International Children with Disabilities Protection Act of 2023

Subjects: International Affairs


<html><body><pre>[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 847 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

&lt;DOC&gt;






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 847

 To establish the International Children with Disabilities Protection 
    Program within the Department of State, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 16, 2023

 Mr. Menendez (for himself, Mr. Moran, Mr. Durbin, Mrs. Blackburn, Mr. 
    Cardin, Mr. Tillis, Mrs. Shaheen, Mr. Kaine, Ms. Duckworth, Mr. 
Merkley, and Mr. Murphy) introduced the following bill; which was read 
        twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To establish the International Children with Disabilities Protection 
    Program within the Department of State, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``International Children with 
Disabilities Protection Act of 2023''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) According to the United Nations Children's Fund 
        (UNICEF), there are at least 240,000,000 children and youth 
        with disabilities in the world, including approximately 
        53,000,000 children under age 5.
            (2) Families and children with disabilities together make 
        up nearly 2,000,000,000 people, or 25 percent of the world's 
        population.
            (3) Millions of children, particularly children with 
        intellectual and other developmental disabilities, are placed 
        in large or small residential institutions and most of those 
        children are left to grow up without the love, support, and 
        guidance of a family. The vast majority of children placed in 
        residential institutions have at least one living parent or 
        have extended family, many of whom would keep their children at 
        home if they had the support and legal protections necessary to 
        do so.
            (4) As described in the 2013 world report published by 
        UNICEF, many parents who wish to keep their children with 
        disabilities feel that they have no choice but to give up their 
        child to a residential institution because of prejudice and 
        stigma against disability, the lack of support and protection 
        that families receive, and the fact that education and 
        community services are often inaccessible or inappropriate for 
        children with disabilities.
            (5) Extensive scientific research demonstrates that placing 
        children in residential institutions may lead to psychological 
        harm, increased developmental disabilities, stunted growth, 
        rapid spread of infectious diseases, and high rates of 
        mortality.
            (6) Leading child protection organizations have documented 
        that children and adolescents raised without families in 
        residential institutions face high risk of violence, 
        trafficking for forced labor or the sex industry, forced 
        abortion or sterilization, and criminal detention.
            (7) The danger of family breakup and institutionalization 
        has grown enormously as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. 
        According to a study published in The Lancet, as of September 
        2022, a minimum of 10,500,000 children globally have lost a 
        parent or co-residing caregiver to COVID-19 and are now at 
        increased risk of placement in a residential institution.
            (8) The disability rights movement in the United States has 
        been a world leader and an inspiration to the growth of a 
        global disability rights movement. The United States has many 
        models of practice that could be shared with countries around 
        the world to support laws, policies, and services to promote 
        the full inclusion of children with disabilities in families 
        around the world.
            (9) The Advancing Protection and Care for Children in 
        Adversity strategy of the United States Government (APCCA) and 
        the Global Child Thrive Act of 2020 (subtitle I of title XII of 
        division A of Public Law 116-283; 134 Stat. 3985) commit the 
        United States Government to investing in the development, care, 
        dignity, and safety of vulnerable children and their families 
        around the world, including efforts to keep children with their 
        families and reduce placement of children in residential 
        institutions.

SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) stigma and discrimination against children with 
        disabilities, particularly intellectual and other developmental 
        disabilities, and lack of support for community inclusion have 
        left people with disabilities and their families economically 
        and socially marginalized;
            (2) organizations of persons with disabilities and family 
        members of persons with disabilities are often too small to 
        apply for or obtain funds from domestic or international 
        sources or ineligible to receive funds from such sources;
            (3) as a result of the factors described in paragraphs (1) 
        and (2), key stakeholders have often been left out of public 
        policymaking on matters that affect children with disabilities; 
        and
            (4) financial support, technical assistance, and active 
        engagement of people with disabilities and their families is 
        needed to ensure the development of effective policies that 
        protect families, ensure the full inclusion in society of 
        children with disabilities, and promote the transition of 
        children with disabilities to independent living as adults.

SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Department.--The term ``Department'' means the 
        Department of State.
            (2) Family.--The term ``family'' includes married and 
        unmarried parents, single parents, adoptive families, kinship 
        care, extended family, and foster care.
            (3) Organization of persons with disabilities.--The term 
        ``organization of persons with disabilities'' means a 
        nongovernmental civil society organization with staff 
        leadership and a board of directors the majority of which 
        consists of--
                    (A) people with disabilities;
                    (B) individuals who were formerly placed in a 
                residential institution; or
                    (C) family members of children or youth with 
                disabilities.
            (4) Residential institution.--The term ``residential 
        institution''--
                    (A) means a facility where children live in a 
                collective arrangement that is not family-based and 
                that--
                            (i) may be public or privately managed and 
                        staffed;
                            (ii) may be small or large; and
                            (iii) may or may not be designated for 
                        children with disabilities; and
                    (B) includes an orphanage, a children's 
                institution, a group home, an infant home, a children's 
                village or cottage complex, a boarding school used 
                primarily for care, and any other residential setting 
                for children.

