Improving Adoption Outcomes and Affordability Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3690 To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to provide services for birthmothers who are placing or have placed a child for adoption, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY 10, 2019 Mr. SMUCKER 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 birthmothers who are placing 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 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF PRE-ADOPTION SERVICES FOR 6 BIRTHMOTHERS. 7 (a) SERVICES AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary of 8 Health and Human Services (in this section referred to 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:00 Jul 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3690.IH H3690 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 3690 IH as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall, either directly or by grant to 1 or contract with the eligible entities described in sub- 2 section (b), provide services described in subsection (c) for 3 birthmothers who are placing a child for adoption. 4 (b) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—The eligible entities re- 5 ferred to in subsection (a) are States, local governmental 6 entities, and public or private agencies or organizations, 7 including public or private licensed child welfare or adop- 8 tion agencies or adoptive family groups and faith-based 9 organizations. 10 (c) TYPES OF SERVICES.—The types of services re- 11 ferred to in subsection (a) are— 12 (1) counseling services for birthmothers who are 13 placing or have placed a child for adoption, includ- 14 ing— 15 (A) individual counseling; 16 (B) mental health counseling; and 17 (C) substance abuse counseling; 18 (2) provide information relating to the avail- 19 ability of post-adoption services and benefits for 20 birthmothers, including contact information for post- 21 adoption services and benefits provided by States 22 and local units of government, as appropriate; and 23 (3) training of staff at hospitals and other ap- 24 propriate birth care facilities relating to interaction 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:00 Jul 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3690.IH H3690 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 3690 IH of such staff with birthmothers and adoptive fami- 1 lies. 2 (d) APPLICATION.—Each eligible entity referred to in 3 subsection (a) that desires to receive a grant or enter into 4 a contract with the Secretary under subsection (a) shall 5 submit an application to the Secretary that describes the 6 manner in which the entity will use funds under the grant 7 or contract during the 3 fiscal years subsequent to the 8 date of the application to accomplish the purposes of this 9 section. Such application shall be submitted in a form and 10 manner determined to be appropriate by the Secretary. 11 (e) REPORTS.—The Secretary shall require each eli- 12 gible entity referred to in subsection (a) that receives a 13 grant or enters into a contract with the Secretary under 14 subsection (a) to submit to the Secretary a report on the 15 services provided or activities carried out by the entity for 16 each fiscal year for which the entity receives amounts 17 under the grant or contract. The report shall contain such 18 information as the Secretary determines is necessary to 19 provide an accurate description of the services provided 20 or activities carried out with such amounts. 21 (f) SERVICES TO SUPPLEMENT AND NOT SUP- 22 PLANT.—Services provided under a grant or contract 23 under subsection (a) shall supplement, and not supplant, 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:00 Jul 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3690.IH H3690 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 3690 IH services provided using any other funds made available for 1 the same general purposes. 2 (g) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE 3 PROVISIONS.—The Secretary shall— 4 (1) provide technical assistance to eligible enti- 5 ties referred to in subsection (a) that receive a grant 6 or enter into a contract with the Secretary under 7 subsection (a) for purposes of providing the services 8 described in subsection (c); 9 (2) as appropriate, coordinate the provision of 10 services described in subsection (c) with other adop- 11 tion-related research, training, services, and assist- 12 ance activities carried out by the Department of 13 Health and Human Services; and 14 (3) either directly, or by grant to or contract 15 with a public or private agency or organization— 16 (A) evaluate the implementation and effec- 17 tiveness of the provision of services described in 18 subsection (c) and other activities carried out 19 under this section; 20 (B) identify different pre-placement serv- 21 ices provided for birthmothers, the availability 22 and utilization of such services, and how pre- 23 placement services might be improved; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:00 Jul 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3690.IH H3690 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 3690 IH (C) not later than 3 years after the date 1 of the enactment of this Act, submit to Con- 2 gress a report that contains the results of the 3 evaluation under subparagraph (A) and the in- 4 formation described in subparagraph (B). 5 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—To carry out this Act, there are 7 authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Health 8 and Human Services— 9 (1) $30,000,000 for fiscal year 2020; and 10 (2) such sums as may be necessary for each of 11 the fiscal years 2021 through 2024. 12 (b) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts appropriated pursuant 13 to the authorization of appropriations under subsection (a) 14 are authorized to remain available until expended. 15 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:00 Jul 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3690.IH H3690 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS