Title: Protecting Adopted Children Act
Policy area: Families

Summary:
Protecting Adopted Children Act
This bill expands the requirements that states must meet in order to receive adoption and legal guardianship incentive payments. Specifically, states must establish minimum training requirements for prospective adoptive parents and guardians. In addition, states must provide pre- and post-adoption services to families adopting, or obtaining legal guardianship of, children in foster care. Those services must address the specific mental health needs of adopted children, children to be adopted, and their families.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3491 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3491

   To amend part E of title IV of the Social Security Act to provide 
  incentives for improving support services for adopted children and 
                               families.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 27, 2017

 Mr. Langevin (for himself, Mr. Danny K. Davis of Illinois, Ms. Bass, 
 Mrs. Lawrence, Mr. Franks of Arizona, and Mr. Marino) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend part E of title IV of the Social Security Act to provide 
  incentives for improving support services for adopted children and 
                               families.

    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 ``Protecting Adopted Children Act''.

SEC. 2. PRE- AND POST-ADOPTION REQUIREMENTS FOR STATES AS CONDITION OF 
              RECEIVING ADOPTION AND LEGAL GUARDIANSHIP INCENTIVE 
              PAYMENTS.

    Section 473A(b) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 673b(b)) is 
amended--
            (1) by striking ``and'' at the end of paragraph (3);
            (2) by striking the period at the end of paragraph (4) and 
        inserting ``; and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(5)(A) the State requires at least 20 hours of pre-
        placement training for all prospective adoptive parents and 
        legal guardians in the State (except that, in the case of adult 
        relatives of the child involved, the State shall provide 
        training options, such as completing training after the 
        adoption placement or reduced hours of training, as 
        appropriate), and the State has satisfied that requirement in 
        each fiscal year beginning on or after the effective date of 
        this paragraph for which an award has been made to the State 
        under this section; and
            ``(B) the State provides pre- and post-adoption services, 
        through a variety of delivery methods (such as at-home 
        training), to families adopting or obtaining legal guardianship 
        out of foster care which appropriately address the specific 
        mental health needs of adopted children, children to be 
        adopted, and the families of all such children, that are 
        related to the emotional, behavioral, and developmental issues 
        associated with adoption, including, if relevant, trauma, 
        identity, loss, abuse, neglect, and substance exposure.''.

SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    The amendments made by this Act shall take effect on the 1st day of 
the 2nd fiscal year beginning on or after the date of the enactment of 
this Act.
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