I 
110TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5640 
To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to provide services 
for birthparents who have placed a child for adoption, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 14, 2008 
Mrs. SCHMIDT (for herself and Mr. OBERSTAR) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor 
A BILL 
To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services 
to provide services for birthparents who have placed a 
child for adoption, and for other purposes. 
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 ‘‘Birthparent Assistance 
Act of 2008’’. 
SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 
The purposes of this Act are— 
(1) to enhance post-placement services for 
birthparents who have placed a child for adoption; 
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(B) group counseling; and 
(C) family counseling; 
(3) establishment and operation of a nationally- 
available hotline to— 
(A) provide counseling services described in 
paragraph (2) for birthparents; and 
(B) provide other information relating to 
the availability of post-adoption services and 
benefits for birthparents, including contact in-
formation for post-adoption services and bene-
fits provided by States and local units of gov-
ernment, as appropriate; and 
(4) training of staff at hospitals and other ap-
propriate birth care facilities relating to interaction 
of such staff with birthparents and adoptive families. 
(d) APPLICATION.—Each eligible entity referred to in 
subsection (a) that desires to receive a grant or enter into 
a contract with the Secretary under subsection (a) shall 
submit an application to the Secretary that describes the 
manner in which the entity will use funds under the grant 
or contract during the 3 fiscal years subsequent to the 
date of the application to accomplish the purposes of this 
section. Such application shall be in a form and manner 
determined to be appropriate by the Secretary. 
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(e) REPORTS.—The Secretary shall require each eli-
gible entity referred to in subsection (a) that receives a 
grant or enters into a contract with the Secretary under 
subsection (a) to submit to the Secretary a report on the 
services provided or activities carried out by the entity for 
each fiscal year for which the entity receives amounts 
under the grant or contract. The report shall contain such 
information as the Secretary determines is necessary to 
provide an accurate description of the services provided 
or activities carried out with such amounts. 
(f) SERVICES TO SUPPLEMENT
AND NOT SUP-
PLANT.—Services provided under a grant or contract 
under subsection (a) shall supplement, and not supplant, 
services provided using any other funds made available for 
the same general purposes. 
(g) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE 
PROVISIONS.—The Secretary shall— 
(1) provide technical assistance to eligible enti-
ties referred to in subsection (a) that receive a grant 
or enter into a contract with the Secretary under 
subsection (a) for purposes of providing the services 
described in subsection (c); 
(2) as appropriate, coordinate the provision of 
services described in subsection (c) with other adop-
tion-related research, training, services, and assist-
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ance activities carried out by the Department of 
Health and Human Services; and 
(3) either directly, or by grant to or contract 
with a public or private agency or organization— 
(A) evaluate the implementation and effec-
tiveness of the provision of services described in 
subsection (c) and other activities carried out 
under this section; 
(B) identify different post-placement serv-
ices provided for birthparents, the availability 
and utilization of such services, and how post- 
placement services might be improved; and 
(C) not later than 3 years after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, submit to Con-
gress a report that contains the results of the 
evaluation under subparagraph (A) and the in-
formation described in subparagraph (B). 
SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—To carry out this Act, there are 
authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Health 
and Human Services— 
(1) $30,000,000 for fiscal year 2009; and 
(2) such sums as may be necessary for each of 
the fiscal years 2010 through 2013. 
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(b) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts appropriated pursuant 
to the authorization of appropriations under subsection (a) 
are authorized to remain available until expended. 
Æ 
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