ADOPTIONS ACROSS STATE AND COUNTY JURISDICTIONS.

SEC. 202. ADOPTIONS ACROSS STATE AND COUNTY JURISDICTIONS. (a) State Plan for Child Welfare Services Requirement.—Section 422(b) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 622(b)) is amended— (1) in paragraph (10), by striking “and” at the end; (2) in paragraph (11), by striking the period and inserting “; and”; and (3) by adding at the end the following: “(12) contain assurances that the State shall develop plans for the effective use of cross-jurisdictional resources to facilitate timely adoptive or permanent placements for waiting children.”, (b) Condition of Assistance.—Section 474 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 674) is amended by adding at the end the following: “(e) Notwithstanding subsection (a), a State shall not be eligible for any payment under this section if the Secretary finds that, after the date of the enactment of this subsection, the State has— “(1) denied or delayed the placement of a child for adoption when an approved family is available outside of the jurisdiction with responsibility for handling the case of the child; or111 STAT. 2126 “(2) failed to grant an opportunity for a fair hearing, as described in section 471(a)(12), to an individual whose allegation of a violation of paragraph (1) of this subsection is denied by the State or not acted upon by the State with reasonable promptness.”. (c)Study of Interjurisdictional Adoption Issues.— (1) In general.—The Comptroller General of the United States shall— (A) study and consider how to improve procedures and policies to facilitate the timely and permanent adoptions of children across State and county jurisdictions; and (B) examine, at a minimum, interjurisdictional adoption issues— (i) concerning the recruitment of prospective adoptive families from other States and counties; (ii) concerning the procedures to grant reciprocity to prospective adoptive family home studies from other States and counties; (iii) arising from a review of the comity and full faith and credit provided to adoption decrees and termination of parental rights orders from other States; and (iv) concerning the procedures related to the administration and implementation of the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children. (2) Report to the congress.—Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall submit to the appropriate committees of the Congress a report that includes— (A) the results of the study conducted under paragraph (1); and (B) recommendations on how to improve procedures to facilitate the interjurisdictional adoption of children, including interstate and intercounty adoptions, so that children will be assured timely and permanent placements.