people have had a child and as many as 6,000,000 
American adults and children have a lesbian, gay, 
bisexual, or transgender parent. Among adults under 
50 years of age living alone or with a spouse or 
partner, 
percent 
of 
lesbian, 
bisexual, 
or 
transgender women are raising a child under 18 
years of age, and 20 percent of gay, bisexual, or 
transgender men are doing so. 
(8) As of 2013, same-sex couples are raising 
1.4 percent of adopted children with 2 parents and 
are fostering 1.7 percent of foster children living 
with 2 parents. A 2007 report from the Williams In-
stitute found that an additional 2,000,000 gay, les-
bian, and bisexual individuals are interested in adop-
tion. 
(9) According to the Williams Institute/Urban 
Institute, same-sex couples raising adopted children 
tend to be older than, just as educated as, and have 
access to the same economic resources as other 
adoptive parents. Studies confirm that children with 
same-sex parents have the same advantages and 
same expectations for health, social, and psycho-
logical adjustment, and development as children 
whose parents are heterosexual. 
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(10) An Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute 
study found that 1⁄3 of child welfare agencies in the 
United States reject gay, lesbian, and bisexual appli-
cants. 
(A) The practice of prohibiting applicants 
from becoming foster parents or adopting chil-
dren solely on the basis of sexual orientation or 
marital status has resulted in reducing the 
number of qualified adoptive and foster parents 
overall and denying gay, lesbian, bisexual, and 
unmarried relatives the opportunity to become 
foster parents for their own kin, including 
grandchildren, or to adopt their own kin, in-
cluding grandchildren, from foster care. 
(B) According to the Williams Institute, 
more than 3,400 children are currently in foster 
placements with same-sex couples. Another 
22,000 children are being raised by same-sex 
adoptive couples. If other States followed the 
minority of States and discriminated against 
qualified individuals because of their sexual ori-
entation or marital status, foster care expendi-
tures would increase between $87,000,000 and 
$130,000,000 per year in order to pay for addi-
tional institutional and group care, as well as to 
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recruit and train new foster and adoptive par-
ents. 
(11) Some States allow 1 member of a same- 
sex couple to adopt, but do not recognize both mem-
bers of the couple as the child’s legal parents. Rec-
ognition of joint adoption provides children with the 
same rights and security that children of hetero-
sexual parents enjoy. These protections include ac-
cess to both parents’ health benefits, survivor’s, So-
cial Security, and child support entitlements, legal 
grounds for either parent to provide consent for 
medical care, education, and other important deci-
sions, as well as the establishment of permanency 
for parents and child. 
(12) Professional organizations in the fields of 
medicine, psychology, law, and child welfare have 
taken official positions in support of the ability of 
qualified gay, lesbian, bisexual, and unmarried cou-
ples to foster and adopt a child, as supported by sci-
entific research showing sexual orientation as a non-
determinative factor in parental success. 
(13) Discrimination against potential foster or 
adoptive parents based on sexual orientation, gender 
identity, or marital status is not in the best interests 
of children in the foster care system. 
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(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are to de-
crease the length of time that children wait for perma-
nency with a loving family and to promote the best inter-
ests of children in the child welfare system by preventing 
discrimination in adoption and foster care placements 
based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital 
status. 
SEC. 3. EVERY CHILD DESERVES A FAMILY. 
(a) ACTIVITIES.— 
(1) PROHIBITION.—An entity that receives Fed-
eral assistance or contracts with an entity that re-
ceives Federal assistance, and is involved in adoption 
or foster care placements may not— 
(A) deny to any person the opportunity to 
become an adoptive or a foster parent on the 
basis of the sexual orientation, gender identity, 
or marital status of the person, or the sexual 
orientation or gender identity of the child in-
volved; 
(B) delay or deny the placement of a child 
for adoption or into foster care on the basis of 
the sexual orientation, gender identity, or mar-
ital status of any prospective adoptive or foster 
parent, or the sexual orientation or gender iden-
tity of the child; or 
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(C) 
require 
different 
or 
additional 
screenings, processes, or procedures for adop-
tive or foster placement decisions on the basis 
of the sexual orientation, gender identity, or 
marital status of the prospective adoptive or 
foster parent, or the sexual orientation or gen-
der identity of the child involved. 