SEC. 5. STATEMENT OF POLICY.

    It is the policy of the United States to--
            (1) assist countries abroad in creating rights protection 
        programs for people with disabilities and developing policies 
        and social supports to ensure that children with disabilities 
        can grow up as members of families and make the transition to 
        independent living as adults;
            (2) promote the development of advocacy skills and 
        leadership abilities of people with disabilities and family 
        members of children and youth with disabilities so that such 
        individuals can effectively participate in their local, 
        regional, and national governments to promote policy reforms 
        and programs to support full inclusion in families of children 
        with disabilities;
            (3) promote the development of laws and policies that--
                    (A) strengthen families and protect against the 
                unnecessary institutionalization of children with 
                disabilities; and
                    (B) create opportunities for youth with 
                disabilities to receive the resources and support 
                needed to achieve their full potential and transition 
                to independent living as adults;
            (4) promote participation by different groups of people 
        with disabilities and their families in advocating for 
        disability rights and reforms to legal frameworks; and
            (5) promote the sustainable action needed to bring about 
        changes in law, policy, and programs to ensure full family 
        inclusion of children with disabilities and the transition of 
        children with disabilities to independent living as adults.

SEC. 6. INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES PROTECTION PROGRAM AND 
              CAPACITY BUILDING.

    (a) International Children With Disabilities Protection Program.--
            (1) Establishment of program.--There is established within 
        the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor of the 
        Department a grant and capacity-building program to be known as 
        the ``International Children with Disabilities Protection 
        Program'' (in this section referred to as the ``Program'').
            (2) Purpose.--The purpose of the Program is to assist 
        organizations of persons with disabilities and family members 
        of children with disabilities in communicating about and 
        advocating for policies that ensure the family inclusion and 
        transition to independent living of children with disabilities 
        to advance the policy described in section 5.
            (3) Criteria.--The Secretary of State, in consultation with 
        leading civil society groups with expertise in global 
        disability rights, shall establish criteria for--
                    (A) applications for grants awarded under paragraph 
                (4); and
                    (B) the selection of--
                            (i) the countries or regions targeted under 
                        the Program;
                            (ii) priority activities funded through 
                        grants awarded under paragraph (4); and
                            (iii) capacity-building needs of recipients 
                        of grants awarded under paragraph (4).
            (4) Disability inclusion grants.--
                    (A) In general.--The Secretary of State may award 
                grants to eligible implementing partners to administer 
                grant amounts directly or through subgrants.
                    (B) Eligible implementing partners.--For purposes 
                of this paragraph, an eligible implementing partner is 
                a nongovernmental organization or other civil society 
                organization that--
                            (i) has the capacity to administer grant 
                        amounts--
                                    (I) directly; or
                                    (II) through subgrants that can be 
                                effectively used by emerging new 
                                organizations of persons with 
                                disabilities; and
                            (ii) has expertise in disability rights.
                    (C) Priority.--The Secretary of State shall 
                prioritize awarding grants under this paragraph to 
                eligible implementing partners with experience 
                operating or administering subgrants in countries for 
                which the Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, 
                Human Rights, and Labor, in consultation with the 
                United States Government Special Adviser and Senior 
                Coordinator for the Administrator of the United States 
                Agency for International Development on Children in 
                Adversity, has determined that there are significant 
                populations of children living in residential 
                institutions.
                    (D) Subgrants.--An eligible implementing partner 
                that receives a grant under this paragraph should seek 
                to--
                            (i) provide not less than 50 percent of the 
                        grant amount through subgrants to local 
                        organizations of persons with disabilities and 
                        other nongovernmental organizations working in 
                        country to advance the policy described in 
                        section 5; and
                            (ii) provide, of any amount distributed 
                        pursuant to clause (i)--
                                    (I) 75 percent to organizations of 
                                persons with disabilities; and
                                    (II) 25 percent to other 
                                nongovernmental organizations.
    (b) Capacity-Building Programs.--The Secretary of State is 
authorized to provide funds to nongovernmental organizations with 
expertise in capacity building and technical assistance to develop 
capacity-building programs to--
            (1) develop disability leaders, legislators, policymakers, 
        and service providers to plan and implement programs to advance 
        the policy described in section 5;
            (2) build the advocacy capacity and knowledge of successful 
        models of rights enforcement, family support, and disability 
        inclusion among disability, youth, and allied civil society 
        advocates, attorneys, and professionals to advance the policy 
        described in section 5;
            (3) create online programs to train policymakers, 
        activists, and other individuals on successful models of 
        reform, services, and rights protection to ensure that children 
        with disabilities can live and grow up with families and become 
        full participants in society, which--
                    (A) are available globally;
                    (B) offer low-cost or no-cost training accessible 
                to persons with disabilities, family members of such 
                persons, and other individuals with potential to offer 
                future leadership in the advancement of the goals of 
                family inclusion, transition to independent living as 
                adults, and rights protection for children with 
                disabilities; and
                    (C) should be targeted to government policymakers, 
                disability activists, and other potential allies and 
                supporters among civil society groups; and
            (4) create study tours so activists and policymakers from 
        abroad can observe and better understand the operation of 
        successful models of family and community inclusion and rights 
        advocacy, including exposing such activists and policymakers to 
        models of good practice in the United States.
    (c) Authorization of Appropriations.--
            (1) In general.--There are authorized to be appropriated to 
        carry out this section amounts as follows:
                    (A) $2,000,000 for fiscal year 2024.
                    (B) $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2025 
                through 2029.
            (2) Capacity-building and technical assistance programs.--
        Of the amounts authorized to be appropriated by paragraph (1), 
        not less than $1,000,000 for fiscal year 2024 and not less than 
        $3,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2025 through 2029 are 
        authorized to be available for capacity-building and technical 
        assistance programs to support disability rights leadership and 
        to train and engage policymakers, professionals, and allies in 
        civil society organizations in foreign countries.

