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104TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 586
To amend part E of title IV of the Social Security Act to require States
to administer qualifying examinations to all State employees with new
authority to make decisions regarding child welfare services, to expedite
the permanent placement of foster children, to facilitate the placement
of foster children in permanent kinship care arrangements, and to require
State agencies, in considering applications to adopt certain foster chil-
dren, to give preference to applications of a foster parent or caretaker
relative of the child.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY 19, 1995
Mrs. MALONEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Ways and Means
A BILL
To amend part E of title IV of the Social Security Act
to require States to administer qualifying examinations
to all State employees with new authority to make deci-
sions regarding child welfare services, to expedite the
permanent placement of foster children, to facilitate the
placement of foster children in permanent kinship care
arrangements, and to require State agencies, in consider-
ing applications to adopt certain foster children, to give
preference to applications of a foster parent or caretaker
relative of the child.
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 ‘‘Omnibus Foster Care
Improvement Act of 1995’’.
SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT THAT STATES ADMINISTER QUALI-
FYING EXAMINATIONS TO ALL STATE EM-
PLOYEES WITH NEW AUTHORITY TO MAKE
DECISIONS 
REGARDING 
CHILD 
WELFARE
SERVICES.
Section 474 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.
674) is amended by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(d) The Secretary may not make a payment to a
State under subsection (a) for any calendar quarter begin-
ning after the 18-month period that begins with the date
of the enactment of this subsection, unless the State has
in effect procedures to ensure that, before the State pro-
vides to a prospective child welfare decisionmaker the au-
thority to make decisions regarding child welfare services,
the individual must take and pass an examination, admin-
istered by the State, that tests knowledge of such subjects
as child development, family dynamics, dysfunctional be-
havior, substance abuse, child abuse, and community ad-
vocacy. As used in the preceding sentence, the term ‘pro-
spective child welfare decisionmaker’ means an individual
who, on the date of the enactment of this subsection, does
not have any authority to make a decision regarding child
welfare services.’’.
SEC. 3. PROCEDURES TO EXPEDITE THE PERMANENT
PLACEMENT OF FOSTER CHILDREN.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 474 of the Social Security
Act (42 U.S.C. 674), as amended by section 2 of this Act,
is amended by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(e) The Secretary may not make a payment to a
State for a calendar quarter under subsection (a) unless
the State has in effect procedures requiring the State
agency, at the time a child is removed from a home and
placed in foster care under the supervision of the State,
to locate any parent of the child who is not living at the
home, and evaluate the ability of the parent to provide
a suitable home for the child.’’.
(b) APPLICABILITY.—The amendment made by sub-
section (a) of this section shall not apply with respect to
any child who, on the date of the enactment of this Act,
is in foster care under the supervision of a State (as de-
fined in section 1101(a)(1) of the Social Security Act for
purposes of title IV of such Act).
processing of an application to adopt a child who is in
foster care under the responsibility of the State that has
been submitted by a foster parent or caretaker relative of
the child, before completing the processing of any other
application to adopt the child if—
‘‘(1) a court has approved a permanent plan for
adoption of the child, or the child has been freed for
adoption; and
‘‘(2) the agency with authority to place the
child for adoption determines that—
‘‘(A) the child has substantial emotional
ties to the foster parent or caretaker relative, as
the case may be; and
‘‘(B) removal of the child from the foster
parent or caretaker relative, as the case may be,
would be seriously detrimental to the well-being
of the child.’’.
SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE.
The amendments made by this Act shall apply to pay-
ments under part E of title IV of the Social Security Act
for quarters beginning after the date of the enactment of
this Act.
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