Title: Vulnerable Children and Families Act of 2017
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Vulnerable Children and Families Act of 2017
This bill redesignates the Office of Children's Issues of the Department of State as the Office of Vulnerable Children and Family Security (VCFS).
The President shall appoint an Ambassador-at-Large to promote: (1) oversight of the VCFS; (2) the implementation in foreign countries of child welfare laws and policies in keeping with the goals of the United States Government Action Plan on Children in Adversity; and (3) addressing the gap in U.S. diplomacy, policy, and operations regarding permanent family care for children living without families.
The Ambassador-at-Large shall: (1) advise the State Department and the President about vulnerable children and family security in foreign countries; (2) represent the United States regarding international child welfare, family preservation and reunification, and provision of permanent, safe parental care; (3) develop related policies and programs; and (4) submit an annual report on implementation of such action plan.
The bill provides the VCFS with lead responsibility for: (1) representing the U.S. government regarding intercountry adoptions, and (2) determining whether a country has met its obligations under the Hague Convention of Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Inter-Country Adoption and is eligible to participate in intercountry adoptions in accordance with U.S. law.
The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 is amended to: (1) include in the annual country reports on human rights practices information on the conditions of children living in orphanages and group homes, and (2) repeal certain provisions providing assistance for orphans and other vulnerable children.
The Special Advisor for Assistance to Orphans and Vulnerable Children shall work with the Ambassador-at-Large to ensure that U.S. assistance and development programs are focused on:

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2532 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2532

     To realign structures and reallocate resources in the Federal 
 Government in keeping with the core belief that families are the best 
   protection for children and the bedrock of any society to bolster 
United States diplomacy targeted at ensuring that every child can grow 
 up in a permanent, safe, nurturing, and loving family, and to ensure 
 that intercountry adoption to the United States becomes a viable and 
fully developed option for providing families for children in need, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 18, 2017

 Ms. Granger (for herself and Mrs. Lawrence) introduced the following 
      bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To realign structures and reallocate resources in the Federal 
 Government in keeping with the core belief that families are the best 
   protection for children and the bedrock of any society to bolster 
United States diplomacy targeted at ensuring that every child can grow 
 up in a permanent, safe, nurturing, and loving family, and to ensure 
 that intercountry adoption to the United States becomes a viable and 
fully developed option for providing families for children in need, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Vulnerable 
Children and Families Act of 2017''.
    (b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents is as follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings; purposes.
Sec. 3. Definitions.
      TITLE I--REALIGNMENT OF CERTAIN INTERNATIONAL CHILD WELFARE 
                     RESPONSIBILITIES AND FUNCTIONS

Sec. 101. Redesignation of Office of Children's Issues as Office of 
                            Vulnerable Children and Family Security.
                       TITLE II--ANNUAL REPORTING

Sec. 201. Annual report on implementation of action plan.
   TITLE III--PROMOTION OF A COMPREHENSIVE APPROACH FOR CHILDREN IN 
                               ADVERSITY

Sec. 301. USAID obligations for coordinating with Office of Vulnerable 
                            Children and Family Security.
      TITLE IV--FUNDING, RULE OF CONSTRUCTION, AND EFFECTIVE DATES

Sec. 401. Authorization of appropriations.
Sec. 402. Rule of construction.
Sec. 403. Effective dates.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSES.

