Birth Parent Assistance Act of 2009 - Authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services to provide certain services for birth parents who have placed a child for adoption, either directly or by grant to or contract with state or local governmental entities or public or private agencies or organizations, including licensed child welfare or adoption agencies or adoptive family groups and faith-based organizations.
Specifies such services for birth parents as: (1) post-legal adoption services; (2) individual, group, and family counseling; and (3) training of mental health professionals, social workers, and staff at hospitals and other appropriate birth care facilities relating to their interaction with birth parents and adoptive families.
[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]
[H.R. 1505 Introduced in House (IH)]
111th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1505
To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to provide
services for birth parents who have placed a child for adoption, and
for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 12, 2009
Mrs. Schmidt (for herself and Mr. Oberstar) 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 birth parents who have placed a child for adoption, and
for other purposes.
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 ``Birth Parent Assistance Act of
2009''.
SEC. 2. PURPOSES.
The purposes of this Act are--
(1) to enhance post-placement services for birth parents
who have placed a child for adoption;
(2) to initiate or enhance post-placement counseling
services for birth parents who have placed a child for
adoption; and
(3) to identify how post-placement services for birth
parents who have placed a child for adoption can be improved.
SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF POST-ADOPTION SERVICES FOR BIRTH PARENTS.
(a) Services Authorized.--The Secretary of Health and Human
Services shall, either directly or by grant to or contract with the
eligible entities described in subsection (b), provide services
described in subsection (c) for birth parents who have placed a child
for adoption.
(b) Eligible Entities.--The eligible entities referred to in
subsection (a) are States, local governmental entities, and public or
private agencies or organizations, including public or private licensed
child welfare or adoption agencies or adoptive family groups and faith-
based organizations.
(c) Types of Services.--The types of services referred to in
subsection (a) are--
(1) post-legal adoption services for birth parents;
(2) counseling services for birth parents who have placed a
child for adoption, including--
(A) individual counseling;
(B) group counseling; and
(C) family counseling; and
(3) training of mental health professionals, social
workers, and staff at hospitals and other appropriate birth
care facilities relating to interaction of such individuals
with birth parents and adoptive families.
(d) Application.--Each eligible entity referred to in subsection
(a) that desires to receive a grant or enter into a contract with the
Secretary under subsection (a) shall submit an application to the
Secretary that describes the manner in which the entity will use funds
under the grant or contract 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.
(e) Reports.--The Secretary shall require each eligible entity
referred to in subsection (a) that receives a grant or enters into a
contract with the Secretary under subsection (a) to submit to the
Secretary a report on the services provided or activities carried out
by the entity for each fiscal year for which the entity receives
amounts under the grant or contract. The report shall contain such
information as the Secretary determines is necessary to provide an
accurate description of the services provided or activities carried out
with such amounts.
(f) Services To Supplement and Not Supplant.--Services provided
under a grant or contract under subsection (a) shall supplement, and
not supplant, services provided using any other funds made available
for the same general purposes.
(g) Technical Assistance and Administrative Provisions.--The
Secretary shall--
(1) provide technical assistance to eligible entities
referred to in subsection (a) that receive a grant or enter
into a contract with the Secretary under subsection (a) for
purposes of providing the services described in subsection (c);
(2) as appropriate, coordinate the provision of services
described in subsection (c) with other adoption-related
research, training, services, and assistance activities carried
out by the Department of Health and Human Services; and
(3) either directly, or by grant to or contract with a
public or private agency or organization--
(A) evaluate the implementation and effectiveness
of the provision of services described in subsection
(c) and other activities carried out under this
section;
(B) identify different post-placement services
provided for birth parents, the availability and
utilization of such services, and how post-placement
services might be improved; and
(C) not later than 3 years after the date of the
enactment of this Act, submit to Congress a report
that contains the results of the evaluation under
subparagraph (A) and the information described in
subparagraph (B).
SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
(a) In General.--To carry out this Act, there are authorized to be
appropriated to the Secretary of Health and Human Services--
(1) $30,000,000 for fiscal year 2010; and
(2) such sums as may be necessary for each of the fiscal
years 2011 through 2014.
(b) Availability.--Amounts appropriated pursuant to the
authorization of appropriations under subsection (a) are authorized to
remain available until expended.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Education and Labor.
Llama 3.2 · runs locally in your browser
Ask anything about this bill. The AI reads the full text to answer.
Enter to send · Shift+Enter for new line