105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 867

AN ACT

To promote the adoption of children in foster care.
105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 867

AN ACT

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,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

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

3 ‘‘Adoption Promotion Act of 1997’’.

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

5 this Act is as follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.

Sec. 2. Clarification of the reasonable efforts requirement.

Sec. 3. States required to initiate or join proceedings to terminate parental

rights for certain children in foster care.

Sec. 4. Adoption incentive payments.

Sec. 5. Earlier status reviews and permanency hearings.

Sec. 6. Notice of reviews and hearings; opportunity to be heard.

Sec. 7. Documentation of reasonable efforts to adopt.

Sec. 8. Kinship care.

Sec. 9. Use of the Federal Parent Locator Service for child welfare services.

Sec. 10. Performance of States in protecting children.

Sec. 11. Authority to approve more child protection demonstration projects.

Sec. 12. Technical assistance.

Sec. 13. Coordination of substance abuse and child protection services.

Sec. 14. Clarification of eligible population for independent living services.

Sec. 15. Effective date.

Sec. 16. Purchase of American-made equipment and products.

Sec. 17. Criminal records checks for prospective foster and adoptive parents

and group care staff.

Sec. 18. Standby guardianship.

6 SEC. 2. CLARIFICATION OF THE REASONABLE EFFORTS RE7 QUIREMENT.

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

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

10 as follows:

11 ‘‘(15)(A) provides that—

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

13 (iii), reasonable efforts shall be made—

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

15 care, to prevent or eliminate the need to
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1 remove the child from the child’s home;

2 and

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

4 to return home;

5 ‘‘(ii) if continuation of reasonable efforts of

6 the type described in clause (i) is determined to

7 be inconsistent with the permanency plan for

8 the child, reasonable efforts of the type required

9 by clause (iii)(II) shall be made;

10 ‘‘(iii) if a court of competent jurisdiction

11 has determined that the child has been sub12 jected to aggravated circumstances (as defined

13 by State law, which definition may include

14 abandonment, torture, chronic abuse, and sex15 ual abuse) or parental conduct described in sec16 tion 106(b)(2)(A)(xii) of the Child Abuse Pre17 vention and Treatment Act, or that the paren18 tal rights of a parent with respect to a sibling

19 of the child have been terminated involuntar20 ily—

21 ‘‘(I) reasonable efforts of the type de22 scribed in clause (i) shall not be required

23 to be made with respect to any parent of

24 the child who has been involved in subject25 ing the child to such circumstances or such
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1 conduct, or whose parental rights with re2 spect to a sibling of the child have been

3 terminated involuntarily; and

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

5 described in clause (i) are not made or are

6 discontinued, reasonable efforts shall be

7 made to place the child for adoption, with

8 a legal guardian, or (if adoption or legal

9 guardianship is determined not to be ap10 propriate for the child) in some other

11 planned, permanent living arrangement;

12 and

13 ‘‘(iv) reasonable efforts of the type de14 scribed in clause (iii)(II) may be made concur15 rently with reasonable efforts of the type de16 scribed in clause (i); and

17 ‘‘(B) in determining the reasonable efforts

18 to be made with respect to a child and in mak19 ing such reasonable efforts, the child’s health

20 and safety shall be of paramount concern;’’.

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

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

23 ‘‘for a child’’ before ‘‘have been made’’.
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1 SEC. 3. STATES REQUIRED TO INITIATE OR JOIN PROCEED2 INGS TO TERMINATE PARENTAL RIGHTS FOR

3 CERTAIN CHILDREN IN FOSTER CARE.

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 475(5) of the Social Secu5 rity Act (42 U.S.C. 675(5)) is amended—

6 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subpara7 graph (C);

8 (2) by striking the period at the end of sub9 paragraph (D) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

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

11 ‘‘(E) in the case of a child who has not at12 tained 10 years of age and has been in foster

13 care under the responsibility of the State for 18

14 months of the most recent 24 months, the State

15 shall file a petition to terminate the parental

16 rights of the child’s parents (or, if such a peti17 tion has been filed by another party, seek to be

18 joined as a party to the petition), unless—

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

20 child is being cared for by a relative;

21 ‘‘(ii) a State court or State agency

22 has documented a compelling reason for

23 determining that filing such a petition

24 would not be in the best interests of the

25 child; or
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1 ‘‘(iii) the State has not provided to

2 the family of the child such services as the

3 State deems appropriate, if reasonable ef4 forts of the type described in section

5 471(a)(15)(A)(i) are required to be made

6 with respect to the child.’’.

