIONS ON AUTHORIZATION OF APPRO8 PRIATIONS.—To carry out this section, there are author9 ized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Health and

10 Human Services not to exceed $10,000,000 for each of

11 fiscal years 1998 through 2000.

12 SEC. 11. ADOPTION BONUS FOR STATES.

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

14 U.S.C. 670–679) is amended by inserting after section

15 473 the following:

16 ‘‘SEC. 473A. ADOPTION BONUS.

17 ‘‘(a) GRANT AUTHORITY.—To the extent of available

18 appropriations, the Secretary shall make a grant to each

19 State, for each fiscal year for which the State is a bonus20 eligible State, in an amount equal to the adoption bonus,

21 and shall make the grant in the immediately succeeding

22 fiscal year.

23 ‘‘(b) BONUS-ELIGIBLE STATE.—A State is a bonus24 eligible State for a fiscal year if—
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1 ‘‘(1) the State has a plan approved under this

2 part for the fiscal year;

3 ‘‘(2) the number of foster child adoptions in the

4 State during the fiscal year exceeds the base number

5 of foster child adoptions for the State for the fiscal

6 year;

7 ‘‘(3) the State is in compliance with subsection

8 (c) for the fiscal year; and

9 ‘‘(4) the fiscal year is any of fiscal years 1998

10 through 2002.

11 ‘‘(c) DATA REQUIREMENTS.—

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A State is in compliance

13 with this subsection for a fiscal year if the State has

14 provided to the Secretary the data described in para15 graph (2) for fiscal year 1997 (or, if later, the fiscal

16 year that precedes the 1st fiscal year for which the

17 State seeks a grant under this section) and for each

18 succeeding fiscal year.

19 ‘‘(2) DETERMINATION OF NUMBERS OF ADOP20 TIONS.—

21 ‘‘(A) DETERMINATIONS BASED ON AFCARS

22 DATA.—Except as provided in subparagraph

23 (B), the Secretary shall determine the numbers

24 of foster child adoptions and of special needs

25 adoptions in a State during each of fiscal years
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1 1997 through 2002, for purposes of this sec2 tion, on the basis of data meeting the require3 ments of the system established pursuant to

4 section 479, as reported by the State in May of

5 the fiscal year and in November of the succeed6 ing fiscal year, and approved by the Secretary

7 by April 1 of the succeeding fiscal year.

8 ‘‘(B) ALTERNATIVE DATA SOURCES PER9 MITTED FOR FISCAL YEAR 1997.—For purposes

10 of the determination described in subparagraph

11 (A) for fiscal year 1997, the Secretary may use

12 data from a source or sources other than that

13 specified in subparagraph (A) that the Sec14 retary finds to be of equivalent completeness

15 and reliability, as reported by a State by No16 vember 30, 1997, and approved by the Sec17 retary by March 1, 1998.

18 ‘‘(3) NO WAIVER OF AFCARS REQUIREMENTS.—

19 This section shall not be construed to alter or affect

20 any requirement of section 479 or any regulation

21 prescribed under such section with respect to report22 ing of data by States, or to waive any penalty for

23 failure to comply with the requirements.

24 ‘‘(d) ADOPTION BONUS.—
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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para2 graph (2), the adoption bonus payable to a State for

3 a fiscal year under this section shall be equal to the

4 sum of—

5 ‘‘(A) $4,000, multiplied by amount (if any)

6 by which the number of foster child adoptions

7 in the State during the fiscal year exceeds the

8 base number of foster child adoptions for the

9 State for the fiscal year; and

10 ‘‘(B) $2,000, multiplied by the amount (if

11 any) by which the number of special needs

12 adoptions in the State during the fiscal year ex13 ceeds the base number of special needs adop14 tions for the State for the fiscal year.

