IB
Union Calendar No. 52
105TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H.R. 867
[Report No. 105–77]
To promote the adoption of children in foster care.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 27, 1997
Mr. CAMP (for himself, Mrs. KENNELLY of Connecticut, and Mr. SHAW) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways
and Means
APRIL 28, 1997
Additional sponsors: Mr. RAMSTAD, Ms. PRYCE of Ohio, Mr. LEVIN, Mr.
KLUG, Mr. BLILEY, Mr. WATTS of Oklahoma, Mr. NETHERCUTT, Ms.
MOLINARI, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. FARR of California, Mr. CANADY of Flor-
ida, Mr. ROEMER, Mr. DELLUMS, Mr. ENGLISH of Pennsylvania, Mrs.
KELLY, Mr. BARRETT of Nebraska, Mr. GORDON, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr.
HOUGHTON, Mr. BUNNING, Mr. ENSIGN, Mr. HERGER, Mr. WELLER,
Mr. DELAY, Mr. MCHALE, Ms. GRANGER, Mr. FAWELL, Mr.
BLAGOJEVICH, and Mr. FAZIO of California
APRIL 28, 1997
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on February 27, 1997]
A BILL
To promote the adoption of children in foster care.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the
‘‘Adoption Promotion Act of 1997’’.
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of this
Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Clarification of the reasonable efforts requirement.
Sec. 3. States required to initiate or join proceedings to terminate parental rights
for certain children in foster care.
Sec. 4. Adoption incentive payments.
Sec. 5. Earlier status reviews and permanency hearings.
Sec. 6. Notice of reviews and hearings; opportunity to be heard.
Sec. 7. Documentation of reasonable efforts to adopt.
Sec. 8. Kinship care.
Sec. 9. Use of the Federal Parent Locator Service for child welfare services.
Sec. 10. Performance of States in protecting children.
Sec. 11. Authority to approve more child protection demonstration projects.
Sec. 12. Technical assistance.
Sec. 13. Coordination of substance abuse and child protection services.
Sec. 14. Clarification of eligible population for independent living services.
Sec. 15. Effective date.
SEC. 2. CLARIFICATION OF THE REASONABLE EFFORTS RE-
QUIREMENT.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 471(a)(15) of the Social Se-
curity Act (42 U.S.C. 671(a)(15)) is amended to read as
follows:
‘‘(15)(A) provides that—
‘‘(i) except as provided in clauses (ii) and
(iii), reasonable efforts shall be made—
‘‘(I) before a child is placed in foster
care, to prevent or eliminate the need to re-
move the child from the child’s home; and
‘‘(II) to make it possible for the child
to return home;
‘‘(ii) if continuation of reasonable efforts of
the type described in clause (i) is determined to
be inconsistent with the permanency plan for the
child, reasonable efforts of the type required by
clause (iii)(II) shall be made;
‘‘(iii) if a court of competent jurisdiction
has determined that the child has been subjected
to aggravated circumstances (as defined by State
law, which definition may include abandonment,
torture, chronic abuse, and sexual abuse) or pa-
rental 
conduct 
described 
in 
section
106(b)(2)(A)(xii) of the Child Abuse Prevention
and Treatment Act, or that the parental rights
of a parent with respect to a sibling of the child
have been terminated involuntarily—
‘‘(I) reasonable efforts of the type de-
scribed in clause (i) shall not be required to
be made with respect to any parent of the
child who has been involved in subjecting
the child to such circumstances or such con-
duct, or whose parental rights with respect
to a sibling of the child have been termi-
nated involuntarily; and
‘‘(II) if reasonable efforts of the type
described in clause (i) are not made or are
discontinued, reasonable efforts shall be
made to place the child for adoption, with
a legal guardian, or (if adoption or legal
guardianship is determined not to be appro-
priate for the child) in some other planned,
permanent living arrangement; and
‘‘(iv) reasonable efforts of the type described
in clause (iii)(II) may be made concurrently
with reasonable efforts of the type described in
clause (i); and
‘‘(B) in determining the reasonable efforts
to be made with respect to a child and in mak-
ing such reasonable efforts, the child’s health and
safety shall be of paramount concern;’’.
