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108th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 604
To amend part D of title IV of the Social Security Act to provide
grants to promote responsible fatherhood, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 12, 2003
Mr. Bayh (for himself, Mr. Domenici, and Mr. Santorum) introduced the
following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on
Finance
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend part D of title IV of the Social Security Act to provide
grants to promote responsible fatherhood, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Responsible Fatherhood Act of
2003''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Nearly 24,000,000 children in the United States, or 34
percent of all such children, live apart from their biological
father.
(2) Sixty percent of couples who divorce have at least 1
child.
(3) The number of children living with only a mother
increased from just over 5,000,000 in 1960, to 17,000,000 in
1999, and between 1981 and 1991 the percentage of children
living with only 1 parent increased from 19 percent to 25
percent.
(4) Forty percent of children who live in households
without a father have not seen their father in at least 1 year
and 50 percent of such children have never visited their
father's home.
(5) The most important factor in a child's upbringing is
whether the child is brought up in a loving, healthy,
supportive environment.
(6) Children who live without contact with their biological
father are, in comparison to children who have such contact--
(A) 5 times more likely to live in poverty;
(B) more likely to bring weapons and drugs into the
classroom;
(C) twice as likely to commit crime;
(D) twice as likely to drop out of school;
(E) more likely to commit suicide;
(F) more than twice as likely to abuse alcohol or
drugs; and
(G) more likely to become pregnant as teenagers.
(7) Violent criminals are overwhelmingly males who grew up
without fathers.
(8) Between 20 and 30 percent of families in poverty are
headed by women who have suffered domestic violence during the
past year and between 40 and 60 percent of women with children
receiving welfare were abused sometime during their life.
(9) Responsible fatherhood includes active participation in
financial support and child care, as well as the formation and
maintenance of a positive, healthy, and nonviolent relationship
between father and child and a cooperative relationship between
parents.
(10) States should be encouraged to implement programs that
provide support for responsible fatherhood, promote marriage,
and increase the incidence of marriage, and should not be
restricted from implementing such programs.
(11) Fatherhood programs should promote and provide support
services for--
(A) loving and healthy relationships between
parents and children; and
(B) cooperative parenting.
(12) There is a social need to reconnect children and
fathers.
(13) The promotion of responsible fatherhood and
encouragement of married 2-parent families should not--
(A) denigrate the standing or parenting efforts of
single mothers or other caregivers;
(B) lessen the protection of children from abusive
parents; or
(C) compromise the safety or health of the
custodial parent;
but should increase the chance that children will have two
caring parents to help them grow up healthy and secure.
(14) The promotion of responsible fatherhood must always
recognize and promote the values of nonviolence.
(15) For the future of the United States and the future of
our children, Congress, States, and local communities should
assist parents to become more actively involved in their
children's lives.
(16) Child support is an important means by which a parent
can take financial responsibility for a child and emotional
support is an important means by which a parent can take social
responsibility for a child.
SEC. 3. RESPONSIBLE FATHERHOOD GRANTS.
Part D of title IV of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 651 et
seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``SEC. 469C. RESPONSIBLE FATHERHOOD GRANTS.
``(a) Grants to States To Conduct Demonstration Programs.--
``(1) Authority to award grants.--
``(A) In general.--The Secretary shall award grants
to up to 10 eligible States to conduct demonstration
programs to carry out the purposes described in
paragraph (2).
``(B) Eligible state.--For purposes of this
subsection, an eligible State is a State that submits
to the Secretary the following:
``(i) Application.--An application for a
grant under this subsection, at such time, in
such manner, and containing such information as
the Secretary may require.
``(ii) State plan.--A State plan that
includes the following:
``(I) Project description.--A
description of the types of projects
the State will fund under the grant,
including a good faith estimate of the
number and characteristics of clients
to be served under such projects and
how the State intends to achieve at
least 2 of the purposes described in
paragraph (2).
``(II) Coordination efforts.--A
description of how the State will
coordinate and cooperate with State and
local entities responsible for carrying
out other programs that relate to the
purposes intended to be achieved under
the demonstration program, including as
appropriate, entities responsible for
carrying out jobs programs and programs
serving children and families.
``(III) Records, reports, and
audits.--An agreement to maintain such
records, submit such reports, and
cooperate with such reviews and audits
as the Secretary finds necessary for
purposes of oversight of the
demonstration program.
