42 U.S.C. § 5113 : US Code - Section 5113: Information and services

Search 42 U.S.C. § 5113 : US Code - Section 5113: Information and services

(a) In general
The Secretary shall establish in the Department of Health and
Human Services an appropriate administrative arrangement to provide
a centralized focus for planning and coordinating of all
departmental activities affecting adoption and foster care and for
carrying out the provisions of this subchapter. The Secretary shall
make available such consultant services, on-site technical
assistance and personnel, together with appropriate administrative
expenses, including salaries and travel costs, as are necessary for
carrying out such purposes, including services to facilitate the
adoption of children with special needs and particularly of
disabled infants with life-threatening conditions and services to
couples considering adoption of children with special needs.
(b) Required activities
In connection with carrying out the provisions of this
subchapter, the Secretary shall -
(1) conduct (directly or by grant to or contract with public or
private agencies or organizations) an education and training
program on adoption, and prepare, publish, and disseminate
(directly or by grant to or contract with public or private
agencies and organizations) to all interested parties, public and
private agencies and organizations (including, but not limited
to, hospitals, health care and family planning clinics, and
social services agencies), and governmental bodies, information
and education and training materials regarding adoption and
adoption assistance programs;
(2) conduct, directly or by grant or contract with public or
private organizations, ongoing, extensive recruitment efforts on
a national level, develop national public awareness efforts to
unite children in need of adoption with appropriate adoptive
parents, and establish a coordinated referral system of recruited
families with appropriate State or regional adoption resources to
ensure that families are served in a timely fashion;
(3) notwithstanding any other provision of law, provide
(directly or by grant to or contract with public or private
agencies or organizations) for (A) the operation of a national
adoption information exchange system (including only such
information as is necessary to facilitate the adoptive placement
of children, utilizing computers and data processing methods to
assist in the location of children who would benefit by adoption
and in the placement in adoptive homes of children awaiting
adoption); and (B) the coordination of such system with similar
State and regional systems;
(4) provide (directly or by grant to or contract with public or
private agencies or organizations, including adoptive family
groups and minority groups) for the provision of technical
assistance in the planning, improving, developing, and carrying
out of programs and activities relating to adoption, and to
promote professional leadership training of minorities in the
adoption field;
(5) encourage involvement of corporations and small businesses
in supporting adoption as a positive family-strengthening option,
including the establishment of adoption benefit programs for
employees who adopt children;
(6) support the placement of children in kinship care
arrangements, pre-adoptive, or adoptive homes;
(7) study the efficacy of States contracting with public or
private agencies (including community-based and other
organizations), or sectarian institutions for the recruitment of
potential adoptive and foster families and to provide assistance
in the placement of children for adoption;
(8) consult with other appropriate Federal departments and
agencies in order to promote maximum coordination of the services
and benefits provided under programs carried out by such
departments and agencies with those carried out by the Secretary,
and provide for the coordination of such aspects of all programs
within the Department of Health and Human Services relating to
adoption;
(9) maintain (directly or by grant to or contract with public
or private agencies or organizations) a National Resource Center
for Special Needs Adoption to -
(A) promote professional leadership development of minorities
in the adoption field;
(B) provide training and technical assistance to service
providers and State agencies to improve professional competency
in the field of adoption and the adoption of children with
special needs; and
(C) facilitate the development of interdisciplinary
approaches to meet the needs of children who are waiting for
adoption and the needs of adoptive families;
(10) provide (directly or by grant to or contract with States,
local government entities, public or private licensed child
welfare or adoption agencies or adoptive family groups and
community-based organizations with experience in working with
minority populations) for the provision of programs aimed at
increasing the number of minority children (who are in foster
care and have the goal of adoption) placed in adoptive families,
with a special emphasis on recruitment of minority families -
(A) which may include such activities as -
(i) outreach, public education, or media campaigns to
inform the public of the needs and numbers of such children;
(ii) recruitment of prospective adoptive families for such
children;
(iii) expediting, where appropriate, the legal availability
of such children;
(iv) expediting, where appropriate, the agency assessment
of prospective adoptive families identified for such
children;
(v) formation of prospective adoptive family support
groups;
(vi) training of personnel of -
(I) public agencies;
(II) private child welfare and adoption agencies that are
licensed by the State; and
(III) adoptive parents organizations and community-based
organizations with experience in working with minority
populations;
(vii) use of volunteers and adoptive parent groups; and
(viii) any other activities determined by the Secretary to
further the purposes of this subchapter; and
(B) shall be subject to the condition that such grants or
contracts may be renewed if documentation is provided to the
Secretary demonstrating that appropriate and sufficient
placements of such children have occurred during the previous
funding period; and
(11) provide (directly or by grant to or contract with States,
local government entities, or public or private licensed child
welfare or adoption agencies) for the implementation of programs
that are intended to increase the number of older children (who
are in foster care and with the goal of adoption) placed in
adoptive families, with a special emphasis on child-specific
recruitment strategies, including -
(A) outreach, public education, or media campaigns to inform
the public of the needs and numbers of older youth available
for adoption;
(B) training of personnel in the special needs of older youth
and the successful strategies of child-focused, child-specific
recruitment efforts; and
(C) recruitment of prospective families for such children.