    (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The people of the United States recognize and believe 
        that children should grow up in permanent, safe, and nurturing 
        families in order to develop and thrive.
            (2) Science shows that children, and particularly infants, 
        living in impersonal, socially deprived institutions may suffer 
        lasting, and in many cases, irreversible damage, including--
                    (A) reduced brain activity and brain size;
                    (B) lower intelligence quotients;
                    (C) serious behavioral and emotional problems; and
                    (D) disturbed relationships with others.
            (3) Governments in other countries seek models that promote 
        the placement of children who are living outside family care in 
        permanent, safe, and nurturing families, rather than in foster 
        care or institutions; but many governments lack the resources 
        or infrastructure to adequately address this need.
            (4) Despite the efforts of countless governments and 
        nongovernmental organizations, millions of children remain 
        uncounted and outside of the protection, nurturing care, 
        permanence, safety, and love of a family.
            (5) No reliable data currently exists to define and 
        document the number and needs of children in the world 
        currently living without families, but available evidence 
        demonstrates that there are millions of children in this 
        situation needing immediate help.
            (6) The Action Plan on Children in Adversity commits the 
        United States Government to achieving a world in which all 
        children grow up within protective family care and free from 
        deprivation, exploitation, and danger. To effectively and 
        efficiently accomplish this goal, it is necessary to realign 
        the United States Government's current operational system for 
        assisting orphans and vulnerable children and processing 
        intercountry adoptions.
            (7) Significant resources are already dedicated to 
        international assistance for orphans and vulnerable children, 
        and a relatively small portion of these resources can be 
        reallocated to achieve more timely, effective, nurturing, and 
        permanent familial solutions for children living without 
        families, resulting in fewer children worldwide living in 
        institutions or on the streets, more families preserved or 
        reunified, and increased domestic and international adoptions.
    (b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are--
            (1) to support the core value that families are the bedrock 
        of any society;
            (2) to protect the fundamental human right of all children 
        to grow up within the loving care of permanent, safe, and 
        nurturing families;
            (3) to address a critical gap in United States foreign 
        policy implementation by authorizing a whole-of-government 
        strategic approach to ensure coordination within and among the 
        relevant Federal agencies for international policy and 
        operational structures so that seeking permanent families for 
        children living without families receives more prominence, 
        focus, and resources (through the reallocation of existing 
        personnel and resources);
            (4) to harness the diplomatic and operational power of the 
        United States Government in the international sphere by helping 
        to identify and implement timely, permanent, safe, and 
        nurturing familial solutions for children living without 
        families through effective implementation of the three core and 
        three supporting objectives of the Action Plan on Children in 
        Adversity;
            (5) to ensure that intercountry adoption by United States 
        citizens becomes a viable and fully developed option for 
        creating permanent families for children who need them;
            (6) to protect against abuses of children; and
            (7) to harmonize and strengthen existing intercountry 
        adoption processes under United States law--
                    (A) by ensuring that the same set of procedures and 
                criteria govern suitability and eligibility 
                determinations for prospective adoptive parents seeking 
                to complete intercountry adoptions, whether or not the 
                child is from a foreign state that is a party to the 
                Hague Adoption Convention; and
                    (B) by aligning the definitions of eligible 
                children for Convention adoptions and non-Convention 
                adoptions to the maximum extent possible.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Action plan on children in adversity.--The term 
        ``Action Plan on Children in Adversity'' means the policy 
        document entitled ``United States Government Action Plan on 
        Children in Adversity: A Framework for International 
        Assistance: 2012-2017'', released on December 19, 2012.
            (2) Ambassador-at-large.--The term ``Ambassador-at-Large'' 
        means the individual appointed pursuant to section 101(b).
            (3) Appropriate, protective, and permanent family care.--
        The term ``appropriate, protective, and permanent family care'' 
        means a nurturing, lifelong, commitment to a child by an adult, 
        or adults with parental roles and responsibilities that--
                    (A) provides physical and emotional support;
                    (B) provides the child with a sense of belonging; 
                and
                    (C) generally involves full legal recognition of 
                the child's status as child of the parents and of the 
                parents' rights and responsibilities regarding the 
                child.
            (4) Central authority.--The term ``central authority'' has 
