text: SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
  
      This Act may be cited as the ``Every Child Deserves a Family Act''.
  
  SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
  
      (a) Findings.--The Congress finds the following:
              (1) There is a shortage of qualified individuals willing to 
          adopt or foster a child in the child welfare system. As a 
          result, thousands of foster children lack a permanent and safe 
          home.
              (2) In order to open more homes to foster children, child 
          welfare agencies should work to eliminate sexual orientation, 
          gender identification, and marital status discrimination and 
          bias in adoption and foster care recruitment, selection, and 
          placement procedures.
              (3) Of the estimated 500,000 children in the United States 
          foster care system, over 129,000 cannot return to their 
          original families and are legally free for adoption.
                      (A) Fifty-one thousand children were adopted in 
                  2007, while 25,000 youth ``aged out'' of the foster 
                  care system.
                      (B) Research shows that youth who ``age out'' of 
                  the foster care system are at a high risk for poverty, 
                  homelessness, incarceration, and early parenthood.
                      (C) Increasing adoption rates, in addition to 
                  establishing permanency and decreasing risk factors for 
                  foster youth, can yield annual national cost savings 
                  between $3,300,000,000 and $6,300,000,000.
              (4) As of 2007, gay, lesbian, and bisexual parents were 
          raising 4 percent of all adopted children and fostering for 3 
          percent of all foster children. A report from the Evan B. 
          Donaldson Institute found that an additional 2,000,000 gay, 
          lesbian, and bisexual individuals are interested in adoption.
              (5) According to the Urban Institute, same-sex couples 
          raising adopted children tend to be older, more educated, and 
          have more economic resources than other adoptive parents. 
          Studies confirm that children with same-sex parents have the 
          same advantages and same expectations for health, social and 
          psychological adjustment, and development as children whose 
          parents are heterosexual.
              (6) An Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute study found 
          that one-third of child welfare agencies in the United States 
          currently reject gay, lesbian, and bisexual applicants, citing 
          a conflict with the religious beliefs associated with the 
          agency, State law prohibiting placement with gay, lesbian, or 
          bisexual parents, or a policy of placing children with married-
          heterosexual only couples.
                      (A) The practice of prohibiting applicants from 
                  becoming foster parents or adopting children solely on 
                  the basis of sexual orientation or marital status has 
                  resulted in reducing the number of qualified adoptive 
                  and foster parents overall and denying gay, lesbian, 
                  bisexual, and unmarried relatives the opportunity to 
                  become foster parents for their own kin, including 
                  grandchildren, or to adopt their own kin, including 
                  grandchildren, from foster care.
                      (B) Over 14,000 children are currently in 
                  placements with gay, lesbian, and bisexual adoptive and 
                  foster parents. If other States followed the minority 
                  of States and discriminated against qualified 
                  individuals because of their sexual orientation or 
                  marital status, foster care expenditures would increase 
                  between $87,000,000 and $130,000,000 per year in order 
                  to pay for additional institutional and group care, as 
                  well as to recruit and train new foster and adoptive 
                  parents.
              (7) Some States allow 1 member of a same-sex couple to 
          adopt, but do not recognize both members of the couple as the 
          child's legal parents. Recognition of joint and second-parent 
          adoption provides children with the same rights and security 
          that children of heterosexual parents enjoy. These protections 
          include access to both parents' health benefits; survivor's, 
          Social Security, and child support entitlements; legal grounds 
          for either parent to provide consent for medical care, 
          education, and other important decisions; as well as the 
          establishment of permanency for both parents and child.
              (8) Professional organizations in the fields of medicine, 
          law, and child welfare have taken official positions in support 
          of the ability of qualified gay, lesbian, bisexual, and 
          unmarried couples to foster and adopt, as supported by 
          scientific research showing sexual orientation as a 
          nondeterminative factor in parental success.
      (b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are to decrease the length 
  of time that children wait for permanency with a loving family and to 
  promote the best interests of children in the child welfare system by 
  preventing discrimination in adoption and foster care placements based 
  on sexual orientation, gender identification, or marital status.
  
  SEC. 3. EVERY CHILD DESERVES A FAMILY.
  
