Bill · S. 600· Senate(119-S-600)
Supporting Adopted Children and Families Act
- Introduced
- 2/13/2025
- Last activity
- 2/13/2025 — Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
- Sponsored by
- Amy Klobuchar
- Cosponsors
- - 0 - 1
- Introduced
- In Committee
What this bill would do
The Supporting Adopted Children and Families Act aims to enhance pre- and post-adoption support services to improve the well-being of adopted children and their families. It expands the definition of adoption promotion and support services to include various training, counseling, and educational resources. The bill mandates that states spend a significant portion of savings from certain expenditures on these support services. Additionally, it establishes a federal grant program specifically for post-adoption and post-legal guardianship mental health services. The act also requires new data collection efforts to track the disruption or dissolution of adoptions.
Yes· 3 of 5
Would children be better off under this?+9
The bill expands access to mental health services, counseling, and specialized treatments for adopted children.
Does this make mental health care easier to get?+8
The bill establishes a $20,000,000 reserve for grants to develop statewide or tribal mental health service programs for adopted children and their families.
Would households on low incomes be better off under this?+3
The bill provides specialized support services that can reduce the financial and emotional strain on families managing high-needs children.
The opposite
No question was scored the opposite.
Who it would affect, and how
Potential Positive Impacts for People
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Enhanced Support for Families: The bill provides for various pre-adoption services such as training, educational support, and counseling to address issues like emotional, behavioral, or developmental health needs (Section 2(b)(i)(I)).
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Peer Support and Mentoring: It establishes peer-to-peer mentoring and support groups to help new adoptive parents learn from more experienced ones (Section 2(b)(i)(III)).
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Access to Resources: The bill allows for the provision of informational resources, including databases on benefits for children with disabilities and the establishment of lending libraries (Section 2(b)(i)(IV)).
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Mental Health and Crisis Services: Post-adoption services include specialized treatment like psychiatric residential services, suicide prevention, and a 24-hour emergency hotline for crisis and family preservation (Section 2(b)(ii)(III) and (V)).
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Mental Health Grant Programs: A $20,000,000 reserve is created for grants to develop statewide or tribal mental health service programs specifically for children in post-adoption or legal guardianship (Section 4(a)).
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Improved Data Tracking: New requirements for collecting data on adoption disruptions and dissolutions are intended to help identify effective strategies and prevent these occurrences (Section 5(a)(2)).
Potential Negative Impacts for People
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State Expenditure Requirements: States are required to spend a "significant portion" of savings from certain expenditures on these specific adoption support services (Section 3).
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Grant Limitations for States: Under the mental health grant program, the Secretary is ensured that each State is awarded only one grant or cooperative agreement (Section 4(b)(2)(B)).
Groups and Interests Ranking
Every group the model scored this bill for, from -10 to +10. Hover a score for the reason it gave.
- Demographic And Interest Groups
- Good For Children+9Good For Low Income Households+3
- Healthcare
- Improves Mental Health Access+8
- Social Issues And Justice
- Improves Poverty Reduction+2
- Economy And Finance
- Improves Fiscal Responsibility+1
- 2/13/2025
- Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
- 1 Cosponsor added.
- Introduced in Senate
Kevin CramerRepublican · North Dakota