A bill to amend the act of March 16, 1926 (relating to the Board of Public Welfare in the District of Columbia), to provide for an improved system of adoption of children in the District of Columbia, and for other purposes.

Authorizes the Commissioner of the District of Columbia to (1) make temporary provision for the care of children pending investigation of their status; (2) to have the care and legal guardianship, including the power to consent to or arrange for adoption in appropriate cases, of children who may be committed by courts of competent jurisdiction, and children who are relinquished by their parents to the Commissioner or whose relinquishment is transferred to the Commissioner by a licensed child-placing agency; to make such provision for the care and maintenance of such children in private homes, under contract including adoption subsidy, or in public or private institutions, as the welfare of such children may require; and (4) to provide care and maintanence for feebleminded substantially retarded children who may be received upon application or upon court commitment, in institutions or homes or other facilities equipped to receive them, within or without the District of Columbia.

Provides that any person, public agency or licensed child-placing agency having a child with special needs in foster care or institutional care may recommend to the Commissioner a subsidy for the adoption of such child.

Authorizes the Commissioner to enter into a tentative adoption subsidy agreement with a prospective adoptive family that would provide an appropriate home for a child with special needs; and after a period of six months to accept a transfer of parental rights from the referring agency, and to assist the family in completing the legal and procedural requirements necessary to effectuate of the adoption. Sets forth conditions for amount and duration of adoption subsidy payments.

Provides for periodical review of the need of continuing each family's subsidy. Requires the Commissioner to keep such records as are necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of adoption subsidy as a means of encouraging and promoting the adoption of children with special needs, and to make an annual progress report which shall be open to public inspection.

Empowers the Commissioner to: (1) accept for care, custody, and guardianship dependent or neglected children whose custody or parental control has been transferred to the Commissioner, and to provide for the care and support of such children during their minority or during the term of their commitment, including the initiation of adoption proceedings and the provision of subsidy in appropriate cases; (2) with respect to all children accepted by him for care, place them in private families either without expense or with reimbursement for the cost of care, or in appropriate cases to place them in private families under an adoption subsidy agreement or to place them in institutions willing to receive them either without expense or with reimbursement for the cost of care; and (3) to consent to arrange for or initiate court proceedings for the adoption of all children committed to the care of the Commissioner whose parents have been permanently deprived of custody by court order, or whose parents have relinquished a child to the Commissioner or to a licensed child-placing agency which has transferred the relinquishment to the Commissioner.