The Hospital Adoption Education Act directs the Department of Health and Human Services to create and distribute educational resources and training programs to help hospital staff better understand adoption and support expectant mothers considering adoption as well as adoptive families. The bill addresses a gap in professional training, noting that 98 percent of nurses currently receive no formal education on adoption-related sensitivities, while hospitals are considered highly trustworthy sources of adoption information by 93 percent of Americans. The Secretary of Health and Human Services will develop online resources, maintain an adoption resource webpage, and award grants (up to three years each) to nonprofit organizations to provide education and consultation services to hospitals and birthing centers, with support from a committee of adoption experts including social workers, attorneys, and maternal health professionals. The legislation requires the Secretary to evaluate the program's effectiveness within three years and report to Congress on how many hospitals have implemented adoption-sensitive training and how many healthcare workers received adoption education. Funding will come from existing HHS Administration for Children and Families budgets, so no new appropriations are specified.
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