[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2936 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2936

   To amend the Abandoned Infants Assistance Act of 1988 to prevent 
   abandoned infants from experiencing prolonged foster care where a 
                 permanent adoptive home is available.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             August 6, 1993

   Mr. Fawell (for himself, Mr. Lipinski, Mr. Porter, Mr. Hyde, Mr. 
Hastert, Mr. Klink, Mr. Ballenger, Mr. Kildee, Mr. Wolf, Mr. Upton, Mr. 
 Greenwood, Mr. Ravenel, Mr. Santorum, Mr. Solomon, Ms. Pryce of Ohio, 
  and Mrs. Roukema) introduced the following bill; which was referred 
    jointly to the Committees on Education and Labor and Energy and 
                                Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Abandoned Infants Assistance Act of 1988 to prevent 
   abandoned infants from experiencing prolonged foster care where a 
                 permanent adoptive home is available.

    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 ``At-Birth Abandoned Infants 
Assistance Amendments of 1993''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds that--
            (1) each year thousands of infants throughout the United 
        States are abandoned by their parents shortly after birth, such 
        as when a mother gives birth at a hospital under an assumed 
        name and address and then disappears afterwards, leaving the 
        infant behind, when the whereabouts of the parents are unknown, 
        and when infants are left to die in garbage dumpsters because 
        their mothers cannot care for them;
            (2) infants who are abandoned during the formative months 
        occurring shortly after birth are denied the ability to bond 
        with a loving parent or parents;
            (3) the process of attachment or bonding between an infant 
        and the same adults is essential to the development of a 
        healthy personality in the infant;
            (4) the Inspector General of the Department of Health and 
        Human Services, in the February 1990 report entitled ``Crack 
        Babies'', states that legislation ``should reduce barriers to 
        placing drug exposed infants into foster care and adoptive 
        homes and establish `fast track' procedures to expedite child 
        welfare cases involving drug abuse'';
            (5) according to experts, current legal rules and agency 
        policies make it exceedingly difficult and time consuming to 
        terminate parental rights of those parents who truly abandon 
        their infants, and as a result very few of those abandoned 
        infants are available for adoption;
            (6) the welfare of infants abandoned during the formative 
        months occurring shortly after birth is of such special 
        interest and concern to our society that if there are persons 
        desiring to adopt and parentally bond with such an infant, the 
        infant should be afforded the right to expeditious placement 
        with, and adoption by, such persons; and
            (7) other steps should be taken to expedite the adoption of 
        infants who are abandoned during the formative months occurring 
        shortly after birth.

SEC. 3. PURPOSE.

    The purpose of this Act is to encourage States to implement a 
system that will expedite the initiation of the adoption process for 
infants abandoned at birth. In doing so, States will appoint competent 
persons to be preadoptive parents for infants abandoned at birth in 
order to provide a proper and loving home during the infants' formative 
months. The preadoptive parents will also be responsible for initiating 
legal proceedings that could lead to the legal adoption of the infant. 
Once the proceedings have been initiated, the State courts of proper 
jurisdiction will continue to be responsible for the final decision, 
taking into account the legal rights of all the parties involved, 
including the infant abandoned at birth, the natural parents, the 
preadoptive parents, and the State.

SEC. 4. ADOPTION BY PREADOPTIVE PARENTS OF CERTAIN ABANDONED INFANTS.

    (a) Certain State Laws Required as Condition of Project Grants.--
Title 1 of the Abandoned Infants Assistance Act of 1988 (42 U.S.C. 670 
note) is amended--
            (1) in section 101(a), by striking ``The Secretary'' in the 
        matter preceding paragraph (1) and inserting ``Subject to 
        section 101A, the Secretary''; and
            (2) by inserting after section 101 the following section:

``SEC. 101A. CERTAIN STATE LAWS REQUIRED AS CONDITION OF PROJECT 
              GRANTS.

    ``(a) In General.--The Secretary may not make a grant under section 
101 to a public or nonprofit private entity unless the project for 
which the grant is to be made is located in a State for which there is 
in effect State laws and rules of law that provide all of the 
following:
            ``(1) Within 30 days after the State obtains custody of a 
        designated abandoned infant (as defined in subsection (b)), the 
        State shall--
                    ``(A) find 1 or more individuals to be the 
                preadoptive parents of such infant;
                    ``(B) designate such individual or individuals as 
                the preadoptive parents of the infant; and
                    ``(C) place the infant with such individual or 
                individuals.
            ``(2)(A) During the 90-day period beginning on the date a 
        designated abandoned infant is placed with the preadoptive 
        parents of the infant, the preadoptive parents shall have the 
        right to petition the courts of the State for an expedited 
        hearing--
            ``(i) to terminate the parental rights of all other persons 
        with respect to the infant; and
            ``(ii) to become the adoptive parents of the infant.
            ``(B) In determining whether to grant a petition described 
        in subparagraph (A), the courts of the State shall not draw any 
        inference adverse to the interests of a petitioner by reason of 
        the present or former status of any petitioner as a foster 
        parent.
            ``(3) If the preadoptive parents of a designated abandoned 
        infant fail to file a petition described in paragraph (2)(A) 
        during the 90-day period described in such paragraph, the State 
        shall--
                    ``(A) immediately revoke their designation as the 
                preadoptive parents of the infant; and
                    ``(B) within 30 days after the end of such 90-day 
                period--
                            ``(i) find 1 or more individuals (other 
                        than the former preadoptive parents of the 
                        infant) to be the new preadoptive parents of 
                        the infant;
                            ``(ii) designate such individual or 
                        individuals as the preadoptive parents of the 
                        infant; and
                            ``(iii) place the infant with such 
                        individual or individuals.
    ``(b) Definitions.--For purposes of this section, the term 
`designated abandoned infant' means an abandoned infant--
            ``(1) who has not attained the age of 18 months; and
            ``(2) whose abandonment occurs during the first 6 months 
        after the infant is born.
    ``(c) Rule of Construction.--The provisions and rules of State law 
that are enacted or adopted pursuant to this subsection shall not be 
construed to affect any provision or rule of State law with respect to 
the abandonment of children that is not so enacted or adopted, except 
to the extent that such provisions or rules of State law are in direct 
conflict.''.
    (b) Applicability.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall not 
apply to any child who attains the age of 18 months before the date of 
the enactment of this Act.

SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    (a) In General.--Except as provided in subsection (b), the 
amendments made by this Act shall apply to grants under section 101 of 
the Abandoned Infants Assistance Act of 1988 for fiscal years beginning 
after the fiscal year in which this Act is enacted.
    (b) Delay Permitted if State Legislation Required.--In the case of 
a grant under section 101 of the Abandoned Infants Assistance Act of 
1988 to a project with respect to which the Secretary of Health and 
Human Services determines that State legislation is required (other 
than legislation appropriating funds) in order to meet the condition 
established in section 101A of such Act for the project to receive such 
a grant, the project shall not be regarded as failing to meet such 
condition solely on the basis that such legislation is not in effect 
before the 1st day of the 1st calendar quarter beginning after the 
close of the 1st regular session of the State legislature that begins 
after the date of the enactment of this Act. For purposes of the 
previous sentence, in the case of a State that has a 2-year legislative 
session, each year of such session shall be deemed to be a separate 
regular session of the State legislature.

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