7 (b) LIMITATION ON APPLICABILITY.—The amend8 ments made by subsection (a) shall apply only to children

9 entering foster care on or after October 1, 1997.

10 SEC. 4. ADOPTION INCENTIVE PAYMENTS.

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part E of title IV of the Social

12 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 670–679) is amended by inserting

13 after section 473 the following:

14 ‘‘SEC. 473A. ADOPTION INCENTIVE PAYMENTS.

15 ‘‘(a) GRANT AUTHORITY.—Subject to the availability

16 of such amounts as may be provided in appropriations

17 Acts, the Secretary shall make a grant to each State that

18 is an incentive-eligible State for a fiscal year in an amount

19 equal to the adoption incentive payment payable to the

20 State for the fiscal year under this section, which shall

21 be payable in the immediately succeeding fiscal year.

22 ‘‘(b) INCENTIVE-ELIGIBLE STATE.—A State is an in23 centive-eligible State for a fiscal year if—

24 ‘‘(1) the State has a plan approved under this

25 part for the fiscal year;
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1 ‘‘(2) the number of foster child adoptions in the

2 State during the fiscal year exceeds the base number

3 of foster child adoptions for the State for the fiscal

4 year;

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

6 (c) for the fiscal year; and

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

8 through 2002.

9 ‘‘(c) DATA REQUIREMENTS.—

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

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

12 provided to the Secretary the data described in para13 graph (2) for fiscal year 1997 (or, if later, the fiscal

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

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

16 succeeding fiscal year.

17 ‘‘(2) DETERMINATION OF NUMBERS OF ADOP18 TIONS.—

19 ‘‘(A) DETERMINATIONS BASED ON AFCARS

20 DATA.—Except as provided in subparagraph

21 (B), the Secretary shall determine the numbers

22 of foster child adoptions and of special needs

23 adoptions in a State during each of fiscal years

24 1997 through 2002, for purposes of this sec25 tion, on the basis of data meeting the require-
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1 ments of the system established pursuant to

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

3 the fiscal year and in November of the succeed4 ing fiscal year, and approved by the Secretary

5 by April 1 of the succeeding fiscal year.

6 ‘‘(B) ALTERNATIVE DATA SOURCES PER7 MITTED FOR FISCAL YEAR 1997.—For purposes

8 of the determination described in subparagraph

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

10 data from a source or sources other than that

11 specified in subparagraph (A) that the Sec12 retary finds to be of equivalent completeness

13 and reliability, as reported by a State by No14 vember 30, 1997, and approved by the Sec15 retary by March 1, 1998.

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

17 This section shall not be construed to alter or affect

18 any requirement of section 479 or any regulation

19 prescribed under such section with respect to report20 ing of data by States, or to waive any penalty for

21 failure to comply with the requirements.

22 ‘‘(d) ADOPTION INCENTIVE PAYMENT.—

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para24 graph (2), the adoption incentive payment payable to
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1 a State for a fiscal year under this section shall be

2 equal to the sum of—

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

4 by which the number of foster child adoptions

5 in the State during the fiscal year exceeds the

6 base number of foster child adoptions for the

7 State for the fiscal year; and

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

9 any) by which the number of special needs

10 adoptions in the State during the fiscal year ex11 ceeds the base number of special needs adop12 tions for the State for the fiscal year.