``(iii) Certifications.--The following
certifications from the chief executive officer
of the State:
``(I) A certification that the
State will use funds provided under the
grant to promote at least 2 of the
purposes described in paragraph (2).
``(II) A certification that the
State will return any unused funds to
the Secretary in accordance with the
reconciliation process under paragraph
(4).
``(III) A certification that the
funds provided under the grant will be
used for programs and activities that
target low-income participants and that
not less than 50 percent of the
participants in each program or
activity funded under the grant shall
be--
``(aa) parents of a child
who is, or within the past 24
months has been, a recipient of
assistance or services under a
State program funded under this
part and is described in
section 454(4)(A)(i); or
``(bb) parents, including
an expectant parent or a
married parent, whose income
(after adjustment for court-
ordered child support paid or
received) does not exceed 150
percent of the poverty line.
``(IV) A certification that
programs or activities funded under the
grant will be provided with information
regarding the prevention of domestic
violence and that the State will
consult with representatives of State
and local domestic violence centers.
``(V) A certification that funds
provided to a State under this
subsection shall not be used to
supplement or supplant other Federal,
State, or local funds that are used to
support programs or activities that are
related to the purposes described in
paragraph (2).
``(C) Preferences and factors of consideration.--In
awarding grants under this subsection, the Secretary
shall take into consideration the following:
``(i) Diversity of entities used to conduct
programs and activities.--The Secretary shall,
to the extent practicable, achieve a balance
among the eligible States awarded grants under
this subsection with respect to the size, urban
or rural location, and employment of differing
or unique methods of the entities that the
States intend to use to conduct the programs
and activities funded under the grants.
``(ii) Priority for certain states.--The
Secretary shall give priority to awarding
grants to eligible States that have--
``(I) demonstrated progress in
achieving at least 1 of the purposes
described in paragraph (2) through
previous State initiatives; or
``(II) demonstrated need with
respect to reducing the incidence of
out-of-wedlock births or absent fathers
in the State.
``(2) Purposes.--The purposes described in this paragraph
are the following:
``(A) Promoting responsible fatherhood through
marriage promotion.--To promote marriage or sustain
marriage through such activities as counseling,
mentoring, disseminating information about the benefits
of marriage and 2-parent involvement for children,
enhancing relationship skills, education regarding how
to control aggressive behavior, disseminating
information on the causes of domestic violence and
child abuse, marriage preparation programs, premarital
counseling, marital inventories, skills-based marriage
education, financial planning seminars, including
improving a family's ability to effectively manage
family business affairs by means such as education,
counseling, or mentoring on matters related to family
finances, including household management, budgeting,
banking, and handling of financial transactions and
home maintenance, and divorce education and reduction
programs, including mediation and counseling.
``(B) Promoting responsible fatherhood through
parenting promotion.--To promote responsible parenting
through such activities as counseling, mentoring, and
mediation, disseminating information about good
parenting practices, skills-based parenting education,
encouraging child support payments, and other methods.
``(C) Promoting responsible fatherhood through
fostering economic stability of fathers.--To foster
economic stability by helping fathers improve their
economic status by providing such activities as work
first services, job search, job training, subsidized
employment, job retention, job enhancement, and
encouraging education, including career-advancing
education, dissemination of employment materials,
coordination with existing employment services such as
welfare-to-work programs, referrals to local employment
training initiatives, and other methods.
``(3) Restriction on use of funds.--No funds provided under
this subsection may be used for costs attributable to court
proceedings regarding matters of child visitation or custody, or for
legislative advocacy.
``(4) Reconciliation process.--
``(A) 3-year availability of amounts allotted.--
Each eligible State that receives a grant under this
subsection for a fiscal year shall return to the
Secretary any unused portion of the grant for such
fiscal year not later than the last day of the second
succeeding fiscal year, together with any earnings on
such unused portion.
``(B) Procedure for redistribution.--The Secretary
shall establish an appropriate procedure for
redistributing to eligible entities that have expended
the entire amount of a grant made under this subsection
for a fiscal year any amount that is returned to the
Secretary by eligible States under subparagraph (A).
``(5) Amount of grants.--
``(A) In general.--Subject to subparagraph (B), the
amount of each grant awarded under this subsection
shall be an amount sufficient to implement the State
plan submitted under paragraph (1)(B)(ii).
``(B) Minimum amounts.--No eligible State shall--
``(i) in the case of the District of
Columbia or a State other than the Commonwealth
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