AMENDMENTS TO CHILD ABUSE PREVENTION AND TREATMENT AND ADOPTION REFORM ACT OF 1978 RELATING TO ADOPTION ASSISTANCE AND SERVICES.

SEC. 202. AMENDMENTS TO CHILD ABUSE PREVENTION AND TREATMENT AND ADOPTION REFORM ACT OF 1978 RELATING TO ADOPTION ASSISTANCE AND SERVICES. (a) Minority Children Placements.—Section 203(b) of title II of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment and Adoption Reform Act of 1978 is amended by— (1) striking the “and” at the end of paragraph (6); (2) striking the period at the end of paragraph (7) and inserting “; and”; and (3) adding the following new paragraph: “(8) provide (directly or by grant to or contract with States, local government entities, public or private nonprofit 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; 102 STAT. 123 “(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 nonprofit 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 Act; 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.”. (b) Post Legal Adoption Services.—Section 203 is amended by adding the following new subsection: “(c) (1) The Secretary shall provide (directly or by grant to or contract with States, local government entities, public or private nonprofit 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 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, nonprofit 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; and “(G) assistance to support groups for adoptive parents, adopted children, and siblings of adopted children. (c) Placement of Foster Care Children.— Section 203, as amended by subsection (b), is amended by adding the following new subsection: “(d) (1) The Secretary shall make grants for improving State efforts to increase the placement of foster care children legally free for adoption, according to a preestablished 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 102 STAT. 124evaluations 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 shall give priority to grantees who propose improvements designed to continue in the absence of Federal funds. “(2) Each State entering into an agreement under this subsection shall submit an application to the Secretary for each fiscal year in a form and manner determined to be appropriate by the Secretary. Each application shall include verification of the placements described in paragraph (1), “(3)(A) 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 205(a). “(B) 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 Act.”.