13 ‘‘(2) PRO RATA ADJUSTMENT IF INSUFFICIENT

14 FUNDS AVAILABLE.—If the total amount of adoption

15 incentive payments otherwise payable under this sec16 tion for a fiscal year exceeds $15,000,000, the

17 amount of the adoption incentive payment payable to

18 each State under this section for the fiscal year shall

19 be—

20 ‘‘(A) the amount of the adoption incentive

21 payment that would otherwise be payable to the

22 State under this section for the fiscal year; mul23 tiplied by

24 ‘‘(B) the percentage represented by

25 $15,000,000, divided by the total amount of
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1 adoption incentive payments otherwise payable

2 under this section for the fiscal year.

3 ‘‘(e) 2-YEAR AVAILABILITY OF INCENTIVE PAY4 MENTS.—Payments to a State under this section in a fis5 cal year shall remain available for use by the State

6 through the end of the succeeding fiscal year.

7 ‘‘(f) LIMITATIONS ON USE OF INCENTIVE PAY8 MENTS.—A State shall not expend an amount paid to the

9 State under this section except to provide to children or

10 families any service (including post adoption services) that

11 may be provided under part B or E. Amounts expended

12 by a State in accordance with the preceding sentence shall

13 be disregarded in determining State expenditures for pur14 poses of Federal matching payments under section 474.

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

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

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

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

19 foster care under the supervision of the State.

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

21 ‘special needs adoption’ means the final adoption of

22 a child for whom an adoption assistance agreement

23 is in effect under section 473.

24 ‘‘(3) BASE NUMBER OF FOSTER CHILD ADOP25 TIONS.—The term ‘base number of foster child
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1 adoptions for a State’ means, with respect to a fiscal

2 year, the largest number of foster child adoptions in

3 the State in fiscal year 1997 (or, if later, the 1st fis4 cal year for which the State has furnished to the

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

6 in any succeeding fiscal year preceding the fiscal

7 year.

8 ‘‘(4) BASE NUMBER OF SPECIAL NEEDS ADOP9 TIONS.—The term ‘base number of special needs

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

11 year, the largest number of special needs adoptions

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

13 fiscal year for which the State has furnished to the

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

15 in any succeeding fiscal year preceding the fiscal

16 year.

17 ‘‘(h) LIMITATIONS ON AUTHORIZATION OF APPRO18 PRIATIONS.—

19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For grants under this sec20 tion, there are authorized to be appropriated to the

21 Secretary $15,000,000 for each of fiscal years 1999

22 through 2003.

23 ‘‘(2) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts appropriated

24 under paragraph (1) are authorized to remain avail25 able until expended, but not after fiscal year 2003.’’.
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1 (b) DISCRETIONARY CAP ADJUSTMENT FOR ADOP2 TION INCENTIVE PAYMENTS.—

3 (1) SECTION 251 AMENDMENT.—Section

4 251(b)(2) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency

5 Deficit Control Act of 1985 is amended by adding

6 at the end the following new subparagraph:

7 ‘‘(I) ADOPTION INCENTIVE PAYMENTS.—

8 Whenever a bill or joint resolution making ap9 propriations for fiscal year 1999, 2000, 2001,

10 or 2002 is enacted that specifies an amount for

11 adoption incentive payments for the Depart12 ment of Health and Human Services—

13 ‘‘(i) the adjustments for new budget

14 authority shall be the amounts of new

15 budget authority provided in that measure

16 for adoption incentive payments, but not to

17 exceed $15,000,000; and

18 ‘‘(ii) the adjustment for outlays shall

19 be the additional outlays flowing from such

20 amount.’’.

21 (2) SECTION 606 AMENDMENT.—Section 606 of

22 the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 is amended

23 by adding at the end the following new subsection:

24 ‘‘(f) ADOPTION INCENTIVE PAYMENTS ADJUST25 MENT.—
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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—(A)(i) When the Committee

2 on Appropriations reports an appropriation measure

3 for fiscal year 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, or 2003 that

4 specifies an amount for adoption incentive payments

5 for the Department of Health and Human Services,

6 or when a conference committee submits a con7 ference report thereon, the chairman of the Commit8 tee on the Budget of the Senate or House of Rep9 resentatives (whichever is appropriate) shall—

10 ‘‘(I) make adjustments for the amounts of

11 new budget authority provided by that appro12 priation measure for such payments, which

13 shall be the amount of new budget authority

14 provided in that measure for adoption incentive

15 payments, but not to exceed $15,000,000; and

16 ‘‘(II) make adjustment for outlays, which

17 shall be in an amount equal to the additional

18 outlays flowing from such amount.

