[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 920 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 920

   To require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to issue an 
   annual report card on the performance of the States in protecting 
 children placed for adoption, in foster care, or with a guardian, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 17, 1997

   Mr. Wyden introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
         referred to the Committee on Labor and Human Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to issue an 
   annual report card on the performance of the States in protecting 
 children placed for adoption, in foster care, or with a guardian, 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 ``Adoption Report Card Act of 1997''.

SEC. 2. ANNUAL REPORT CARD ON STATE PERFORMANCE IN PROTECTING CHILDREN.

    (a) In General.--Part E of title IV of the Social Security Act (42 
U.S.C. 670 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 479A. ANNUAL REPORT CARD.

    ``(a) In General.--The Secretary shall issue an annual report card 
containing ratings of the performance of each State in protecting 
children who are placed for adoption, in foster care, or with a 
guardian, in the State. The report card shall include ratings on 
outcome measures for categories related to the family conditions of the 
children.
    ``(b) Outcome Measures.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall develop, after 
        consulting with child advocacy organizations, a set of outcome 
        measures to be used in preparing the report card.
            ``(2) Categories.--In developing the outcome measures, the 
        Secretary shall develop measures for categories relating to--
                    ``(A) the number of placements for adoption, in 
                foster care, or with a guardian;
                    ``(B) the number of children who leave foster care 
                at the age of majority without having been adopted or 
                placed with a guardian;
                    ``(C) the median and mean length of stay in foster 
                care;
                    ``(D) the median and mean length of time between 
                the availability of a child for adoption and the 
                adoption of the child;
                    ``(E) the median and mean length of time between 
                the beginning of foster care for a child and the 
                finalization of a placement plan for the child by the 
                agency involved;
                    ``(F) the number of children in foster care, 
                specifying, in the case of a child in foster care who 
                is a child with special needs, each factor or condition 
                that makes the child a child with special needs 
                (including the age and ethnicity of the child), as 
                determined by the State in accordance with section 
                473(c);
                    ``(G) the average annual costs for a child in 
                foster care, and costs for any alternative living 
                arrangements for a child who would otherwise be in 
                foster care and how there costs are allocated;
                    ``(H) the median and average length of time 
                required to terminate parental rights for a child after 
                the child enters foster care;
                    ``(I) the number of parents whose parental rights 
                have been terminated;
                    ``(J) the number of children that are affected due 
                to the termination of parental rights;
                    ``(K) the median and average length of time 
                required to place a child for adoption once parental 
                rights are terminated for the child;
                    ``(L) the average number of times a child is placed 
                in foster care before the child is permanently adopted 
                and the number of placements the child experiences; and
                    ``(M) the number of deaths of children in foster 
                care, and substantiated cases of abuse or neglect among 
                children in foster care.
            ``(3) Measures.--In developing the outcome measures, the 
        Secretary shall use measures from the Adoption and Foster Care 
        Analysis and Reporting System established under section 479 to 
        the maximum extent possible.
    ``(c) Rating System.--The Secretary shall develop a system 
(including using State census data and poverty rates) to rate the 
performance of each State based on the outcome measures.
    ``(d) Information.--In order to receive funds under this part, a 
State shall annually provide to the Secretary such adoption, foster 
care, and guardianship information as the Secretary may determine to be 
necessary to issue the report card for the State.
    ``(e) Preparation and Issuance.--On October 1, 1998, and annually 
thereafter, the Secretary shall prepare, submit to Congress, and issue 
to the States the report card described in subsection (a). Each report 
card shall rate the performance of a State on each outcome measure 
developed under subsection (b), include an explanation of the rating 
system developed under subsection (c) and the way in which scores are 
determined under the rating system, analyze high and low performances 
for the State, and make recommendations to the State for 
improvement.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--Section 471(a) of the Social Security 
Act (42 U.S.C. 671(a)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``and'' at the end of paragraph (17);
            (2) by striking the period at the end of paragraph (18) (as 
        added by section 1808(a) of the Small Business Job Protection 
        Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-188; 110 Stat. 1903)) and inserting 
        ``; and'';
            (3) by redesignating paragraph (18) (as added by section 
        505(3) of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity 
        Reconciliation Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-193; 110 Stat. 
        2278)) as paragraph (19); and
            (4) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(20) provides that the State shall annually provide to 
        the Secretary the information required under section 479A.''.
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