(2) DEFINITION OF PLACEMENT DECISION.—In 
this section, the term ‘‘placement decision’’ means 
the decision to place, or to delay or deny the place-
ment of, a child in a foster care or an adoptive 
home, and includes the decision of the agency or en-
tity involved to seek the termination of birth parent 
rights or otherwise make a child legally available for 
adoptive placement. 
(b) EQUITABLE RELIEF.—Any individual who is ag-
grieved by an action in violation of subsection (a) may 
bring an action seeking relief in a United States district 
court of appropriate jurisdiction. 
(c) FEDERAL GUIDANCE.—Not later than 6 months 
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 
Health and Human Services shall publish guidance to con-
cerned entities with respect to compliance with this sec-
tion. 
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(d) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—In order to ensure 
compliance with, and ensure understanding of the legal, 
practice, and culture changes required by, this Act in mak-
ing foster care and adoption placement decisions, the Sec-
retary shall provide technical assistance to all entities cov-
ered by this Act, including— 
(1) identifying laws and regulations inconsistent 
with this Act and providing guidance and training to 
ensure the laws and regulations are brought into 
compliance within the prescribed period of time; 
(2) identifying casework practices and proce-
dures inconsistent with this Act and providing guid-
ance and training to ensure the practices and proce-
dures are brought into compliance within the pre-
scribed period of time; 
(3) providing guidance in expansion of recruit-
ment efforts to ensure consideration of all interested 
and qualified prospective adoptive and foster parents 
regardless of the sexual orientation, gender identity, 
or marital status of the prospective parent; 
(4) comprehensive cultural competency training 
for covered entities and prospective adoptive and fos-
ter parents; and 
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(5) training judges and attorneys involved in 
foster care and adoption cases on the findings and 
purposes of this Act. 
(e) DEADLINE FOR COMPLIANCE.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-
graph (2), an entity that receives Federal assistance 
and is involved with adoption or foster care place-
ments shall comply with this section not later than 
6 months after publication of the guidance referred 
to in subsection (c), or 1 year after the date of en-
actment of this Act, whichever occurs first. 
(2) AUTHORITY TO EXTEND DEADLINE.—If a 
State demonstrates to the satisfaction of the Sec-
retary of Health and Human Services that it is nec-
essary to amend State statutory law in order to 
change a particular practice that is inconsistent with 
this section, the Secretary may extend the compli-
ance date for the State and any entities in the State 
that are involved with adoption or foster care place-
ments a reasonable number of days after the close 
of the 1st State legislative session beginning after 
the date the guidance referred to in subsection (c) 
is published. 
(3) AUTHORITY TO WITHHOLD FUNDS.—If a 
State fails to comply with this section, the Secretary 
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may withhold payment to the State of amounts oth-
erwise payable to the State under part B or E of 
title IV of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 621 
et seq., 670 et seq.), to the extent the Secretary 
deems the withholding necessary to induce the State 
into compliance with this section. 
(f) GAO STUDY.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 5 years after 
the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller 
General of the United States shall conduct a study 
to determine whether the States have substantially 
complied with this Act, including specifically whether 
the States have— 
(A) eliminated policies, practices, or stat-
utes that deny to any otherwise qualified person 
the opportunity to become an adoptive or foster 
parent on the basis of the sexual orientation, 
gender identity, or marital status of the person, 
or the sexual orientation or gender identity of 
the child involved; 
(B) removed all program, policy, or statu-
tory barriers that delay or deny the placement 
of a child for adoption or into foster care on the 
basis of the sexual orientation, gender identity, 
or marital status of any qualified, prospective 
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adoptive or foster parent, or the sexual orienta-
tion or gender identity of the child; and 
(C) eliminated all different or additional 
screenings, processes, or procedures for adop-
tive or foster placement decisions based on the 
sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital 
status of the prospective adoptive or foster par-
ent, or the sexual orientation or gender identity 
of the child involved. 
(2) REPORT
TO
THE
CONGRESS.—Not later 
than 1 year after completing the study required by 
paragraph (1), the Comptroller General shall submit 
to Congress a written report that contains the re-
sults of the study. 
Æ 
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