19 ‘‘(ii) If the adjustments referred to in the pre20 ceding sentence are made for an appropriations

21 measure that is not enacted into law, then the chair22 man of the Committee on the Budget of the House

23 of Representatives shall, as soon as practicable, re24 verse those adjustments.
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1 ‘‘(iii) The chairman of the Committee on the

2 Budget of the House of Representatives shall submit

3 any adjustments made under this subparagraph to

4 the House of Representatives and have such adjust5 ments published in the Congressional Record.

6 ‘‘(B) The adjustments referred to in this para7 graph consist of adjustments to—

8 ‘‘(i) the discretionary spending limits for

9 that fiscal year as set forth in the most recently

10 adopted concurrent resolution on the budget;

11 ‘‘(ii) the allocations to the Committees on

12 Appropriations of the Senate and the House of

13 Representatives for that fiscal year under sec14 tions 302(a) and 602(a); and

15 ‘‘(iii) the appropriate budgetary aggregates

16 for that fiscal year in the most recently adopted

17 concurrent resolution on the budget.

18 ‘‘(C) The adjusted discretionary spending lim19 its, allocations, and aggregates under this paragraph

20 shall be considered the appropriate limits, alloca21 tions, and aggregates for purposes of congressional

22 enforcement of this Act and concurrent budget reso23 lutions under this Act.

24 ‘‘(2) REPORTING REVISED SUBALLOCATIONS.—

25 Following the adjustments made under paragraph
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1 (1), the Committees on Appropriations of the Senate

2 and the House of Representatives may report appro3 priately revised suballocations pursuant to sections

4 302(b) and 602(b) of this Act to carry out this sub5 section.

6 ‘‘(3) DEFINITION.—As used in this section, the

7 term ‘adoption incentive payments’ shall have the

8 same meaning as provided in section 251(b)(2)(I) of

9 the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control

10 Act of 1985.’’.

11 SEC. 5. EARLIER STATUS REVIEWS AND PERMANENCY

12 HEARINGS.

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

14 U.S.C. 675(5)(C)) is amended—

15 (1) by striking ‘‘eighteen months after’’ and in16 serting ‘‘12 months after’’;

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

18 ‘‘permanency’’; and

19 (3) by striking ‘‘future status of’’ and all that

20 follows through ‘‘long-term basis)’’ and inserting

21 ‘‘permanency plan for the child (including whether

22 (and, if applicable, when) the child will be returned

23 to the parent, the child will be placed for adoption

24 and the State will file a petition to terminate the pa25 rental rights of the parent, a legal guardian will be
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1 appointed for the child, or the child will be placed

2 in some other planned, permanent living arrange3 ment, including in the custody of another fit and

4 willing relative)’’.

5 SEC. 6. NOTICE OF REVIEWS AND HEARINGS; OPPOR6 TUNITY TO BE HEARD.

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

8 675(5)), as amended by section 3 of this Act, is amend9 ed—

10 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subpara11 graph (D);

12 (2) by striking the period at the end of sub13 paragraph (E) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

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

15 ‘‘(F) the foster parents (if any) of a child

16 and any relative providing care for the child are

17 provided with notice of, and an opportunity to

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

19 with respect to the child, except that this sub20 paragraph shall not be construed to make any

21 foster parent a party to such a review or hear22 ing.’’.
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1 SEC. 7. DOCUMENTATION OF REASONABLE EFFORTS TO

2 ADOPT.

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

4 675(5)), as amended by sections 3 and 6 of this Act, is

5 amended—

6 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subpara7 graph (E);