        the meaning given the term in section 3 of the Intercountry 
        Adoption Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 14902).
            (5) Children in adversity.--The term ``children in 
        adversity'' means children and youth--
                    (A) who are younger than 18 years of age;
                    (B) who live outside of family care; and
                    (C) whose safety, well-being, growth, and 
                development are at significant risk due to inadequate 
                care, protection, or access to essential services.
            (6) Convention adoption.--The term ``Convention adoption'' 
        has the meaning given the term in section 3 of the Intercountry 
        Adoption Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 14902).
            (7) Convention country.--The term ``Convention country'' 
        has the meaning given the term in section 3 of the Intercountry 
        Adoption Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 14902) and for which the Hague 
        Adoption Convention has entered into force.
            (8) Guardianship.--
                    (A) In general.--The term ``guardianship'' means a 
                permanent legal relationship between an adult and a 
                child, in which the adult is lawfully invested with the 
                power, and charged with the duty, of taking care of the 
                child.
                    (B) Permanent guardianship.--While some forms of 
                guardianship are not truly permanent, the form of 
                guardianship referred to and supported under this Act 
                is permanent guardianship.
                    (C) Kefala order.--A Kefala order issued by a 
                country that follows traditional Islamic law does not 
                qualify as an adoption under United States law, but may 
                be a form of guardianship in some circumstances.
                    (D) Family-like group homes.--Individual parent-
                child relationships in a small, family-like group home 
                in which caretaking is provided only by one or more 
                unpaid caretakers might, in some circumstances, qualify 
                as a guardianship if legalized in that form.
                    (E) Paid guardianship.--The term guardianship does 
                not include a paid guardianship.
            (9) Habitual residence determination.--The term ``habitual 
        residence determination'' means a factual determination of 
        where a prospective adoptive parent (or parents) resides and 
        where the child resides for purposes of an intercountry 
        adoption case.
            (10) Hague adoption convention.--The term ``Hague Adoption 
        Convention'' means the Convention of Protection of Children and 
        Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, concluded at 
        The Hague May 29, 1993.
            (11) Institutional care.--The term ``institutional care'' 
        means care provided in any nonfamily-based group setting, 
        including--
                    (A) orphanages;
                    (B) transit or interim care centers;
                    (C) children's homes;
                    (D) children's villages or cottage complexes; and
                    (E) boarding schools used primarily for care 
                purposes as an alternative to a children's home.
            (12) Kinship care.--The term ``kinship care''--
                    (A) means the full-time care, nurturing, and 
                protection of children by relatives, members of their 
                tribes or clans, godparents, stepparents, or any adult 
                who has a kinship bond with a child, if such persons 
                have the capacity and commitment to function as true 
                parents for the child on a permanent basis; and
                    (B) does not include paid kinship foster care.
            (13) Non-convention adoption.--The term ``non-Convention 
        adoption'' means--
                    (A) an adoption by United States parents of a child 
                from a non-Convention country in accordance with 
                subparagraph (F) of section 101(b)(1) of the 
                Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(b)(1));
                    (B) an adoption by United States parents of a child 
                under the laws of the child's country of origin 
                (generally when the parents are living in the child's 
                country of origin and therefore able legally to 
                complete a domestic adoption); or
                    (C) in certain circumstances (generally with 
                respect to relative adoptions or adoptions by dual 
                national parents), an adoption by United States parents 
                of a child from a Convention country if that country 
                allows legal and valid adoptions to take place outside 
                the scope of the Convention.
            (14) Non-convention country.--The term ``non-Convention 
        country'' means a country in which the Hague Adoption 
        Convention has not entered into force, regardless of whether or 
        not that country has signed the Convention.
            (15) Special advisor.--The term ``Special Advisor'' means 
        the Special Advisor for Assistance to Orphans and Vulnerable 
        Children appointed pursuant to section 135(e) of the Foreign 
        Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2152f(e)), who is also 
        referred to as the Senior coordinator for the USAID 
        Administrator on Children in Adversity and who leads the Center 
        of Excellence for Children in Adversity.
            (16) Unparented children.--The term ``unparented children'' 
        means children lacking the legally recognized, permanent, safe, 
        and nurturing care of a parental figure or figures, either 
        inside their country of origin, in the country of their 
        habitual residence, or elsewhere.