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 472(a)(1) of
such Act (42 U.S.C. 672(a)(1)) is amended by inserting ‘‘for
a child’’ before ‘‘have been made’’.
SEC. 3. STATES REQUIRED TO INITIATE OR JOIN PROCEED-
INGS TO TERMINATE PARENTAL RIGHTS FOR
CERTAIN CHILDREN IN FOSTER CARE.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 475(5) of the Social Secu-
rity Act (42 U.S.C. 675(5)) is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subpara-
graph (C);
(2) by striking the period at the end of subpara-
graph (D) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(E) in the case of a child who has not at-
tained 10 years of age and has been in foster
care under the responsibility of the State for 18
months of the most recent 24 months, the State
shall file a petition to terminate the parental
rights of the child’s parents (or, if such a peti-
tion has been filed by another party, seek to be
joined as a party to the petition), unless—
‘‘(i) at the option of the State, the child
is being cared for by a relative;
‘‘(ii) a State court or State agency has
documented a compelling reason for deter-
mining that filing such a petition would
not be in the best interests of the child; or
‘‘(iii) the State has not provided to the
family of the child such services as the State
deems appropriate, if reasonable efforts of
the 
type 
described 
in 
section
471(a)(15)(A)(i) are required to be made
with respect to the child.’’.
(b) LIMITATION ON APPLICABILITY.—The amendments
made by subsection (a) shall apply only to children entering
foster care on or after October 1, 1997.
SEC. 4. ADOPTION INCENTIVE PAYMENTS.
Part E of title IV of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.
670–679) is amended by inserting after section 473 the fol-
lowing:
‘‘SEC. 473A. ADOPTION INCENTIVE PAYMENTS.
‘‘(a) GRANT AUTHORITY.—Each State that is an in-
centive-eligible State for a fiscal year shall be entitled to
receive from the Secretary in the immediately succeeding
fiscal year a grant in an amount equal to the adoption
incentive payment.
‘‘(b) INCENTIVE-ELIGIBLE STATE.—A State is an in-
centive-eligible State for a fiscal year if—
‘‘(1) the State has a plan approved under this
part for the fiscal year;
‘‘(2) the number of foster child adoptions in the
State during the fiscal year exceeds the base number
of foster child adoptions for the State for the fiscal
year;
‘‘(3) the State is in compliance with subsection
(c) for the fiscal year; and
‘‘(4) the fiscal year is any of fiscal years 1998
through 2002.
‘‘(c) DATA REQUIREMENTS.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A State is in compliance
with this subsection for a fiscal year if the State has
provided to the Secretary the data described in para-
graph (2) for fiscal year 1997 (or, if later, the fiscal
year that precedes the 1st fiscal year for which the
State seeks a grant under this section) and for each
succeeding fiscal year.
‘‘(2) DETERMINATION
OF
NUMBERS
OF
ADOP-
TIONS.—
‘‘(A) DETERMINATIONS BASED ON AFCARS
DATA.—Except as provided in subparagraph
(B), the Secretary shall determine the numbers of
foster child adoptions and of special needs adop-
tions in a State during each of fiscal years 1997
through 2002, for purposes of this section, on the
basis of data meeting the requirements of the sys-
tem established pursuant to section 479, as re-
ported by the State in May of the fiscal year and
in November of the succeeding fiscal year, and
approved by the Secretary by April 1 of the suc-
ceeding fiscal year.
‘‘(B) ALTERNATIVE
DATA
SOURCES
PER-
MITTED FOR FISCAL YEAR 1997.—For purposes of
the determination described in subparagraph (A)
the base number of special needs adoptions for
the State for the fiscal year.
‘‘(2) PRO RATA ADJUSTMENT IF INSUFFICIENT
FUNDS AVAILABLE.—If the total amount of adoption
incentive payments otherwise payable under this sec-
tion for a fiscal year exceeds the amount then avail-
able for grants under this section, the amount of the
adoption incentive payment payable to each State
under this section for the fiscal year shall be—
‘‘(A) the amount of the adoption incentive
payment that would otherwise be payable to the
State under this section for the fiscal year; mul-
tiplied by
‘‘(B) the percentage represented by the
amount then available for grants under this sec-
tion, divided by the total amount of adoption in-
centive payments otherwise payable under this
section for the fiscal year.