8 (2) by striking the period at the end of sub9 paragraph (F) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

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

11 ‘‘(G) in the case of a child with respect to

12 whom the State’s goal is adoption or placement

13 in another permanent home, the steps taken by

14 the State agency to find an adoptive family or

15 other permanent living arrangement for the

16 child, to place the child with an adoptive family,

17 a legal guardian, or in another planned perma18 nent living arrangement (including in the cus19 tody of another fit and willing relative), and to

20 finalize the adoption or legal guardianship are

21 documented, and such documentation shall in22 clude documentation of child specific recruit23 ment efforts such as the use of State, regional,

24 and national adoption information exchanges,

25 including electronic information exchange sys26 tems.’’.
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1 SEC. 8. KINSHIP CARE.

2 (a) REPORT.—

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

4 Human Services shall—

5 (A) not later than March 1, 1998, convene

6 the advisory panel provided for in subsection

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

8 panel an initial report on the extent to which

9 children in foster care are placed in the care of

10 a relative (in this section referred to as ‘‘kin11 ship care’’); and

12 (B) not later than November 1, 1998, sub13 mit to the Committee on Ways and Means of

14 the House of Representatives and the Commit15 tee on Finance of the Senate a final report on

16 the matter described in subparagraph (A),

17 which shall—

18 (i) be based on the comments submit19 ted by the advisory panel pursuant to sub20 section (b)(2) and other information and

21 considerations; and

22 (ii) include the policy recommenda23 tions of the Secretary with respect to the

24 matter.

25 (2) REQUIRED CONTENTS.—Each report re26 quired by paragraph (1) shall—
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1 (A) include, to the extent available for each

2 State, information on—

3 (i) the policy of the State regarding

4 kinship care;

5 (ii) the characteristics of the kinship

6 care providers (including age, income, eth7 nicity, and race);

8 (iii) the characteristics of the house9 hold of such providers (such as number of

10 other persons in the household and family

11 composition);

12 (iv) how much access to the child is

13 afforded to the parent from whom the

14 child has been removed;

15 (v) the cost of, and source of funds

16 for, kinship care (including any subsidies

17 such as medicaid and cash assistance);

18 (vi) the goal for a permanent living

19 arrangement for the child and the actions

20 being taken by the State to achieve the

21 goal;

22 (vii) the services being provided to the

23 parent from whom the child has been re24 moved; and
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1 (viii) the services being provided to

2 the kinship care provider; and

3 (B) specifically note the circumstances or

4 conditions under which children enter kinship

5 care.

6 (b) ADVISORY PANEL.—

7 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Health

8 and Human Services, in consultation with the Chair9 man of the Committee on Ways and Means of the

10 House of Representatives and the Chairman of the

11 Committee on Finance of the Senate, shall convene

12 an advisory panel which shall include parents, foster

13 parents, former foster children, State and local pub14 lic officials responsible for administering child wel15 fare programs, private persons involved in the deliv16 ery of child welfare services, representatives of tribal

17 governments and tribal courts, judges, and academic

18 experts.

19 (2) DUTIES.—The advisory panel convened pur20 suant to paragraph (1) shall review the report pre21 pared pursuant to subsection (a), and, not later than

22 July 1, 1998, submit to the Secretary comments on

23 the report.
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1 SEC. 9. USE OF THE FEDERAL PARENT LOCATOR SERVICE

2 FOR CHILD WELFARE SERVICES.

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

4 653) is amended—

5 (1) in subsection (a)—

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

7 or visitation orders’’ and inserting ‘‘or making

8 or enforcing child custody or visitation orders’’;

9 and

10 (B) in paragraph (1)—

11 (i) by striking the comma at the end

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

13 and

14 (ii) by inserting after subparagraph

15 (C) the following:

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

17 with respect to a child,’’; and

18 (2) in subsection (c)—

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

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

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

22 ‘‘(4) a State agency that is administering a pro23 gram operated under a State plan under subpart 1

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

25 2 of part B or under part E.’’.
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1 SEC. 10. PERFORMANCE OF STATES IN PROTECTING CHIL2 DREN.