      TITLE I--REALIGNMENT OF CERTAIN INTERNATIONAL CHILD WELFARE 
                     RESPONSIBILITIES AND FUNCTIONS

SEC. 101. REDESIGNATION OF OFFICE OF CHILDREN'S ISSUES AS OFFICE OF 
              VULNERABLE CHILDREN AND FAMILY SECURITY.

    (a) Redesignation.--The Office of Children's Issues of the 
Department of State is hereby redesignated as the Office of Vulnerable 
Children and Family Security (referred to in this Act as the ``VCFS'').
    (b) Appointment of Ambassador-at-Large.--The President, acting 
through the Secretary, shall appoint an Ambassador-at-Large to promote 
and support the following activities:
            (1) Oversight of the Office of Vulnerable Children and 
        Family Security.
            (2) The development and implementation in foreign countries 
        of child welfare laws, regulations, policies, best practices, 
        and procedures in keeping with the goals articulated in the 
        Action Plan on Children in Adversity, including--
                    (A) the sound development of children through the 
                integration of health, nutrition, and family support;
                    (B) supporting and enabling families to care for 
                children through family preservation, reunification, 
                and support of kinship care, guardianship, and domestic 
                and intercountry adoption;
                    (C) facilitating the efforts of national 
                governments and partners to prevent, respond to, and 
                protect children from violence, exploitation, abuse, 
                and neglect;
                    (D) supporting partners to build and strengthen 
                holistic and integrated models to promote the best 
                interests of the child;
                    (E) building and maintaining strong evidence base 
                on which future activities to reach and assist the most 
                vulnerable children can be effectively planned and 
                implemented; and
                    (F) integrating this plan with United States 
                Government departments and agencies.
            (3) Addressing the gap in United States Government 
        diplomacy, policy, and operations with respect to promoting 
        appropriate, protective, and permanent family care for children 
        living without families by leading the development and 
        implementation of policies that will ensure the timely 
        provision of appropriate, protective, and permanent family care 
        for children living without families through the full continuum 
        of permanence solutions, including family preservation and 
        reunification, kinship care, guardianship, and domestic and 
        intercountry adoption.
    (c) Qualifications of Ambassador-at-Large.--The Ambassador-at-Large 
shall--
            (1) have experience in the development of policies and 
        systems and the implementation of programs that promote the 
        goals of the Action Plan on Children in Adversity;
            (2) be knowledgeable of international child welfare, family 
        permanence, and family creation through domestic and 
        intercountry adoption; and
            (3) be committed to developing an integrated United States 
        Government approach to international child welfare that places 
        equal emphasis on--
                    (A) early childhood survival and development;
                    (B) family permanence; and
                    (C) protection from abuse and exploitation.
    (d) Functions.--
            (1) Advisory.--The Ambassador-at-Large shall serve as a 
        primary advisor to the Secretary of State and the President in 
        all matters related to vulnerable children and family security 
        in foreign countries.
            (2) Diplomatic representation.--Subject to the direction of 
        the President and the Secretary of State, and in consultation 
        and coordination with the Administrator of the United States 
        Agency for International Development and the Secretary of 
        Homeland Security, the Ambassador-at-Large shall represent the 
        United States in matters relevant to international child 
        welfare, family preservation and reunification, and provision 
        of permanent, safe parental care through kinship, domestic and 
        intercountry adoption in--
                    (A) contacts with foreign governments, 
                nongovernmental organizations, intergovernmental 
                agencies, and specialized agencies of the United 
                Nations and other international organizations of which 
                the United States is a member;
                    (B) multilateral conferences and meetings relevant 
                to family preservation, reunification, and creating 
                appropriate, protective, and permanent care for 
                unparented children; and
                    (C) fulfillment of the diplomatic responsibilities 
                designated to the central authority under title I of 
                the Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 14911 
                et seq.).
            (3) Policy development with respect to permanence for 
        unparented children.--
                    (A) In general.--The Ambassador-at-Large shall--
                            (i) develop and advocate for policies and 
                        practices to ensure that children in foreign 
                        countries who are living without families find 
                        appropriate, protective, and permanent family 
                        care;
                            (ii) give consideration to family 
                        preservation and reunification, kinship care, 
                        guardianship, and domestic and intercountry 
                        adoption; and
                            (iii) seek to develop and implement 
                        policies that lead to the use of all options 
                        for providing appropriate, protective, and 
                        permanent family care to children living 
                        without families as quickly as possible.
                    (B) Advocate for concurrent planning.--
                            (i) In general.--In developing policies and 
                        programs under this Act, the Ambassador-at-
                        Large shall advocate that all options for 
                        providing appropriate, protective, and 
                        permanent family care to children living 
                        without families must be considered 
                        concurrently and permanent solutions must be 
                        put in place as quickly as possible. Solutions 
                        include family preservation and reunification, 
                        kinship care, guardianship, domestic and 
                        intercountry adoption, and other culturally 
                        acceptable forms of care that will result in 
                        appropriate, protective, and permanent family 
                        care. Preference should be given to options 
                        that optimize the child's well-being, which 
                        generally means options which provide children 
                        with fully protected legal status and parents 
                        with full legal status as parents, including 
                        full parental rights and responsibilities. The 
                        principle of subsidiarity, which gives 
                        preference to in-country solutions, should be 
                        implemented within the context of a concurrent 
