Improving Adoption Outcomes and Affordability Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2375 To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to provide services for mothers who are considering placing or have placed a child for adoption, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 5, 2021 Mr. SMUCKER (for himself, Mr. BACON, and Mr. MOORE of Utah) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor A BILL To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to provide services for mothers who are considering plac- ing or have placed a child for adoption, and for other purposes. 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 ‘‘Improving Adoption 4 Outcomes and Affordability Act of 2021’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:38 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2375.IH H2375 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2375 IH SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF PRE-ADOPTION SERVICES FOR 1 MOTHERS CONSIDERING ADOPTION. 2 (a) SERVICES AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary of 3 Health and Human Services acting through the Adminis- 4 tration for Children and Families (in this section referred 5 to as the ‘‘Secretary’’), either directly or by grant to or 6 contract with eligible entities described in subsection (b), 7 shall provide services described in subsection (c) for moth- 8 ers who are considering placing or have placed a child for 9 adoption. 10 (b) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—The eligible entities re- 11 ferred to in subsection (a) are States, local governmental 12 entities, and public or private agencies or organizations, 13 including public or private licensed child welfare or adop- 14 tion agencies and faith-based organizations, focused on 15 adoption services or education in health care to promote 16 hospital-based programming. 17 (c) TYPES OF SERVICES.—The types of services re- 18 ferred to in subsection (a) are— 19 (1) counseling services for mothers who are 20 considering placing or have placed a child for adop- 21 tion, including— 22 (A) individual and support group coun- 23 seling; 24 (B) mental health counseling; 25 (C) substance abuse counseling; and 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:38 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2375.IH H2375 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2375 IH (D) grief counseling; 1 (2) providing post-adoption or post-placement 2 support services and benefits for mothers, including 3 support groups or retreats, licensed professional 4 counseling, complementary or alternative therapy, 5 and workforce or educational development training, 6 as appropriate; and 7 (3) training of staff at hospitals and other ap- 8 propriate birth care facilities relating to interaction 9 of such staff with families pursuing adoption, includ- 10 ing both expectant mothers and potential adoptive 11 families. 12 (d) APPLICATION.—Each eligible entity referred to in 13 subsection (a) that desires to receive a grant or enter into 14 a contract with the Secretary under subsection (a) shall 15 submit an application to the Secretary that describes the 16 manner in which the entity will use funds under the grant 17 or contract during the 3 fiscal years subsequent to the 18 date of the application to accomplish the purposes of this 19 section. Such application shall be submitted in a form and 20 manner determined to be appropriate by the Secretary. 21 (e) REPORTS.—The Secretary shall require each eli- 22 gible entity referred to in subsection (a) that receives a 23 grant or enters into a contract with the Secretary under 24 subsection (a) to submit to the Secretary a report on the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:38 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2375.IH H2375 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2375 IH services provided or activities carried out by the entity for 1 each fiscal year for which the entity receives amounts 2 under the grant or contract. The report shall contain such 3 information as the Secretary determines is necessary to 4 provide an accurate description of the services provided 5 or activities carried out with such amounts. 6 (f) SERVICES TO SUPPLEMENT AND NOT SUP- 7 PLANT.—Services provided under a grant or contract 8 under subsection (a) shall supplement, and not supplant, 9 services provided using any other funds made available for 10 the same general purposes. 11 (g) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE 12 PROVISIONS.—The Secretary shall— 13 (1) provide technical assistance to eligible enti- 14 ties referred to in subsection (a) that receive a grant 15 or enter into a contract with the Secretary under 16 subsection (a) for purposes of providing the services 17 described in subsection (c); 18 (2) as appropriate, coordinate the provision of 19 services described in subsection (c) with other adop- 20 tion-related research, training, services, and assist- 21 ance activities carried out by the Department of 22 Health and Human Services; and 23 (3) either directly, or by grant to or contract 24 with a public or private agency or organization— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:38 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2375.IH H2375 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2375 IH (A) evaluate the implementation and effec- 1 tiveness of the provision of services described in 2 subsection (c) and other activities carried out 3 under this section; 4 (B) identify different pre-placement serv- 5 ices provided for mothers, the availability and 6 utilization of such services, and how pre-place- 7 ment services might be improved; and 8 (C) not later than 3 years after the date 9 of the enactment of this Act, submit to Con- 10 gress a report that contains the results of the 11 evaluation under subparagraph (A) and the in- 12 formation described in subparagraph (B). 13 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 14 (a) IN GENERAL.—To carry out this Act, there are 15 authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Health 16 and Human Services— 17 (1) $45,000,000 for fiscal year 2022; and 18 (2) such sums as may be necessary for each of 19 fiscal years 2023 through 2026. 20 (b) ALLOCATION.—Of the amounts authorized to be 21 appropriated by subsection (a) for each of fiscal years 22 2022 through 2026— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:38 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2375.IH H2375 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2375 IH (1) 2⁄3 of such amounts shall be used for serv- 1 ices described in subsection (c) in connection with 2 prenatal care; and 3 (2) 1⁄3 of such amounts shall be used for serv- 4 ices described in subsection (c) in connection with 5 post-adoption or post-placement services. 6 (c) APPLICABILITY OF CERTAIN PROVISIONS.—Sec- 7 tions 506 and 507 of division H of the Consolidated Ap- 8 propriations Act, 2021 (Public Law 116–260) shall apply 9 with respect to funds made available for any fiscal year 10 to carry out this Act to the same extent and in the same 11 manner as such sections 506 and 507 apply with respect 12 to funds appropriated for fiscal year 2021 to the Depart- 13 ment of Health and Human Services by such division H. 14 (d) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts appropriated pursuant 15 to the authorization of appropriations under subsection (a) 16 are authorized to remain available until expended. 17 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:38 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2375.IH H2375 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS