I
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 5053
To offer States an incentive to improve decisions in contested adoption cases.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY 27, 2000
Mr. KLINK introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary
A BILL
To offer States an incentive to improve decisions in contested
adoption cases.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Defense of Children
Adoption Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS; STATEMENT OF PURPOSE.
The Congress finds that—
(1) every child deserves to have a permanent
and loving home;
(2) adoption provides the joy of parenthood to
parents who may not otherwise be able to have chil-
dren;
(3) thousands of children await adoption every
year;
(4) many children wait for years before they are
adopted;
(5) all children deserved to be treated as indi-
viduals in the adoption process; and
(6) State courts often lack the resources to pro-
vide children with adequate representation.
(b) STATEMENT OF PURPOSE.—The purpose of this
Act is to help States provide well-trained advocates to rep-
resent the child’s best interest in contested adoptions.
SEC. 3. GRANTS TO STATE COURTS FOR AID IN DECIDING
CONTESTED ADOPTIONS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may make a grant
to an eligible State court, in an amount determined under
subsection (b), for the purpose of aiding State courts in
handling contested adoption cases.
(b) AMOUNT OF GRANT; MATCHING GRANT.—The
amount of the grant to be made under this section to an
eligible State court for a fiscal year shall be the lesser of—
(1) 3 times the sum described in subsection
(d)(1)(B); or
(2) the amount that bears the same ratio to the
amount appropriated pursuant to subsection (e) for
the fiscal year as the number of individuals in the
State who have not attained 18 years of age (deter-
mined on the basis of the most recently available
census data) bears to the total number of such indi-
viduals in all States with an eligible State court for
the fiscal year.
(c) USE OF GRANT.—An eligible State court to which
a grant is made under this section in a fiscal year may
use such funds to pay not more than 75 percent of the
costs incurred by the courts of the State during the fiscal
year to reduce the number of adoption cases pending in
the State courts by providing child advocates, such as
guardian ad litems, to represent children in the adoption
process.
(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:
(1) ELIGIBLE STATE COURT.—The term ‘‘eligi-
ble State court’’ means, with respect to a State and
a fiscal year, a court that—
(A) is the highest court in a qualified
State;
(B) that obtained from the State a com-
mitment that the State will provide a sum cer-
tain to the court for the fiscal year which is to
be used by the courts of the State for the han-
dling of contested adoption cases;
(C) has submitted to the Secretary, at
such time, in such form, and including such in-
formation and assurances as the Secretary may
require, an application for a grant under this
section; and
(D) whose application for the grant is ap-
proved by the Secretary.
(2) QUALIFIED
STATE.—The term ‘‘qualified
State’’ means a State that—
(A) has in effect a State plan approved
under part E of title IV of the Social Security
Act; and
(B) has in effect such laws and procedures
as may be necessary to ensure that, in a con-
tested adoption case, the courts of the State are
required to consider all relevant factors,
including—
(i) the importance of providing perma-
nency, stability, and continuity of relation-
ships for the child;
(ii) whether the child will be able to
enter into a more stable and permanent
family relationship, taking into account the
conditions of the child’s current placement,
the likelihood of future placements, and
the results of prior placements;
(iii) the age and health of the child at
the time the best interest determination is
made, and if applicable, at the time the
child was removed from the home;
(iv) the wishes of the child in any case
in which the child’s age and maturity
makes this feasible;
(v) the duration of the separation of
the child from a parent;
(vi) the likelihood of safe reunification
with a parent within a reasonable period of
time;
(vii) the child interaction and relation-
ship with the child’s parents, siblings, and
any other person who may significantly af-
fect the child’s best interest;
(viii) the child’s adjustment to the
child’s current home, school, and commu-
nity;
(ix) the mental and physical health of
all persons involved in the situation; and
(x) whether any person involved in the
situation—
(I) has been convicted of, has
pleaded guilty or nolo contendere to,
has threatened to commit, or has been
accused of a criminal offense involving
an act that resulted in the abuse or
neglect of a child, or of abusing or as-
saulting an individual who, at the
time of the abuse or assault, was a
member of the person’s family or
household; or
(II) in a case in which a child
has been adjudicated to have been
abused or neglected, has been deter-
mined to have caused the abuse or ne-
glect.
(3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means
the Secretary of Health and Human Services.
(4) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ shall have the
same meaning such term has in part E of title IV
of the Social Security Act.
(e) LIMITATIONS
ON AUTHORIZATION
OF APPRO-
PRIATIONS.—For grants under this section, there are au-
thorized to be appropriated to the Secretary $50,000,000
for each of fiscal years 2000 through 2003.
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