‘‘(e) 2-YEAR
AVAILABILITY
OF
INCENTIVE
PAY-
MENTS.—Payments to a State under this section in a fiscal
year shall remain available for use by the State through
the end of the succeeding fiscal year.
‘‘(f) LIMITATIONS ON USE OF INCENTIVE PAYMENTS.—
A State shall not expend an amount paid to the State under
this section except to provide to children or families any
service (including post adoption services) that may be pro-
vided under part B or E. Amounts expended by a State
in accordance with the preceding sentence shall be dis-
regarded in determining State expenditures for purposes of
Federal matching payments under section 474.
‘‘(g) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section:
‘‘(1) FOSTER CHILD ADOPTION.—The term ‘foster
child adoption’ means the final adoption of a child
who, at the time of adoptive placement, was in foster
care under the supervision of the State.
‘‘(2) SPECIAL NEEDS ADOPTION.—The term ‘spe-
cial needs adoption’ means the final adoption of a
child for whom an adoption assistance agreement is
in effect under section 473.
‘‘(3) BASE NUMBER OF FOSTER CHILD ADOP-
TIONS.—The term ‘base number of foster child adop-
tions for a State’ means, with respect to a fiscal year,
the largest number of foster child adoptions in the
State in fiscal year 1997 (or, if later, the 1st fiscal
year for which the State has furnished to the Sec-
retary the data described in subsection (c)(2)) or in
any succeeding fiscal year preceding the fiscal year.
‘‘(4) BASE NUMBER OF SPECIAL NEEDS ADOP-
TIONS.—The term ‘base number of special needs adop-
tions for a State’ means, with respect to a fiscal year,
the largest number of special needs adoptions in the
State in fiscal year 1997 (or, if later, the 1st fiscal
year for which the State has furnished to the Sec-
retary the data described in subsection (c)(2)) or in
any succeeding fiscal year preceding the fiscal year.
‘‘(h) APPROPRIATION.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Out of any money in the
Treasury of the United States not otherwise appro-
priated, there are appropriated for fiscal years 1999
through 2003 such sums as are necessary for grants
under this section, in a total amount not to exceed
$108,000,000.
‘‘(2) 
AVAILABILITY.—Amounts 
appropriated
under paragraph (1) shall remain available until ex-
pended, but not after fiscal year 2003.’’.
SEC. 5. EARLIER STATUS REVIEWS AND PERMANENCY
HEARINGS.
Section 475(5)(C) of the Social Security Act (42
U.S.C. 675(5)(C)) is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘eighteen months after’’ and in-
serting ‘‘12 months after’’;
(2) by striking ‘‘dispositional’’ and inserting
‘‘permanency’’; and
(3) by striking ‘‘future status of’’ and all that
follows through ‘‘long-term basis)’’ and inserting
‘‘permanency plan for the child (including whether
(and, if applicable, when) the child will be returned
to the parent, the child will be placed for adoption
and the State will file a petition to terminate the pa-
rental rights of the parent, a legal guardian will be
appointed for the child, or the child will be placed in
some other planned, permanent living arrangement,
including in the custody of another fit and willing
relative)’’.
SEC. 6. NOTICE OF REVIEWS AND HEARINGS; OPPORTUNITY
TO BE HEARD.
Section 475(5) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.
675(5)), as amended by section 3 of this Act, is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subpara-
graph (D);
(2) by striking the period at the end of subpara-
graph (E) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(F) the foster parents (if any) of a child
and any relative providing care for the child are
provided with notice of, and an opportunity to
be heard in, any review or hearing to be held
with respect to the child, except that this sub-
paragraph shall not be construed to make any
foster parent a party to such a review or hear-
ing.’’.
SEC. 7. DOCUMENTATION OF REASONABLE EFFORTS TO
ADOPT.
Section 475(5) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.
