§5114 Study and report of unlicensed or unregulated adoption placements

Summary

The Secretary must carry out a study and send the results to the right Congress committees not later than eighteen months after June 25, 2003. The study must look at how children are placed in adoptive homes across state lines (and within states when possible), excluding stepparents and relatives; how those interstate placements are paid for; recommended best-practice models for both interstate and intrastate adoptions; and how States group or define children with special needs. The Secretary must also do research (directly or by grant or contract with public or private nonprofit research groups) on adoption outcomes and the things that affect them, and report those findings to the same Congress committees not later than 36 months after June 25, 2003. Finally, not later than 1 year after June 25, 2003, the Secretary must send Congress a report with recommendations for an action plan to help adopt foster children across jurisdictions.