I 
108TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4856
To provide States with improved incentives, more flexibility, and increased 
funds to develop child welfare services that meet the unique needs of 
children and families and enhance children’s prospects for safe and 
permanent living arrangements. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 19, 2004
Mr. HERGER (for himself, Mrs. JOHNSON of Connecticut, Mr. DELAY, Mr. 
LEWIS of Kentucky, Mr. CAMP, and Mr. CANTOR) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 
A BILL 
To provide States with improved incentives, more flexibility, 
and increased funds to develop child welfare services 
that meet the unique needs of children and families 
and enhance children’s prospects for safe and permanent 
living arrangements.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Child Safety, Adoption, and Family Enhancement (Child 
SAFE) Act of 2004’’.
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 
this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title. 
Sec. 2. Findings. 
Sec. 3. References. 
TITLE I—EXPANDED ELIGIBILITY FOR ADOPTION ASSISTANCE 
AND FOSTER CARE 
Sec. 101. Adoption assistance. 
Sec. 102. Foster care maintenance payments. 
Sec. 103. Eligibility of Indian tribes to receive Federal funds for foster care 
and adoption assistance. 
TITLE II—FLEXIBLE FUNDS TO IMPROVE PROTECTION FOR 
CHILDREN AND STRENGTHEN FAMILIES 
Sec. 201. Safe Children, Strong Families programs. 
Sec. 202. Challenge grants. 
TITLE III—ENHANCEMENTS TO CHILD WELFARE WAIVER 
AUTHORITY 
Sec. 301. Extension of authority to approve demonstration projects. 
Sec. 302. Elimination of limitation on number of waivers. 
Sec. 303. Elimination of limitation on number of States that may be granted 
waivers to conduct demonstration projects on same topic. 
Sec. 304. Elimination of limitation on number of waivers that may be granted 
to a single State for demonstration projects. 
Sec. 305. Streamlined process for consideration of amendments to and exten-
sions of demonstration projects requiring waivers. 
Sec. 306. Availability of reports. 
TITLE IV—TANF AND SSI PROVISIONS 
Sec. 401. TANF high performance bonus. 
Sec. 402. Review of State agency blindness and disability determinations. 
TITLE V—EFFECTIVE DATE AND TRANSITION PROVISIONS 
Sec. 501. Effective date; transition rule.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds as follows: 
(1) Foster care should be a temporary, short-
term placement for children until they can be reuni-
fied with their parents or placed with a safe, adop-
tive family. However, the 532,454 children in foster
care on September 30, 2002, have been in foster 
care for an average of almost 3 years (32 months). 
(2) At the end of fiscal year 2002, the case 
plan goal for over 34,000 foster care children was to 
remain in foster care until they turned 18. These 
children will leave the foster care system without the 
stability and permanency of a family. 
(3) Since 1995, the number of children adopted 
with child welfare agency involvement has more than 
doubled from 25,693 to 52,546 in 2002. Despite this 
achievement, there were 129,262 children waiting to 
be adopted on September 30, 2002. On average, 
these children have been waiting in foster care for 
almost 4 years (44 months). 
(4) On March 26, 2004, the Department of 
Health and Human Services completed an initial re-
view in every State of their child welfare programs. 
No State passed this review which assessed whether 
States were in compliance with Federal requirements 
to ensure the safety, permanency, and well-being of 
vulnerable children. 
(5) On May 18, 2004, the nonpartisan Pew 
Commission on Children in Foster Care composed of 
former Members of Congress of both parties and 
other child welfare experts recommended overhauling