675(5)), as amended by sections 3 and 6 of this Act, is
amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subpara-
graph (E);
(2) by striking the period at the end of subpara-
graph (F) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(G) in the case of a child with respect to
whom the State’s goal is adoption or placement
in another permanent home, the steps taken by
the State agency to find an adoptive family or
other permanent living arrangement for the
child, to place the child with an adoptive family,
a legal guardian, or in another planned perma-
nent living arrangement (including in the cus-
tody of another fit and willing relative), and to
finalize the adoption or legal guardianship are
documented, and such documentation shall in-
clude documentation of child specific recruitment
efforts such as the use of State, regional, and na-
tional adoption information exchanges, includ-
ing electronic information exchange systems.’’.
SEC. 8. KINSHIP CARE.
(a) REPORT.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and
Human Services shall—
(A) not later than March 1, 1998, convene
the advisory panel provided for in subsection
(b)(1) and prepare and submit to the advisory
panel an initial report on the extent to which
children in foster care are placed in the care of
a relative (in this section referred to as ‘‘kinship
care’’); and
(B) not later than November 1, 1998, sub-
mit to the Committee on Ways and Means of the
House of Representatives and the Committee on
Finance of the Senate a final report on the mat-
ter described in subparagraph (A), which shall—
(i) be based on the comments submitted
by the advisory panel pursuant to sub-
section (b)(2) and other information and
considerations; and
(ii) include the policy recommenda-
tions of the Secretary with respect to the
matter.
(2) REQUIRED CONTENTS.—Each report required
by paragraph (1) shall—
(A) include, to the extent available for each
State, information on—
(i) the policy of the State regarding
kinship care;
(ii) the characteristics of the kinship
care providers (including age, income, eth-
nicity, and race);
(iii) the characteristics of the household
of such providers (such as number of other
persons in the household and family com-
position);
(iv) how much access to the child is af-
forded to the parent from whom the child
has been removed;
(v) the cost of, and source of funds for,
kinship care (including any subsidies such
as medicaid and cash assistance);
(vi) the goal for a permanent living
arrangement for the child and the actions
being taken by the State to achieve the goal;
(vii) the services being provided to the
parent from whom the child has been re-
moved; and
(viii) the services being provided to the
kinship care provider; and
(B) specifically note the circumstances or
conditions under which children enter kinship
care.
(b) ADVISORY PANEL.—
(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Health
and Human Services, in consultation with the Chair-
man of the Committee on Ways and Means of the
House of Representatives and the Chairman of the
Committee on Finance of the Senate, shall convene an
advisory panel which shall include parents, foster
parents, former foster children, State and local public
officials responsible for administering child welfare
programs, private persons involved in the delivery of
child welfare services, representatives of tribal govern-
ments and tribal courts, judges, and academic experts.
(2) DUTIES.—The advisory panel convened pur-
suant to paragraph (1) shall review the report pre-
pared pursuant to subsection (a), and, not later than
July 1, 1998, submit to the Secretary comments on
the report.
SEC. 9. USE OF THE FEDERAL PARENT LOCATOR SERVICE
FOR CHILD WELFARE SERVICES.
Section 453 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 653)
is amended—
(1) in subsection (a)—
(A) by striking ‘‘or enforcing child custody
or visitation orders’’ and inserting ‘‘or making
or enforcing child custody or visitation orders’’;
and
(B) in paragraph (1)—
(i) by striking the comma at the end of
subparagraph (C) and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and
(ii) by inserting after subparagraph
(C) the following:
‘‘(D) who has or may have parental rights
with respect to a child,’’; and
(2) in subsection (c)—
(A) by striking the period at the end of
paragraph (3) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and
(B) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(4) a State agency that is administering a pro-
gram operated under a State plan under subpart 1
of part B, or a State plan approved under subpart
2 of part B or under part E.’’.
SEC. 10. PERFORMANCE OF STATES IN PROTECTING CHIL-
DREN.
