[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3827 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3827

To prohibit discrimination in adoption or foster care placements based 
on the sexual orientation, gender identification, or marital status of 
               any prospective adoptive or foster parent.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 15, 2009

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To prohibit discrimination in adoption or foster care placements based 
on the sexual orientation, gender identification, or marital status of 
               any prospective adoptive or foster parent.

    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 ``Every Child Deserves a Family Act''.

SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress finds the following:
            (1) There is a shortage of qualified individuals willing to 
        adopt or foster a child in the child welfare system. As a 
        result, thousands of foster children lack a permanent and safe 
        home.
            (2) In order to open more homes to foster children, child 
        welfare agencies should work to eliminate sexual orientation, 
        gender identification, and marital status discrimination and 
        bias in adoption and foster care recruitment, selection, and 
        placement procedures.
            (3) Of the estimated 500,000 children in the United States 
        foster care system, over 129,000 cannot return to their 
        original families and are legally free for adoption.
                    (A) Fifty-one thousand children were adopted in 
                2007, while 25,000 youth ``aged out'' of the foster 
                care system.
                    (B) Research shows that youth who ``age out'' of 
                the foster care system are at a high risk for poverty, 
                homelessness, incarceration, and early parenthood.
                    (C) Increasing adoption rates, in addition to 
                establishing permanency and decreasing risk factors for 
                foster youth, can yield annual national cost savings 
                between $3,300,000,000 and $6,300,000,000.
            (4) As of 2007, gay, lesbian, and bisexual parents were 
        raising 4 percent of all adopted children and fostering for 3 
        percent of all foster children. A report from the Evan B. 
        Donaldson Institute found that an additional 2,000,000 gay, 
        lesbian, and bisexual individuals are interested in adoption.
            (5) According to the Urban Institute, same-sex couples 
        raising adopted children tend to be older, more educated, and 
        have more economic resources than other adoptive parents. 
        Studies confirm that children with same-sex parents have the 
        same advantages and same expectations for health, social and 
        psychological adjustment, and development as children whose 
        parents are heterosexual.
            (6) An Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute study found 
        that one-third of child welfare agencies in the United States 
        currently reject gay, lesbian, and bisexual applicants, citing 
        a conflict with the religious beliefs associated with the 
        agency, State law prohibiting placement with gay, lesbian, or 
        bisexual parents, or a policy of placing children with married-
        heterosexual only couples.
                    (A) The practice of prohibiting applicants from 
                becoming foster parents or adopting children solely on 
                the basis of sexual orientation or marital status has 
                resulted in reducing the number of qualified adoptive 
                and foster parents overall and denying gay, lesbian, 
                bisexual, and unmarried relatives the opportunity to 
                become foster parents for their own kin, including 
                grandchildren, or to adopt their own kin, including 
                grandchildren, from foster care.
                    (B) Over 14,000 children are currently in 
                placements with gay, lesbian, and bisexual adoptive and 
                foster parents. If other States followed the minority 
                of States and discriminated against qualified 
                individuals because of their sexual orientation or 
                marital status, foster care expenditures would increase 
                between $87,000,000 and $130,000,000 per year in order 
                to pay for additional institutional and group care, as 
                well as to recruit and train new foster and adoptive 
                parents.
            (7) Some States allow 1 member of a same-sex couple to 
        adopt, but do not recognize both members of the couple as the 
        child's legal parents. Recognition of joint and second-parent 
        adoption provides children with the same rights and security 
        that children of heterosexual parents enjoy. These protections 
        include access to both parents' health benefits; survivor's, 
        Social Security, and child support entitlements; legal grounds 
        for either parent to provide consent for medical care, 
        education, and other important decisions; as well as the 
        establishment of permanency for both parents and child.
            (8) Professional organizations in the fields of medicine, 
        law, and child welfare have taken official positions in support 
        of the ability of qualified gay, lesbian, bisexual, and 
        unmarried couples to foster and adopt, as supported by 
        scientific research showing sexual orientation as a 
        nondeterminative factor in parental success.
    (b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are to decrease the length 
of time that children wait for permanency with a loving family and to 
promote the best interests of children in the child welfare system by 
preventing discrimination in adoption and foster care placements based 
on sexual orientation, gender identification, or marital status.

SEC. 3. EVERY CHILD DESERVES A FAMILY.

    (a) Activities.--
            (1) Prohibition.--An 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 sexual orientation, gender 
                identification, or marital status of the person;
                    (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 sexual orientation, gender identification, or 
                marital status of any prospective adoptive or foster 
                parent; or
                    (C) deny or limit the parental rights of an 
                adoptive parent based on the adoptive parent's sexual 
                orientation, gender identification, or marital status.
            (2) Definition.--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) Equitable Relief.--Any individual who is aggrieved by an action 
in violation of subsection (a) may bring an action seeking relief in a 
United States district court of appropriate jurisdiction.
    (c) Federal Guidance.--Not later than 6 months after the date of 
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services 
shall publish guidance to concerned entities with respect to compliance 
with this section.
    (d) Deadline for Compliance.--
            (1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (2), an 
        entity that receives Federal assistance and is involved with 
        adoption or foster care placements shall comply with this 
        section not later than 6 months after publication of the 
        guidance referred to in subsection (c), or 1 year after the 
        date of the enactment of this Act, whichever occurs first.
            (2) Authority to extend deadline.--If a State demonstrates 
        to the satisfaction of the Secretary of Health and Human 
        Services that it is necessary to amend State statutory law in 
        order to change a particular practice that is inconsistent with 
        this section, the Secretary may extend the compliance date for 
        the State a reasonable number of days after the close of the 
        first State legislative session beginning after the date the 
        guidance referred to in subsection (c) is published.
            (3) Authority to withhold funds.--If a State fails to 
        comply with this section, the Secretary may withhold payment to 
        the State of amounts otherwise payable to the State under part 
        B or E of title IV of the Social Security Act, to the extent 
        the Secretary deems the withholding necessary to induce the 
        State into compliance with this section.
    (e) GAO Study.--
            (1) In general.--Within 5 years after the date of the 
        enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United 
        States shall conduct a study to determine whether the States 
        have substantially complied with this Act, including 
        specifically whether the States have--
                    (A) eliminated policies, practices, or statutes 
                that deny to any otherwise qualified person the 
                opportunity to become an adoptive or foster parent 
                solely on the basis of the sexual orientation, gender 
                identification, or marital status of the person;
                    (B) removed all program, policy, or statutory 
                barriers that 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 sexual orientation, gender 
                identification, or marital status of any qualified, 
                prospective adoptive or foster parent; and
                    (C) eliminated all policies, practices, or statutes 
                that deny or limit the parental rights of an adoptive 
                parent based on the adoptive parent's sexual 
                orientation, gender identification, or marital status.
            (2) Report to the congress.--Within 1 year after completing 
        the study required by paragraph (1), the Comptroller General 
        shall submit to the Congress a written report that contains the 
        results of the study.
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