(1) To prohibit governmental entities from dis-
criminating or taking an adverse action against a 
child welfare service provider on the basis that the 
provider declines to provide a child welfare service 
that conflicts, or under circumstances that conflict, 
with the sincerely held religious beliefs or moral con-
victions of the provider. 
(2) To protect child welfare service providers’ 
exercise of religion and to ensure that governmental 
entities will not be able to force those providers, ei-
ther directly or indirectly, to discontinue all or some 
of their child welfare services because they decline to 
provide a child welfare service that conflicts, or 
under circumstances that conflict, with their sin-
cerely held religious beliefs or moral convictions. 
(3) To provide relief to child welfare service 
providers whose rights have been violated. 
SEC. 3. DISCRIMINATION AND ADVERSE ACTIONS PROHIB-
ITED. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Federal Government, and 
any State that receives Federal funding for any program 
that provides child welfare services under part B or E of 
title IV of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 621 et seq., 
671 et seq.) (and any subdivision, office or department 
of such State) shall not discriminate or take an adverse 
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action against a child welfare service provider on the basis 
that the provider has declined or will decline to provide, 
facilitate, or refer for a child welfare service that conflicts 
with, or under circumstances that conflict with, the pro-
vider’s sincerely held religious beliefs or moral convictions. 
(b) LIMITATION.—Subsection (a) does not apply to 
conduct forbidden by paragraph (18) of section 471(a) of 
such Act (42 U.S.C. 671(a)(18)). 
SEC. 4. FUNDS WITHHELD FOR VIOLATION. 
The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall 
withhold from a State 15 percent of the Federal funds 
the State receives for a program that provides child wel-
fare services under part B or E of title IV of the Social 
Security Act (42 U.S.C. 621 et seq., 671 et seq.) if the 
State violates section 3 when administering or disbursing 
funds under such program. 
SEC. 5. PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—A child welfare service provider 
aggrieved by a violation of section 3 may assert that viola-
tion as a claim or defense in a judicial proceeding and 
obtain all appropriate relief, including declaratory relief, 
injunctive relief, and compensatory damages, with respect 
to that violation. 
(b) ATTORNEYS’ FEES AND COSTS.—A child welfare 
service provider that prevails in an action by establishing 
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a violation of section 3 is entitled to recover reasonable 
attorneys’ fees and costs. 
(c) WAIVER OF SOVEREIGN IMMUNITY.—By accept-
ing or expending Federal funds in connection with a pro-
gram that provides child welfare services under part B or 
E of title IV of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 621 
et seq., 671 et seq.), a State waives its sovereign immunity 
for any claim or defense that is raised under this section. 
SEC. 6. SEVERABILITY. 
If any provision of this Act, or any application of such 
provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be un-
constitutional, the remainder of this Act and the applica-
tion of the provision to any other person or circumstance 
shall not be affected. 
SEC. 7. EFFECTIVE DATE. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection 
(b), the amendments made by this Act 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 the withholding 
of funds authorized by section 4 shall apply to payments 
under parts B and E of title IV of the Social Security 
Act (42 U.S.C. 621 et seq., 671 et seq.) for calendar quar-
ters beginning on or after such date. 
(b) EXCEPTION.—If legislation (other than legisla-
tion appropriating funds) is required for a governmental 
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entity to bring itself into compliance with this Act, the 
governmental entity shall not be regarded as violating this 
Act before the 1st day of the 1st calendar quarter begin-
ning after the 1st regular session of the legislative body 
that begins after the date of the enactment of this Act. 
For purposes of the preceding sentence, if the govern-
mental entity has a 2-year legislative session, each year 
of the session is deemed to be a separate regular session. 
SEC. 8. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) CHILD WELFARE SERVICE PROVIDER.—The 
term ‘‘child welfare service provider’’ includes orga-
nizations, corporations, groups, entities, or individ-
uals that provide or seek to provide, or that apply 
for or receive a contract, subcontract, grant, or 
subgrant for the provision of, child welfare services. 
A provider need not be engaged exclusively in child 
welfare services to be considered a child welfare 
service provider for purposes of this Act. 
(2) CHILD
WELFARE
SERVICES.—The term 
‘‘child welfare services’’ means social services pro-
vided to or on behalf of children, including assisting 
abused, neglected, or troubled children, counseling 
children or parents, promoting foster parenting, pro-
viding foster homes or temporary group shelters for 
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children, recruiting foster parents, placing children 
in foster homes, licensing foster homes, promoting 
adoption, recruiting adoptive parents, assisting 
adoptions, supporting adoptive families, assisting 
kinship guardianships, assisting kinship caregivers, 
providing family preservation services, providing 
family support services, and providing time-limited 
family reunification services. 
(3) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 
the 50 States, the District of Columbia, any com-
monwealth, territory or possession of the United 
States, and any political subdivision thereof, and any 
Indian tribe, tribal organization, or tribal consortium 
that has a plan approved in accordance with section 
479B of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 679c) or 
that has a cooperative agreement or contract with 
one of the 50 States for the administration or pay-
ment of funds under part B or E of title IV of the 
Social Security Act. 
(4) FUNDING; FUNDED; FUNDS.—The terms 
‘‘funding’’, ‘‘funded’’, or ‘‘funds’’ include money paid 
pursuant to a contract, grant, voucher, or similar 
means. 
(5) ADVERSE ACTION.—The term ‘‘adverse ac-
tion’’ includes, but is not limited to, denying a child 
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