3 The Secretary of Health and Human Services, in con4 sultation with the American Public Welfare Association,

5 the National Governors’ Association, and persons or orga6 nizations devoted to child advocacy, shall—

7 (1) develop a set of outcome measures (includ8 ing length of stay in foster care, number of foster

9 care placements, and number of adoptions) that can

10 be used to assess the performance of States in oper11 ating child protection and child welfare programs

12 pursuant to parts B and E of title IV of the Social

13 Security Act to ensure the safety of children;

14 (2) to the maximum extent possible, the out15 come measures should be developed from data avail16 able from the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis

17 and Reporting System;

18 (3) develop a system for rating the performance

19 of States with respect to the outcome measures, and

20 provide to the States an explanation of the rating

21 system and how scores are determined under the

22 rating system;

23 (4) prescribe such regulations as may be nec24 essary to ensure that States provide to the Secretary

25 the data necessary to determine State performance

26 with respect to each outcome measure, as a condi-
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1 tion of the State receiving funds under part E of

2 title IV of the Social Security Act;

3 (5) on May 1, 1999, and annually thereafter,

4 prepare and submit to the Congress a report on the

5 performance of each State on each outcome meas6 ure, which shall examine the reasons for high per7 formance and low performance and, where possible,

8 make recommendations as to how State performance

9 could be improved.

10 SEC. 11. AUTHORITY TO APPROVE MORE CHILD PROTEC11 TION DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS.

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

13 1320a–9(a)) is amended—

14 (1) by striking ‘‘10’’ and inserting ‘‘15’’; and

15 (2) by adding at the end the following: ‘‘At

16 least 1 of the demonstration projects approved on or

17 after October 1, 1997, shall address kinship care.’’.

18 SEC. 12. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.

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

20 Human Services may, directly or through grants or con21 tracts, provide technical assistance to assist States and

22 local communities to reach their targets for increased

23 numbers of adoptions and, to the extent that adoption is

24 not possible, alternative permanent placements, for chil25 dren in foster care.
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1 (b) LIMITATIONS.—The technical assistance provided

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

3 more adoptions out of the foster care system, when adop4 tions promote the best interests of children, and shall in5 clude the following:

6 (1) The development of best practice guidelines

7 for expediting termination of parental rights.

8 (2) Models to encourage the use of concurrent

9 planning.

10 (3) The development of specialized units and

11 expertise in moving children toward adoption as a

12 permanency goal.

13 (4) The development of risk assessment tools to

14 facilitate early identification of the children who will

15 be at risk of harm if returned home.

16 (5) Models to encourage the fast tracking of

17 children who have not attained 1 year of age into

18 pre-adoptive placements.

19 (6) Development of programs that place chil20 dren into pre-adoptive families without waiting for

21 termination of parental rights.

22 (c) LIMITATIONS ON AUTHORIZATION OF APPRO23 PRIATIONS.—To carry out this section, there are author24 ized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Health and
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1 Human Services not to exceed $10,000,000 for each of

2 fiscal years 1998 through 2000.

3 SEC. 13. COORDINATION OF SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND CHILD

4 PROTECTION SERVICES.

5 Within 1 year after the date of the enactment of this

6 Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, based

7 on information from the Substance Abuse and Mental

8 Health Services Administration and the Administration

9 for Children and Families in the Department of Health

10 of Human Services, shall prepare and submit to the Com11 mittee on Ways and Means of the House of Representa12 tives and the Committee on Finance of the Senate a report

13 which describes the extent and scope of the problem of

14 substance abuse in the child welfare population, the types

15 of services provided to such population, and the outcomes

16 resulting from the provision of such services to such popu17 lation. The report shall include recommendations for any

18 legislation that may be needed to improve coordination in

19 providing such services to such population.