15 ‘‘(2) PRO RATA ADJUSTMENT IF INSUFFICIENT

16 APPROPRIATIONS.—If the total amount of adoption

17 bonuses otherwise payable under this section in a

18 fiscal year exceeds the amount available for grants

19 under this section for the fiscal year, the adoption

20 bonus otherwise payable to a State under this sec21 tion in the fiscal year shall be reduced by the

22 amount which bears the same ratio to the excess as

23 the adoption bonus otherwise payable to the State

24 under this section in the fiscal year bears to the
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1 total amount of adoption bonuses otherwise payable

2 under this section in the fiscal year.

3 ‘‘(e) 2-YEAR AVAILABILITY OF BONUS PAYMENTS.—

4 Payments to a State under this section in a fiscal year

5 shall remain available for use by the State through the

6 end of the succeeding fiscal year.

7 ‘‘(f) LIMITATIONS ON USE OF BONUS PAYMENTS.—

8 A State shall not expend an amount paid to the State

9 under this section except to provide to children receiving

10 foster care maintenance payments or adoption assistance

11 payments under this part any service (including post adop12 tion services) that may be provided under part B.

13 Amounts expended by a State in accordance with the pre14 ceding sentence shall be disregarded in determining State

15 expenditures for purposes of Federal matching payments

16 under section 474.

17 ‘‘(g) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section:

18 ‘‘(1) FOSTER CHILD ADOPTION.—The term

19 ‘foster child adoption’ means the final adoption of a

20 child who, at the time of adoptive placement, was in

21 foster care under the supervision of the State.

22 ‘‘(2) SPECIAL NEEDS ADOPTION.—The term

23 ‘special needs adoption’ means the final adoption of

24 a child for whom an adoption assistance agreement

25 is in effect under section 473.
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1 ‘‘(3) BASE NUMBER OF FOSTER CHILD ADOP2 TIONS.—The term ‘base number of foster child

3 adoptions for a State’ means, with respect to a fiscal

4 year, the largest number of foster child adoptions in

5 the State in fiscal year 1997 (or, if later, the 1st fis6 cal year for which the State has furnished to the

7 Secretary the data described in subsection (c)(2)) or

8 in any succeeding fiscal year preceding the fiscal

9 year.

10 ‘‘(4) BASE NUMBER OF SPECIAL NEEDS ADOP11 TIONS.—The term ‘base number of special needs

12 adoptions for a State’ means, with respect to a fiscal

13 year, the largest number of special needs adoptions

14 in the State in fiscal year 1997 (or, if later, the 1st

15 fiscal year for which the State has furnished to the

16 Secretary the data described in subsection (c)(2)) or

17 in any succeeding fiscal year preceding the fiscal

18 year.

19 ‘‘(h) LIMITATIONS ON AUTHORIZATION OF APPRO20 PRIATIONS.—

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For grants under this sec22 tion, there are authorized to be appropriated to the

23 Secretary not to exceed a total of $108,000,000 for

24 fiscal years 1999 through 2003.
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1 ‘‘(2) AVAILABILITY OF APPROPRIATIONS.—

2 Amounts appropriated under paragraph (1) are au3 thorized to remain available until expended, but not

4 after fiscal year 2003.’’.

5 SEC. 12. EFFECTIVE DATE.

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—The amendments made by this

7 Act shall take effect on October 1, 1997.

8 (b) DELAY PERMITTED IF STATE LEGISLATION RE9 QUIRED.—In the case of a State plan under part B or

10 E of title IV of the Social Security Act which the Secretary

11 of Health and Human Services determines requires State

12 legislation (other than legislation appropriating funds) in

13 order for the plan to meet the additional requirements im14 posed by the amendments made by this Act, the State plan

15 shall not be regarded as failing to comply with the require16 ments of such part solely on the basis of the failure of

17 the plan to meet such additional requirements before the

18 1st day of the 1st calendar quarter beginning after the

19 close of the 1st regular session of the State legislature that

20 begins after the date of the enactment of this Act. For

21 purposes of the previous sentence, in the case of a State

22 that has a 2-year legislative session, each year of such ses23 sion shall be deemed to be a separate regular session of

24 the State legislature.

Æ