                        planning strategy, exploring in- and out-of-
                        country options simultaneously. If an in-
                        country placement providing appropriate, 
                        protective, and permanent care is not quickly 
                        available, and such an international home is 
                        available, encourage policies that allow the 
                        child to be placed in an international home 
                        without delay.
                            (ii) Interim placements.--Nothing in this 
                        subsection may be construed to preclude interim 
                        placements, including in kinship care, foster 
                        care, and small group homes, to temporarily 
                        improve children's living conditions in 
                        individual circumstances in which--
                                    (I) a permanent solution is not 
                                immediately available if ongoing 
                                efforts are made to move the child from 
                                interim to permanent placement as soon 
                                as possible; and
                                    (II) the child's best interests 
                                will be served.
                            (iii) Exceptions.--Exceptions to the 
                        general rule set forth in clauses (i) and (ii) 
                        may be made, as needed in individual cases, to 
                        serve the child's best interests, including the 
                        following:
                                    (I) Permanent guardianship may be 
                                preferable to adoption in certain cases 
                                where the child has developed a 
                                powerful bond to a loving guardian who 
                                prefers not to adopt because of the 
                                child's ties to birth parents who love 
                                the child, but are not in a position to 
                                provide appropriate nurturing.
                                    (II) Options generally viewed as 
                                interim solutions, such as foster care 
                                and small group homes, may be 
                                preferable to family reunification when 
                                the parents are not in a position to 
                                provide appropriate nurturing.
                                    (III) For children with 
                                disabilities, solutions to prevent 
                                institutionalization and to assist with 
                                reintegration into the community from 
                                institutions, include payment and 
                                support to families, substitute 
                                families, small group homes, or kinship 
                                care.
                    (C) Best practices.--In developing policies and 
                programs under this Act, the Ambassador-at-Large shall 
                identify and utilize evidence-based programs and best 
                practices in family preservation and reunification and 
                provision of permanent parental care through 
                guardianship, kinship care, and domestic and 
                intercountry adoption as derived from a wide variety of 
                domestic, foreign, and global policies and practices.
                    (D) Technical assistance.--The Ambassador-at-Large, 
                in consultation with other appropriate Federal 
                agencies, shall provide technical assistance to 
                governments of foreign countries to help build their 
                child welfare capacities, particularly pertaining to 
                family-based permanence. Such assistance should aim to 
                strengthen family preservation and reunification and 
                the provision of appropriate, protective, and permanent 
                family care through kinship care, guardianship, and 
                domestic and intercountry adoption, including 
                assistance with--
                            (i) drafting, disseminating, and 
                        implementing legislation;
                            (ii) developing implementing systems and 
                        procedures;
                            (iii) establishing public, private, and 
                        faith- and community-based partnerships;
                            (iv) developing workforce training for 
                        governmental and nongovernmental staff; and
                            (v) infrastructure development and data 
                        collection techniques necessary to identify and 
                        document the number and needs of children 
                        living without appropriate, protective, and 
                        permanent family care.
            (4) Responsibilities with respect to intercountry 
        adoption.--
                    (A) In general.--The VCFS, in coordination with 
                other offices of the Department of State and U.S. 
                Citizenship and Immigration Services, shall have lead 
                responsibility for representing the United States 
                Government in discussions, negotiations, and diplomatic 
                contacts pertaining to intercountry adoptions.
                    (B) Central authority responsibility under the 
                intercountry adoption act of 2000.--Section 101(b)(2) 
                of the Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 
                14911(b)(2)) is amended by striking ``Office of 
                Children's Issues'' and inserting ``Office of 
                Vulnerable Children and Family Security''.
                    (C) Determinations of hague adoption convention 
                compliance.--The VCFS, in consultation with other 
                offices of the Department of State, and the Department 
                of Homeland Security, shall have lead responsibility 
                for determining whether a Convention partner country 
                has met its obligations under the Hague Adoption 
                Convention and is eligible to participate in 
                intercountry adoptions in accordance with United States 
                law. Such determinations shall be documented in 
                writing, based on standardized criteria, and available 
                for public review and comment.
            (5) Policy coordination.--The Ambassador-at-Large shall 
        coordinate with the Secretary of Homeland Security and the 
        Administrator of the United States Agency for International 
        Development to maintain consistency in United States foreign 
        and domestic policy and operations with respect to children 
        living outside family care in foreign countries.
            (6) Information coordination.--The Ambassador-at-Large 
        shall transmit--
                    (A) any intercountry adoption related case 
                information received from the Central Authority of 
                another Convention country to the Secretary of Homeland 
                Security; and
                    (B) any intercountry adoption related case 
                information that the Secretary of Homeland Security 
                requests to the central authority of another Convention 
                country.

