I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3092 
To amend part D of title IV of the Social Security Act to require the 
Secretary of Health and Human Services to modify the Federal Parent 
Locator Service to improve search functions and include State responsible 
father registry search functions, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 28, 2017 
Mrs. HARTZLER (for herself, Ms. KUSTER of New Hampshire, and Mrs. 
WALORSKI) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Ways and Means 
A BILL 
To amend part D of title IV of the Social Security Act 
to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services 
to modify the Federal Parent Locator Service to improve 
search functions and include State responsible father reg-
istry search functions, 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 ‘‘Permanency for Chil-
dren Act of 2017’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
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(1) A permanent, stable home is critical for the 
physical and cognitive development of children, and 
quickly identifying biological fathers after birth is 
crucial to providing stable, supportive environments 
for children of unwed mothers and for permanency 
for adoptive parents. 
(2) Responsible father registries, sometimes 
known as putative father registries, help to speed up 
the stable placement of children by providing a 
mechanism to determine whether a biological father 
has a protectable interest in participating in the 
placement decisions for a child. 
(3) Thirty-four States have created responsible 
father registries. 
(4) Improving the legal mechanisms for finding 
biological fathers is a necessary step in the progres-
sion toward improving permanency for children. 
(5) In 1975, Congress authorized the creation 
of the Federal Parent Locator Service (FPLS), 
which is an assembly of systems designed to assist 
States in locating noncustodial parents, putative fa-
thers, and custodial parties, for the establishment of 
paternity and child support obligations. 
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(6) Currently, the FPLS can only be searched 
by social security number or date of birth, which 
limits the effectiveness of this tool. 
(7) Improving the search functions of the 
FPLS will allow for more effective use of the data-
base while maintaining important privacy protections 
to provide expedited permanency for children. 
(8) National cross-referencing of responsible fa-
ther registries in the FPLS would protect registered 
fathers against court actions in unknown States 
where the child or mother may have traveled or 
where the adoptive parents reside. 
SEC. 3. RESPONSIBLE FATHER REGISTRY. 
(a) REQUIREMENT TO MODIFY FEDERAL PARENT 
LOCATOR SERVICE.—Section 453 of the Social Security 
Act (42 U.S.C. 653) is amended by adding at the end the 
following: 
‘‘(q) RESPONSIBLE FATHER REGISTRY.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the preceding 
provisions of this section, the Secretary shall, in col-
laboration with the States, modify the Federal Par-
ent Locator Service to improve search functions to 
allow State agencies administering State responsible 
father registries to electronically exchange identi-
fying information of mothers and putative fathers of 
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children, and, to the extent possible, to allow a sin-
gle Federal Parent Locator Service query to search 
for a putative father registered in any State respon-
sible father registry. 
‘‘(2) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term 
‘responsible father registry’ means a registry for the 
receipt of information which directly relates to the 
identity or location of biological fathers who have 
voluntarily registered to assert their paternal rights 
to a child they may have fathered out of wedlock.’’. 
(b) REPORT.—Not later than 12 months after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall sub-
mit to Congress a report on the implementation of the re-
quirement under section 453(q) of the Social Security Act, 
as added by subsection (a) of this section. Such report 
shall also— 
(1) include a framework to assist States with-
out responsible father registries in setting up such 
a State registry or coordinating with an existing 
such State registry; 
(2) provide direction to States with existing 
State responsible father registries on best practices 
for improving efficiencies of such registries; and 
(3) identify administrative and legislative op-
tions for ensuring every putative father has access to 
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the protections of a responsible father registry re-
gardless of the State or territory in which the father 
resides. 
SEC. 4. PARTIES AUTHORIZED TO ACCESS FEDERAL PAR-
ENT LOCATOR SERVICE. 
(a) STATE RESPONSIBLE FATHER REGISTRIES.— 
Section 453(c)(4) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
653(c)(4)) is amended by inserting ‘‘, or that is admin-
istering a State responsible father registry’’ after ‘‘part 
E’’. 
(b) ADOPTION AND DEPENDENCY COURTS.—Section 
453(c)(2) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 653(c)(2)) is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘the court’’ and inserting ‘‘any 
court’’; and 
(2) by inserting ‘‘or an action relating to the 
dependency or adoption of a child,’’ after ‘‘mainte-
nance of a child,’’. 
Æ 
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