The Secretary of Health and Human Services, in con-
sultation with the American Public Welfare Association, the
National Governors’ Association, and persons or organiza-
tions devoted to child advocacy, shall—
(1) develop a set of outcome measures (including
length of stay in foster care, number of foster care
placements, and number of adoptions) that can be
used to assess the performance of States in operating
child protection and child welfare programs pursuant
to parts B and E of title IV of the Social Security
Act to ensure the safety of children;
(2) to the maximum extent possible, the outcome
measures should be developed from data available
from the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Re-
porting System;
(3) develop a system for rating the performance
of States with respect to the outcome measures, and
provide to the States an explanation of the rating sys-
tem and how scores are determined under the rating
system;
(4) prescribe such regulations as may be nec-
essary to ensure that States provide to the Secretary
the data necessary to determine State performance
with respect to each outcome measure, as a condition
of the State receiving funds under part E of title IV
of the Social Security Act;
(5) on May 1, 1999, and annually thereafter,
prepare and submit to the Congress a report on the
performance of each State on each outcome measure,
which shall examine the reasons for high performance
and low performance and, where possible, make rec-
ommendations as to how State performance could be
improved.
SEC. 11. AUTHORITY TO APPROVE MORE CHILD PROTEC-
TION DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS.
Section 1130(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.
1320a–9(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘10’’ and inserting
‘‘15’’.
SEC. 12. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and
Human Services may, directly or through grants or con-
tracts, provide technical assistance to assist States and local
communities to reach their targets for increased numbers
of adoptions and, to the extent that adoption is not possible,
alternative permanent placements, for children in foster
care.
(b) LIMITATIONS.—The technical assistance provided
under subsection (a) shall support the goal of encouraging
more adoptions out of the foster care system, when adop-
tions promote the best interests of children, and shall in-
clude the following:
(1) The development of best practice guidelines
for expediting termination of parental rights.
(2) Models to encourage the use of concurrent
planning.
(3) The development of specialized units and ex-
pertise in moving children toward adoption as a per-
manency goal.
(4) The development of risk assessment tools to
facilitate early identification of the children who will
be at risk of harm if returned home.
(5) Models to encourage the fast tracking of chil-
dren who have not attained 1 year of age into pre-
adoptive placements.
(6) Development of programs that place children
into pre-adoptive families without waiting for termi-
nation of parental rights.
(c) LIMITATIONS ON AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA-
TIONS.—To carry out this section, there are authorized to
be appropriated to the Secretary of Health and Human
Services not to exceed $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years
1998 through 2000.
SEC. 13. COORDINATION OF SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND CHILD
PROTECTION SERVICES.
Within 1 year after the date of the enactment of this
Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, based
on information from the Substance Abuse and Mental
Health Services Administration and the Administration for
Children and Families in the Department of Health of
Human Services, shall prepare and submit to the Commit-
tee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives and
the Committee on Finance of the Senate a report which de-
scribes the extent and scope of the problem of substance
abuse in the child welfare population, the types of services
provided to such population, and the outcomes resulting
from the provision of such services to such population. The
report shall include recommendations for any legislation
that may be needed to improve coordination in providing
such services to such population.
SEC. 14. CLARIFICATION OF ELIGIBLE POPULATION FOR
INDEPENDENT LIVING SERVICES.
Section 477(a)(2)(A) of the Social Security Act (42
U.S.C. 677(a)(2)(A)) is amended by inserting ‘‘(including
children with respect to whom such payments are no longer
being made because the child has accumulated assets, not
to exceed $5,000, which are otherwise regarded as resources
for purposes of determining eligibility for benefits under
this part)’’ before the comma.
SEC. 15. EFFECTIVE DATE.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The amendments made by this Act
shall take effect on October 1, 1997.
(b) DELAY PERMITTED IF STATE LEGISLATION RE-
QUIRED.—In the case of a State plan under part B or E
of title IV of the Social Security Act which the Secretary
of Health and Human Services determines requires State
legislation (other than legislation appropriating funds) in
order for the plan to meet the additional requirements im-
posed by the amendments made by this Act, the State plan
shall not be regarded as failing to comply with the require-
ments of such part solely on the basis of the failure of the
plan to meet such additional requirements before the 1st
day of the 1st calendar quarter beginning after the close
of the 1st regular session of the State legislature that begins
after the date of the enactment of this Act. For purposes
of the previous sentence, in the case of a State that has a
2-year legislative session, each year of such session shall be
deemed to be a separate regular session of the State legisla-
ture.