PARENTS Act of 2021
Bill: S.503 | Sponsor: Sen. Cornyn, John (R-TX)
Policy area: Families

Summary:
Providing Adequate Resources to Enhance Needed Time with Sons and daughters Act of 2021 or the PARENTS Act of 2021
This bill expands the use of federal incentive payments to states under the Child Support Enforcement Program to include establishing agreements for how much time a child spends with each parent as agreed to by the parents under a child support or medical support order.  Generally, the incentive payments program provides funding based on a state's performance measures related to (1) establishing paternity, (2) the number of cases with child support orders in place, (3) the collection of current and past-due support payments, and (4) cost-effectiveness.

To amend part D of title IV of the Social Security Act to allow States 
to use incentive payments available under the child support enforcement 
 program to improve parent-child relationships, increase child support 
collections, and improve outcomes for children by supporting parenting 
time agreements for noncustodial parents in uncontested agreements, and 
                          for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Providing Adequate Resources to 
Enhance Needed Time with Sons and daughters Act of 2021'' or the 
``PARENTS Act of 2021''.

SEC. 2. EXPANDING PERMITTED USES OF INCENTIVE PAYMENTS.

    Section 458 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 658a) is 
amended--
            (1) in subsection (f)--
                    (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ``; or'' and 
                inserting a semicolon;
                    (B) by redesignating paragraph (2) as paragraph 
                (3); and
                    (C) by inserting after paragraph (1) the following 
                new paragraph:
            ``(2) to develop, implement, and evaluate procedures for 
        establishing a parenting time agreement when establishing an 
        initial or modified child support order or a medical support 
        order (including procedures for carrying out a parenting time 
        agreement made prior to the establishment or modification of 
        any such order); or''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(g) Definitions of Parenting Time Agreement and Noncustodial 
Parent.--
            ``(1) Parenting time agreement.--For purposes of subsection 
        (f)(2), the term `parenting time agreement' means an agreement 
        governing how much time a child spends with the child's 
        custodial parent and the child's noncustodial parent that is 
        mutually agreed to by the parents and is not contested by 
        either parent in any forum.
            ``(2) Noncustodial parent.--For purposes of paragraph (1), 
        the term `noncustodial parent' means the parent of a child that 
        the child does not live with for the majority of the child's 
        time.''.

            Passed the Senate July 27, 2021.

            Attest:

                                                             Secretary.
117th CONGRESS

  1st Session

                                 S. 503

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