[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4181 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4181

To prohibit an agency, or entity, that receives Federal assistance and 
   is involved in adoption or foster care programs from delaying or 
denying the placement of a child based on the race, color, or national 
 origin of the child or adoptive or foster parent or parents involved, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 12, 1994

  Mr. Wheat introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To prohibit an agency, or entity, that receives Federal assistance and 
   is involved in adoption or foster care programs from delaying or 
denying the placement of a child based on the race, color, or national 
 origin of the child or adoptive or foster parent or parents involved, 
                        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 ``Multiethnic Placement Act of 1994''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
            (1) nearly 500,000 children are in foster care in the 
        United States;
            (2) tens of thousands of children in foster care are 
        waiting for adoption;
            (3) 2 years and 8 months is the median length of time that 
        children wait to be adopted;
            (4) child welfare agencies should work to eliminate racial, 
        ethnic, and national origin discrimination and bias in adoption 
        and foster care recruitment, selection, and placement 
        procedures; and
            (5) active, creative, and diligent efforts are needed to 
        recruit parents, from every race and culture, for children 
        needing foster care or adoptive parents.
    (b) Purpose.--It is the purpose of this Act to decrease the length 
of time that children wait to be adopted and to prevent discrimination 
in the placement of children on the basis of race, color, or national 
origin.

SEC. 3. MULTIETHNIC PLACEMENTS.

    (a) Activities.--
            (1) Prohibition.--An agency, or entity, that receives 
        Federal assistance and is involved in adoption or foster care 
        placements may not--
                    (A) categorically deny to any person the 
                opportunity to become an adoptive or a foster parent, 
                solely on the basis of the race, color, or national 
                origin of the adoptive or foster parent, or the child, 
                involved; or
                    (B) delay or deny the placement of a child for 
                adoption or into foster care, or otherwise discriminate 
                in making a placement decision, solely on the basis of 
                the race, color, or national origin of the adoptive or 
                foster parent, or the child, involved.
            (2) Permissible consideration.--An agency or entity to 
        which paragraph (1) applies may consider the race, color, or 
        national origin of a child as a factor in making a placement 
        decision if such factor is relevant to the best interests of 
        the child involved and is considered in conjunction with other 
        factors.
            (3) Definition.--As used in this subsection, the term 
        ``placement decision'' means the decision to place, or to delay 
        or deny the placement of, a child in a foster care or an 
        adoptive home, and includes the decision of the agency or 
        entity involved to seek the termination of birth parent rights 
        or otherwise make a child legally available for adoptive 
        placement.
    (b) Limitation.--The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall 
not provide placement and administrative funds under section 474(a)(3) 
of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 674(a)(3)) to an agency or entity 
described in subsection (a) that is not in compliance with subsection 
(a).
    (c) Equitable Relief.--Any individual who is aggrieved by an action 
in violation of subsection (a), taken by an agency or entity described 
in subsection (a), shall have the right to bring an action seeking 
relief in a United States district court of appropriate jurisdiction.
    (d) Construction.--Nothing in this section shall be construed to 
affect the application of the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (25 
U.S.C. 1901 et seq.).

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