PARENTS Act of 2021

117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 503 AN ACT To amend part D of title IV of the Social Security Act to allow States to use incentive payments available under the child support enforcement program to improve par- ent-child relationships, increase child support collections, and improve outcomes for children by supporting par- enting time agreements for noncustodial parents in uncontested agreements, and for other purposes. 2 † S 503 ES Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Providing Adequate 4 Resources to Enhance Needed Time with Sons and daugh- 5 ters Act of 2021’’ or the ‘‘PARENTS Act of 2021’’. 6 SEC. 2. EXPANDING PERMITTED USES OF INCENTIVE PAY- 7 MENTS. 8 Section 458 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 9 658a) is amended— 10 (1) in subsection (f)— 11 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘; or’’ 12 and inserting a semicolon; 13 (B) by redesignating paragraph (2) as 14 paragraph (3); and 15 (C) by inserting after paragraph (1) the 16 following new paragraph: 17 ‘‘(2) to develop, implement, and evaluate proce- 18 dures for establishing a parenting time agreement 19 when establishing an initial or modified child sup- 20 port order or a medical support order (including pro- 21 cedures for carrying out a parenting time agreement 22 made prior to the establishment or modification of 23 any such order); or’’; and 24 3 † S 503 ES (2) by adding at the end the following new sub- 1 section: 2 ‘‘(g) DEFINITIONS OF PARENTING TIME AGREEMENT 3 AND NONCUSTODIAL PARENT.— 4 ‘‘(1) PARENTING TIME AGREEMENT.—For pur- 5 poses of subsection (f)(2), the term ‘parenting time 6 agreement’ means an agreement governing how 7 much time a child spends with the child’s custodial 8 parent and the child’s noncustodial parent that is 9 mutually agreed to by the parents and is not con- 10 tested by either parent in any forum. 11 ‘‘(2) NONCUSTODIAL PARENT.—For purposes 12 of paragraph (1), the term ‘noncustodial parent’ 13 means the parent of a child that the child does not 14 live with for the majority of the child’s time.’’. 15 Passed the Senate July 27, 2021. Attest: Secretary. 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 503 AN ACT To amend part D of title IV of the Social Security Act to allow States to use incentive payments available under the child support enforcement program to improve parent-child relationships, increase child support collections, and improve outcomes for children by supporting parenting time agreements for noncustodial parents in uncontested agreements, and for other purposes.