I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3827 
To prohibit discrimination in adoption or foster care placements based on 
the sexual orientation, gender identification, or marital status of any 
prospective adoptive or foster parent. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 15, 2009 
Mr. STARK introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Ways and Means 
A BILL 
To prohibit discrimination in adoption or foster care place-
ments based on the sexual orientation, gender identifica-
tion, or marital status of any prospective adoptive or 
foster parent. 
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 ‘‘Every Child Deserves 
a Family Act’’. 
SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following: 
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(1) There is a shortage of qualified individuals 
willing to adopt or foster a child in the child welfare 
system. As a result, thousands of foster children 
lack a permanent and safe home. 
(2) In order to open more homes to foster chil-
dren, child welfare agencies should work to eliminate 
sexual orientation, gender identification, and marital 
status discrimination and bias in adoption and foster 
care recruitment, selection, and placement proce-
dures. 
(3) Of the estimated 500,000 children in the 
United States foster care system, over 129,000 can-
not return to their original families and are legally 
free for adoption. 
(A) Fifty-one thousand children were 
adopted in 2007, while 25,000 youth ‘‘aged 
out’’ of the foster care system. 
(B) Research shows that youth who ‘‘age 
out’’ of the foster care system are at a high risk 
for poverty, homelessness, incarceration, and 
early parenthood. 
(C) Increasing adoption rates, in addition 
to establishing permanency and decreasing risk 
factors for foster youth, can yield annual na-
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tional cost savings between $3,300,000,000 and 
$6,300,000,000. 
(4) As of 2007, gay, lesbian, and bisexual par-
ents were raising 4 percent of all adopted children 
and fostering for 3 percent of all foster children. A 
report from the Evan B. Donaldson Institute found 
that an additional 2,000,000 gay, lesbian, and bisex-
ual individuals are interested in adoption. 
(5) According to the Urban Institute, same-sex 
couples raising adopted children tend to be older, 
more educated, and have more economic resources 
than other adoptive parents. Studies confirm that 
children with same-sex parents have the same ad-
vantages and same expectations for health, social 
and psychological adjustment, and development as 
children whose parents are heterosexual. 
(6) An Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute 
study found that one-third of child welfare agencies 
in the United States currently reject gay, lesbian, 
and bisexual applicants, citing a conflict with the re-
ligious beliefs associated with the agency, State law 
prohibiting placement with gay, lesbian, or bisexual 
parents, or a policy of placing children with married- 
heterosexual only couples. 
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(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) Over 14,000 children are currently in 
placements with gay, lesbian, and bisexual 
adoptive and foster parents. If other States fol-
lowed the minority of States and discriminated 
against qualified individuals because of their 
sexual orientation or marital status, foster care 
expenditures 
would 
increase 
between 
$87,000,000 and $130,000,000 per year in 
order to pay for additional institutional and 
group care, as well as to recruit and train new 
foster and adoptive parents. 
(7) Some States allow 1 member of a same-sex 
couple to adopt, but do not recognize both members 
of the couple as the child’s legal parents. Recogni-
tion of joint and second-parent adoption provides 
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children with the same rights and security that chil-
dren of heterosexual parents enjoy. These protec-
tions include access to both parents’ health benefits; 
survivor’s, Social Security, and child support entitle-
ments; legal grounds for either parent to provide 
consent for medical care, education, and other im-
portant decisions; as well as the establishment of 
permanency for both parents and child. 
(8) Professional organizations in the fields of 
medicine, law, and child welfare have taken official 
positions in support of the ability of qualified gay, 
lesbian, bisexual, and unmarried couples to foster 
and adopt, as supported by scientific research show-
ing sexual orientation as a nondeterminative factor 
in parental success. 
(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 identification, or mar-
ital status. 
SEC. 3. EVERY CHILD DESERVES A FAMILY. 
(a) ACTIVITIES.— 
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(1) PROHIBITION.—An entity that receives Fed-
eral assistance and is involved in adoption or foster 
care placements may not— 
(A) categorically deny to any person the 
opportunity to become an adoptive or a foster 
parent solely on the basis of the sexual orienta-
tion, gender identification, or marital status of 
the person; 
(B) delay or deny the placement of a child 
for adoption or into foster care, or otherwise 
discriminate in making a placement decision, 
solely on the basis of the sexual orientation, 
gender identification, or marital status of any 
prospective adoptive or foster parent; or 
(C) deny or limit the parental rights of an 
adoptive parent based on the adoptive parent’s 
sexual orientation, gender identification, or 
marital status. 
(2) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 
‘‘placement decision’’ means the decision to place, or 
to delay or deny the placement of, a child in a foster 
care or an adoptive home, and includes the decision 
of the agency or entity involved to seek the termi-
nation of birth parent rights or otherwise make a 
child legally available for adoptive placement. 
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(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 the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 
of Health and Human Services shall publish guidance to 
concerned entities with respect to compliance with this 
section. 
(d) 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 the 
enactment 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 a reasonable number of days 
after the close of the first State legislative session 
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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 
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, to the extent the 
Secretary deems the withholding necessary to induce 
the State into compliance with this section. 
(e) GAO STUDY.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Within 5 years after the 
date of the 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 solely on the basis of the sexual orienta-
tion, gender identification, or marital status of 
the person; 
(B) removed all program, policy, or statu-
tory barriers that delay or deny the placement 
of a child for adoption or into foster care, or 
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otherwise discriminate in making a placement 
decision, solely on the basis of the sexual ori-
entation, gender identification, or marital status 
of any qualified, prospective adoptive or foster 
parent; and 
(C) eliminated all policies, practices, or 
statutes that deny or limit the parental rights 
of an adoptive parent based on the adoptive 
parent’s sexual orientation, gender identifica-
tion, or marital status. 
(2) REPORT TO THE CONGRESS.—Within 1 year 
after completing the study required by paragraph 
(1), the Comptroller General shall submit to the 
Congress a written report that contains the results 
of the study. 
Æ 
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