§ 254c–6 — Certain Services For Pregnant Women

(1) The Secretary shall make grants to national, regional, or local adoption organizations for the purpose of developing and implementing programs to train the designated staff of eligible health centers in providing adoption information and referrals to pregnant women on an equal basis with all other courses of action included in nondirective counseling to pregnant women. (A) A condition for the receipt of a grant under paragraph (1) is that the adoption organization involved agree that, in providing training under such paragraph, the organization will follow the guidelines developed under subparagraph (B). (i) The Secretary shall establish and supervise a process described in clause (ii) in which the participants are— (I) an appropriate number and variety of adoption organizations that, as a group, have expertise in all models of adoption practice and that represent all members of the adoption triad (birth mother, infant, and adoptive parent); and (II) affected public health entities. (ii) The process referred to in clause (i) is a process in which the participants described in such clause collaborate to develop best-practices guidelines on the provision of adoption information and referrals to pregnant women on an equal basis with all other courses of action included in nondirective counseling to pregnant women. (iii) The Secretary shall ensure that the guidelines described in clause (ii) are developed not later than 180 days after October 17, 2000. (C) The Secretary may not make any grant under paragraph (1) before the date on which the guidelines under subparagraph (B) are developed. (A) With respect to a grant under paragraph (1)— (i) an adoption organization may expend the grant to carry out the programs directly or through grants to or contracts with other adoption organizations; (ii) the purposes for which the adoption organization expends the grant may include the development of a training curriculum, consistent with the guidelines developed under paragraph (2)(B); and (iii) a condition for the receipt of the grant is that the adoption organization agree that, in providing training for the designated staff of eligible health centers, such organization will make reasonable efforts to ensure that the individuals who provide the training are individuals who are knowledgeable in all elements of the adoption process and are experienced in providing adoption information and referrals in the geographic areas in which the eligible health centers are located, and that the designated staff receive the training in such areas. (B) With respect to individuals who under a grant under paragraph (1) provide training for the designated staff of eligible health centers (referred to in this subparagraph as “trainers”), subparagraph (A)(iii) may not be construed as establishing any limitation regarding the geographic area in which the trainers receive instruction in being such trainers. A trainer may receive such instruction in a different geographic area than the area in which the trainer trains (or will train) the designated staff of eligible health centers. (4) For purposes of this section: (A) The term “adoption organization” means a national, regional, or local organization— (i) among whose primary purposes are adoption; (ii) that is knowledgeable in all elements of the adoption process and on providing adoption information and referrals to pregnant women; and (iii) that is a nonprofit private entity. (B) The term “designated staff”, with respect to an eligible health center, means staff of the center who provide pregnancy or adoption information and referrals (or will provide such information and referrals after receiving training under a grant under paragraph (1)). (C) The term “eligible health centers” means public and nonprofit private entities that provide health services to pregnant women. (5) A condition for the receipt of a grant under paragraph (1) is that the adoption organization involved agree to make reasonable efforts to ensure that the eligible health centers with respect to which training under the grant is provided include— (A) eligible health centers that receive grants under section 300 of this title (relating to voluntary family planning projects); (B) eligible health centers that receive grants under section 254b of this title (relating to community health centers, migrant health centers, and centers regarding homeless individuals and residents of public housing); and (C) eligible health centers that receive grants under this chapter for the provision of services in schools. (6) In the case of eligible health centers that receive grants under section 254b or 300 of this title: (A) Within a reasonable period after the Secretary begins making grants under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall provide eligible health centers with complete information about the training available from organizations receiving grants under such paragraph. The Secretary shall make reasonable efforts to encourage eligible health centers to arrange for designated staff to participate in such training. Such efforts shall affirm Federal requirements, if any, that the eligible health center provide nondirective counseling to pregnant women. (B) All costs of such centers in obtaining the training shall be reimbursed by the organization that provides the training, using grants under paragraph (1). (C) Not later than 1 year after October 17, 2000, the Secretary shall submit to the appropriate committees of the Congress a report evaluating the extent to which adoption information and referral, upon request, are provided by eligible health centers. Within a reasonable time after training under this section is initiated, the Secretary shall submit to the appropriate committees of the Congress a report evaluating the extent to which adoption information and referral, upon request, are provided by eligible health centers in order to determine the effectiveness of such training and the extent to which such training complies with subsection (a)(1). In preparing the reports required by this subparagraph, the Secretary shall in no respect interpret the provisions of this section to allow any interference in the provider-patient relationship, any breach of patient confidentiality, or any monitoring or auditing of the counseling process or patient records which breaches patient confidentiality or reveals patient identity. The reports required by this subparagraph shall be conducted by the Secretary acting through the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration and in collaboration with the Director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (b) The Secretary may make a grant under subsection (a) only if an application for the grant is submitted to the Secretary and the application is in such form, is made in such manner, and contains such agreements, assurances, and information as the Secretary determines to be necessary to carry out this section. (c) For the purpose of carrying out this section, there are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary for each of the fiscal years 2001 through 2005.