SEC. 7. BRIEFINGS AND REPORTS ON IMPLEMENTATION.

    (a) Annual Briefing Required.--
            (1) In general.--Not less frequently than annually through 
        fiscal year 2029, the Secretary of State shall submit to the 
        Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, the 
        Committee on Foreign Relations, and the Committee on 
        Appropriations of the Senate a briefing on--
                    (A) the programs and activities carried out to 
                advance the policy described in section 5; and
                    (B) any broader work of the Department in advancing 
                that policy.
            (2) Elements.--Each briefing required by paragraph (1) 
        shall include, with respect to each program carried out under 
        section 6--
                    (A) the rationale for the country and program 
                selection;
                    (B) the goals and objectives of the program, and 
                the kinds of participants in the activities and 
                programs supported;
                    (C) a description of the types of technical 
                assistance and capacity building provided; and
                    (D) an identification of any gaps in funding or 
                support needed to ensure full participation of 
                organizations of persons with disabilities or inclusion 
                of children with disabilities in the program.
    (b) Reports Required.--
            (1) In general.--Not less frequently than once every 3 
        years through fiscal year 2029, the Secretary of State shall 
        submit to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 
        Pensions, the Committee on Foreign Relations, and the Committee 
        on Appropriations of the Senate a report on the matters 
        described in subsection (a)(1).
            (2) Elements.--Each report required by paragraph (1) shall 
        include the elements described in subsection (a)(2).
            (3) Consultation.--In preparing each report required by 
        paragraph (1), the Secretary of State shall consult with 
        organizations of persons with disabilities.

SEC. 8. PROMOTING INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION AND ADVOCACY FOR CHILDREN 
              WITH DISABILITIES.

    (a) Sense of Congress on Programming and Programs.--It is the sense 
of Congress that--
            (1) all programming of the Department and the United States 
        Agency for International Development related to childcare 
        reform, improvement of health care systems, primary and 
        secondary education, disability rights, and human rights should 
        seek to be consistent with the policy described in section 5; 
        and
            (2) programs of the Department and the United States Agency 
        for International Development related to children, health care, 
        and education--
                    (A) should--
                            (i) engage organizations of persons with 
                        disabilities in policymaking and program 
                        implementation; and
                            (ii) support full inclusion of children 
                        with disabilities in families; and
                    (B) should aim to avoid support for residential 
                institutions for children with disabilities except in 
                situations of conflict or emergency in a manner that 
                protects family connections as described in subsection 
                (b).
    (b) Sense of Congress on Conflict and Emergencies.--It is the sense 
of Congress that--
            (1) programs of the Department and the United States Agency 
        for International Development serving children in situations of 
        conflict or emergency, among displaced or refugee populations, 
        or in natural disasters should seek to ensure that children 
        with and without disabilities can maintain family ties; and
            (2) in situations of emergency, if children are separated 
        from parents or have no family, every effort should be made to 
        ensure that children are placed with extended family, in 
        kinship care, or in a substitute family.
                                 &lt;all&gt;
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