                       TITLE II--ANNUAL REPORTING

SEC. 201. ANNUAL REPORT ON IMPLEMENTATION OF ACTION PLAN.

    Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this 
Act, and annually thereafter, the Ambassador-at-Large, in coordination 
with the Special Advisor, shall submit to Congress a report on 
implementation of the Action Plan on Children in Adversity, including 
the technical assistance provided under section 101(d)(3)(D).

   TITLE III--PROMOTION OF A COMPREHENSIVE APPROACH FOR CHILDREN IN 
                               ADVERSITY

SEC. 301. USAID OBLIGATIONS FOR COORDINATING WITH OFFICE OF VULNERABLE 
              CHILDREN AND FAMILY SECURITY.

    (a) Objectives.--The Special Advisor shall work in consultation 
with the Ambassador-at-Large to promote greater United States 
Government coherence and accountability for whole-of-government 
assistance to children in adversity and ensure that United States 
foreign assistance and development programs are focused on--
            (1) the sound development of children through the 
        integration of health, nutrition, and family support;
            (2) supporting and enabling families to care for children 
        through family preservation, reunification, and support of 
        kinship care, guardianship, and domestic and intercountry 
        adoption;
            (3) facilitating the efforts of national governments and 
        partners to prevent, respond to, and protect children from 
        violence, exploitation, abuse, and neglect;
            (4) supporting partners to build and strengthen holistic 
        and integrated child welfare and protection systems to promote 
        the best interests of the child;
            (5) building and maintaining a strong evidence base on 
        which future activities to reach and assist the most vulnerable 
        children can be effectively planned and implemented; and
            (6) integrating the objectives set forth in paragraphs (1) 
        through (5) with Federal departments and agencies.
    (b) Approach.--The Special Advisor shall ensure that efforts to 
assist children in adversity through the Action Plan on Children in 
Adversity are coordinated with the efforts by the Ambassador-at-Large 
in implementing its adoption strategy in priority countries.
    (c) Repeal.--Section 135 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 
U.S.C. 2152f) is repealed.

      TITLE IV--FUNDING, RULE OF CONSTRUCTION, AND EFFECTIVE DATES

SEC. 401. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    (a) Prohibition on New Appropriations.--
            (1) In general.--Nothing in this Act may be construed as 
        authorizing additional funds to be appropriated to carry out 
        this Act or any amendments made by this Act.
            (2) Use of existing funds.--This Act, and the amendments 
        made by this Act, shall be carried out using amounts otherwise 
        available for such purposes, including unobligated balances of 
        funds made available to carry out activities under the Foreign 
        Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.).
    (b) Limitations on Use of Funds.--
            (1) Segregated services.--No funds obligated in accordance 
        with this Act may be awarded for building, renovating, or 
        refurbishing residential facilities that segregate children 
        with disabilities from society. The limitation under this 
        paragraph does not prohibit funding for small, community-based 
        group homes that house up to six children.
            (2) Administrative expenses.--Not more than two percent of 
        the amounts described in subsection (a)(2) may be used for 
        administrative expenses.
    (c) Focus of Assistance.--Assistance provided under this Act--
            (1) shall focus primarily on promoting international child 
        welfare, as set forth in this Act, for all children in 
        adversity; and
            (2) may be provided on such terms and conditions as the 
        President determines appropriate.

SEC. 402. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.

    Nothing in this Act shall be construed as precluding the provision 
of stipends or subsidies to those caring for children with 
disabilities.

SEC. 403. EFFECTIVE DATES.

    (a) Effective Upon Enactment.--Sections 104 and 201 and titles III 
and IV shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act.
    (b) Delayed Effective Date.--Sections 101, 102, and 103 shall take 
effect on the date that is 1 year after the date of the enactment of 
this Act.
                                 <all>