      (a) Activities.--
              (1) Prohibition.--An entity that receives Federal 
          assistance and is involved in adoption or foster care 
          placements may not--
                      (A) categorically deny to any person the 
                  opportunity to become an adoptive or a foster parent 
                  solely on the basis of the sexual orientation, gender 
                  identification, or marital status of the person;
                      (B) delay or deny the placement of a child for 
                  adoption or into foster care, or otherwise discriminate 
                  in making a placement decision, solely on the basis of 
                  the sexual orientation, gender identification, or 
                  marital status of any prospective adoptive or foster 
                  parent; or
                      (C) deny or limit the parental rights of an 
                  adoptive parent based on the adoptive parent's sexual 
                  orientation, gender identification, or marital status.
              (2) Definition.--In this subsection, the term ``placement 
          decision'' means the decision to place, or to delay or deny the 
          placement of, a child in a foster care or an adoptive home, and 
          includes the decision of the agency or entity involved to seek 
          the termination of birth parent rights or otherwise make a 
          child legally available for adoptive placement.
      (b) Equitable Relief.--Any individual who is aggrieved by an action 
  in violation of subsection (a) may bring an action seeking relief in a 
  United States district court of appropriate jurisdiction.
      (c) Federal Guidance.--Not later than 6 months after the date of 
  the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services 
  shall publish guidance to concerned entities with respect to compliance 
  with this section.
      (d) Deadline for Compliance.--
              (1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (2), an 
          entity that receives Federal assistance and is involved with 
          adoption or foster care placements shall comply with this 
          section not later than 6 months after publication of the 
          guidance referred to in subsection (c), or 1 year after the 
          date of the enactment of this Act, whichever occurs first.
              (2) Authority to extend deadline.--If a State demonstrates 
          to the satisfaction of the Secretary of Health and Human 
          Services that it is necessary to amend State statutory law in 
          order to change a particular practice that is inconsistent with 
          this section, the Secretary may extend the compliance date for 
          the State a reasonable number of days after the close of the 
          first State legislative session beginning after the date the 
          guidance referred to in subsection (c) is published.
              (3) Authority to withhold funds.--If a State fails to 
          comply with this section, the Secretary may withhold payment to 
          the State of amounts otherwise payable to the State under part 
          B or E of title IV of the Social Security Act, to the extent 
          the Secretary deems the withholding necessary to induce the 
          State into compliance with this section.
      (e) GAO Study.--
              (1) In general.--Within 5 years after the date of the 
          enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United 
          States shall conduct a study to determine whether the States 
          have substantially complied with this Act, including 
          specifically whether the States have--
                      (A) eliminated policies, practices, or statutes 
                  that deny to any otherwise qualified person the 
                  opportunity to become an adoptive or foster parent 
                  solely on the basis of the sexual orientation, gender 
                  identification, or marital status of the person;
                      (B) removed all program, policy, or statutory 
                  barriers that delay or deny the placement of a child 
                  for adoption or into foster care, or otherwise 
                  discriminate in making a placement decision, solely on 
                  the basis of the sexual orientation, gender 
                  identification, or marital status of any qualified, 
                  prospective adoptive or foster parent; and
                      (C) eliminated all policies, practices, or statutes 
                  that deny or limit the parental rights of an adoptive 
                  parent based on the adoptive parent's sexual 
                  orientation, gender identification, or marital status.
              (2) Report to the congress.--Within 1 year after completing 
          the study required by paragraph (1), the Comptroller General 
          shall submit to the Congress a written report that contains the 
          results of the study.
target: Every Child Deserves a Family Act - Prohibits an entity that receives federal assistance and is involved in adoption or foster care placements from discriminating against prospective adoptive or foster parents solely on the basis of their sexual orientation, gender identification, or martial status.
  
  Requires a General Accounting Office study and report to Congress on whether states have substantially complied with this Act in eliminating policies, practices, or statutes that deny adoption rights on the basis of these criteria.
feat_title: To prohibit discrimination in adoption or foster care placements based on the sexual orientation, gender identification, or marital status of any prospective adoptive or foster parent.