20 SEC. 14. CLARIFICATION OF ELIGIBLE POPULATION FOR

21 INDEPENDENT LIVING SERVICES.

22 Section 477(a)(2)(A) of the Social Security Act (42

23 U.S.C. 677(a)(2)(A)) is amended by inserting ‘‘(including

24 children with respect to whom such payments are no

25 longer being made because the child has accumulated as-
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1 sets, not to exceed $5,000, which are otherwise regarded

2 as resources for purposes of determining eligibility for

3 benefits under this part)’’ before the comma.

4 SEC. 15. EFFECTIVE DATE.

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

6 Act shall take effect on October 1, 1997.

7 (b) DELAY PERMITTED IF STATE LEGISLATION RE8 QUIRED.—In the case of a State plan under part B or

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

10 of Health and Human Services determines requires State

11 legislation (other than legislation appropriating funds) in

12 order for the plan to meet the additional requirements im13 posed by the amendments made by this Act, the State plan

14 shall not be regarded as failing to comply with the require15 ments of such part solely on the basis of the failure of

16 the plan to meet such additional requirements before the

17 1st day of the 1st calendar quarter beginning after the

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

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

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

21 that has a 2-year legislative session, each year of such ses22 sion shall be deemed to be a separate regular session of

23 the State legislature.
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1 SEC. 16. PURCHASE OF AMERICAN-MADE EQUIPMENT AND

2 PRODUCTS.

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—It is the sense of the Congress

4 that, to the greatest extent practicable, all equipment and

5 products purchased with funds made available under this

6 Act should be American-made.

7 (b) NOTICE REQUIREMENT.—In providing financial

8 assistance to, or entering into any contract with, any en9 tity using funds made available under this Act, the head

10 of each Federal agency, to the greatest extent practicable,

11 shall provide to such entity a notice describing the state12 ment made in subsection (a) by the Congress.

13 SEC. 17. CRIMINAL RECORDS CHECKS FOR PROSPECTIVE

14 FOSTER AND ADOPTIVE PARENTS AND

15 GROUP CARE STAFF.

16 Section 471(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.

17 671(a)) is amended—

18 (1) in paragraph (18), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the

19 end;

20 (2) in paragraph (19), by striking the period

21 and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

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

23 ‘‘(20) at the option of the State, provides proce24 dures for criminal records checks and checks of a

25 State’s child abuse registry for any prospective fos26 ter parent or adoptive parent, and any employee of
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1 a child-care institution before the foster care or

2 adoptive parent, or the child-care institution may be

3 finally approved for placement of a child on whose

4 behalf foster care maintenance payments or adoption

5 assistance payments are to be made under the State

6 plan under this part, including procedures requiring

7 that—

8 ‘‘(A) in any case in which a criminal

9 record check reveals a criminal conviction for

10 child abuse or neglect, or spousal abuse, a

11 criminal conviction for crimes against children,

12 or a criminal conviction for a crime involving vi13 olence, including rape, sexual or other assault,

14 or homicide, approval shall not be granted; and

15 ‘‘(B) in any case in which a criminal

16 record check reveals a criminal conviction for a

17 felony or misdemeanor not involving violence, or

18 a check of any State child abuse registry indi19 cates that a substantiated report of abuse or

20 neglect exists, final approval may be granted

21 only after consideration of the nature of the of22 fense or incident, the length of time that has

23 elapsed since the commission of the offense or

24 the occurrence of the incident, the individual’s

25 life experiences during the period since the com-
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1 mission of the offense or the occurrence of the

2 incident, and any risk to the child.’’.

3 SEC. 18. STANDBY GUARDIANSHIP.

4 It is the sense of the Congress that the States should

5 have in effect laws and procedures that permit any parent

6 who is chronically ill or near death, without surrendering

7 parental rights, to designate a standby guardian for the

8 parent’s minor children, whose authority would take effect

9 upon—

10 (1) the death of the parent;

11 (2) the mental incapacity of the parent; or

12 (3) the physical debilitation and consent of the

13 parent.

Passed the House of Representatives April 30, 1997.

Attest:

Clerk.