SEC. 2. MODIFICATION OF CERTAIN RULES AND PROCE-
DURES UNDER THE FEDERAL FOSTER CARE 
AND ADOPTION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM DUR-
ING A PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS. 
(a) TIMELINE AND COMPELLING REASON.—Section 
475(5)(E) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
675(5)(E)) is amended— 
(1) in clause (ii), by inserting ‘‘, and any effect 
of a public health crisis shall be considered such a 
compelling reason’’ before the semicolon; 
(2) by adding ‘‘except that’’ at the end of 
clause (iii); 
(3) by redesignating clauses (i) through (iii) (as 
amended by the preceding paragraphs of this sub-
section) as subclauses (I) through (III), respectively; 
(4) by inserting ‘‘(i)’’ after ‘‘(E)’’; and 
(5) by adding after and below the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(ii) in the case of a child who has been 
in foster care under the responsibility of the 
State for 15 of the most recent 22 months, the 
requirement in clause (i) that the State file a 
petition to terminate the parental rights of the 
child’s parents (or, if such a petition has been 
filed by another party, seek to be joined as a 
party to the petition), shall be suspended for 
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the duration of any public health crisis period 
applicable with respect to the State;’’. 
(b) REASONABLE EFFORTS.—Section 471(a)(15) of 
such Act (42 U.S.C. 671(a)(15)) is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subpara-
graph (E); and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(G) the State agency shall ensure that— 
‘‘(i) in response to a public health cri-
sis, service or treatment providers develop 
and implement alternative methods of 
treatment, visitation, and providing serv-
ices, that are tailored to the individual 
needs of a child or the family of a child to 
meet the reasonable efforts requirements of 
this paragraph; 
‘‘(ii) parents who participate in any 
such alternative methods of treatment or 
receipt of services shall qualify for comple-
tion of the services; and 
‘‘(iii) permanency plans for reunifica-
tion shall not be delayed by service or 
treatment gaps that result from a public 
health crisis; and 
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‘‘(H) the removal a child during a public 
health crisis meets the requirements of this 
paragraph if the removal is based on a judicial 
determination that removal is necessary to pro-
tect the child from imminent risk of serious 
harm and is not necessary due to any effect of 
a public health crisis;’’. 
(c) DEFINITIONS.—Section 475 of such Act (42 
U.S.C. 675) is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(14) The term ‘public health crisis period’ 
means, with respect to a State, a period that begins 
when a state of emergency that applies to the State 
is declared under a Federal or State law in response 
to a threat to public health, and ends 1 year after 
the last such state of emergency applicable to the 
State is terminated. 
‘‘(15) The term ‘effect of a public health crisis’ 
means consequences experienced by an individual 
due to a threat to public health with respect to 
which a state of emergency described in paragraph 
(14) has been declared, including lack of medical, 
educational, or therapeutic services for children, loss 
of income, loss of employment, loss of contact be-
tween a parent and a child of the parent, housing 
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instability, loss of housing, lack of access to child 
care, exposure to or contracting an illness or infec-
tious disease, service closure, lack of access or di-
minished access to services, quarantine, shelter-in- 
place order, and having to provide care for another 
individual who is at risk of contracting, or has con-
tracted, an illness or infectious disease.’’. 
(d) EFFECTIVE DATE.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The amendments made by 
this section shall take effect on the 1st day of the 
1st fiscal year beginning on or after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, and shall apply to payments 
under part E of title IV of the Social Security Act 
for calendar quarters beginning on or after such 
date. 
(2) DELAY PERMITTED IF STATE LEGISLATION 
REQUIRED.—If the Secretary of Health and Human 
Services determines that State legislation (other 
than legislation appropriating funds) is required in 
order for a State plan developed pursuant to part E 
of title IV of the Social Security Act to meet the ad-
ditional requirements imposed by the amendments 
made by this Act, the plan shall not be regarded as 
failing to meet any of the additional requirements 
before the 1st day of the 1st calendar quarter begin-
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ning after the first regular session of the State legis-
lature that begins after the date of the enactment of 
this Act. For purposes of the preceding sentence, if 
the State has a 2-year legislative session, each year 
of the session is deemed to be a separate regular 
session of the State legislature. 
Æ 
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