In Good Standing Adoption Agencies Act of 2026

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7236 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 7236

To provide for the Secretary of Health and Human Services to maintain a 
  national list of licensed private child placement agencies, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 23, 2026

  Mr. Shreve introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide for the Secretary of Health and Human Services to maintain a 
  national list of licensed private child placement agencies, 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 ``In Good Standing Adoption Agencies 
Act of 2026''.

SEC. 2. NATIONAL LIST OF LICENSED CHILD PLACEMENT AGENCIES.

    (a) In General.--Section 474 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
674) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(h) National List of Licensed Child Placement Agencies.--
            ``(1) State reporting.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Not later than January 1 of each 
                fiscal year, a State with a plan approved under this 
                part for the fiscal year shall submit to the Secretary 
                a list of private child placement agencies that, as of 
                the end of the preceding fiscal year, were licensed or 
                accredited by, and in good standing with, the State and 
                exempt from Federal income tax by reason of section 
                501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
                    ``(B) Child placement agency.--In subparagraph (A), 
                the term `child placement agency' means an agency that 
                places children in prospective adoptive homes.
            ``(2) National list.--The Secretary, through the United 
        States Children's Bureau, shall compile and maintain a publicly 
        available list consisting of each list most recently submitted 
        by a State under paragraph (1).
            ``(3) Annual reports to congress.--Not later than the 2nd 
        December 31 after the date of the enactment of this subsection, 
        and annually thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to the 
        Congress a written report that contains the list maintained 
        under paragraph (2) and identifies any child placement agency 
        that is licensed by a State and is not on the list, and a 
        specification of any disciplinary actions that a State has 
        taken against a private child placement agency.''.
    (b) Loss of Eligibility for Adoption and Legal Guardianship 
Incentive Payments for Failure of State To Comply With List Submission 
Requirement.--Section 473A(b) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 673b(b)) is 
amended--
            (1) by striking ``and'' at the end of paragraph (3);
            (2) by striking the period at the end of paragraph (4) and 
        inserting ``; and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(5) the State has complied with section 474(h)(1) with 
        respect to the preceding fiscal year.''.
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