(c) Services for families adopting special needs children
(1) In general
The Secretary shall provide (directly or by grant to or
contract with States, local government entities, public or
private licensed child welfare or adoption agencies or adoptive
family groups) for the provision of post legal adoption services
for families who have adopted special needs children.
(2) Services
Services provided under grants made under this subsection shall
supplement, not supplant, services from any other funds available
for the same general purposes, including -
(A) individual counseling;
(B) group counseling;
(C) family counseling;
(D) case management;
(E) training public agency adoption personnel, personnel of
private, child welfare and adoption agencies licensed by the
State to provide adoption services, mental health services
professionals, and other support personnel to provide services
under this subsection;
(F) assistance to adoptive parent organizations;
(G) assistance to support groups for adoptive parents,
adopted children, and siblings of adopted children;
(H) day treatment; and
(I) respite care.
(d) Improving placement rate of children in foster care
(1) In general
The Secretary shall make grants for improving State efforts to
increase the placement of foster care children legally free for
adoption, according to a pre-established plan and goals for
improvement. Grants funded by this section must include a strong
evaluation component which outlines the innovations used to
improve the placement of special needs children who are legally
free for adoption, and the successes and failures of the
initiative. The evaluations will be submitted to the Secretary
who will compile the results of projects funded by this section
and submit a report to the appropriate committees of Congress.
The emphasis of this program must focus on the improvement of the
placement rate - not the aggregate number of special needs
children placed in permanent homes. The Secretary, when reviewing
grant applications (!1) shall give priority to grantees who
propose improvements designed to continue in the absence of
Federal funds.
(2) Applications; technical and other assistance
(A) Applications
Each State entering into an agreement under this subsection
shall submit an application to the Secretary that describes the
manner in which the State will use funds during the 3 fiscal
years subsequent to the date of the application to accomplish
the purposes of this section. Such application shall be in a
form and manner determined to be appropriate by the Secretary.
Each application shall include verification of the placements
described in paragraph (1).
(B) Technical and other assistance
The Secretary shall provide, directly or by grant to or
contract with public or private agencies or organizations -
(i) technical assistance and resource and referral
information to assist State or local governments with
termination of parental rights issues, in recruiting and
retaining adoptive families, in the successful placement of
children with special needs, and in the provision of pre- and
post-placement services, including post-legal adoption
services; and
(ii) other assistance to help State and local governments
replicate successful adoption-related projects from other
areas in the United States.
(3) Payments
(A) In general
Payments under this subsection shall begin during fiscal year
1989. Payments under this section during any fiscal year shall
not exceed $1,000,000. No payment may be made under this
subsection unless an amount in excess of $5,000,000 is
appropriated for such fiscal year under section 5115(a) of this
title.
(B) Reversion of unused funds
Any payment made to a State under this subsection which is
not used by such State for the purpose provided in paragraph
(1) during the fiscal year payment is made shall revert to the
Secretary on October 1st of the next fiscal year and shall be
used to carry out the purposes of this subchapter.
(e) Elimination of barriers to adoptions across jurisdictional
boundaries
(1) In general
The Secretary shall award grants to, or enter into contracts
with, States, local government entities, public or private child
welfare or adoption agencies, adoption exchanges, or adoption
family groups to carry out initiatives to improve efforts to
eliminate barriers to placing children for adoption across
jurisdictional boundaries.
(2) Services to supplement not supplant
Services provided under grants made under this subsection shall
supplement, not supplant, services provided using any other funds
made available for the same general purposes including -
(A) developing a uniform homestudy standard and protocol for
acceptance of homestudies between States and jurisdictions;
(B) developing models of financing cross-jurisdictional
placements;
(C) expanding the capacity of all adoption exchanges to serve
increasing numbers of children;
(D) developing training materials and training social workers
on preparing and moving children across State lines; and
(E) developing and supporting initiative models for
networking among agencies, adoption exchanges, and parent
support groups across jurisdictional boundaries.