Family Reinforcement Act

TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Adoption Assistance Title II: Eldercare Assistance Title III: Child Protection Title IV: Family Privacy Protection Title V: Child Support Enforcement Family Reinforcement Act - Title I: Adoption Assistance - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an income tax credit for up to $5,000 of qualified adoption expenses paid or incurred by the taxpayer during the taxable year. Sets forth a formula for reduction of such credit for taxpayers whose adjusted gross income exceeds $60,000. Denies such a credit for any expense for which a deduction or credit is allowable under another Code provision. (Sec. 101) Defines "qualified adoption expenses" as reasonable and necessary adoption fees, court costs, attorney's fees, and other lawful expenses directly related to legal adoption of a child, but not any expenses paid from any funds received under a Federal, State, or local program. Disqualifies for such a credit any expenses in connection with the adoption of a child of the taxpayer's spouse. Title II: Eldercare Assistance - Allows an individual taxpayer an income tax credit of $500 for each member of the household maintained by the taxpayer who: (1) is the taxpayer's, or taxpayer's spouse's, parent or stepparent; (2) is certified by a physician as unable to perform (without substantial assistance from another individual) at least two activities of daily living (bathing, dressing, toileting, transferring in and out of a bed or chair, and eating), or has a similar level of disability due to cognitive impairment; and (3) has the taxpayer's home as his or her principal place of abode for more than half the taxable year. Title III: Child Protection - Directs the United States Sentencing Commission to amend the sentencing guidelines with respect to the sexual exploitation and abuse of children to increase the offense level by two levels if a computer was used in the transportation or shipment of a visual depiction of the child. (Sec. 302) Establishes a mandatory minimum sentence of three years for transporting an individual under 18 years of age for prostitution purposes. (Sec. 303) Directs the United States Sentencing Commission to amend the sentencing guidelines with respect to the transporting of an individual under 18 years of age for prostitution purposes. Requires such guidelines to assure that an increase in the age of the child who is the victim of the offense does not result in a lighter punishment. (Sec. 304) Requires: (1) a minimum three-year imprisonment for sexual abuse of a minor; and (2) a minimum three-year to maximum 15- year imprisonment for sexual abuse of a ward. Title IV: Family Privacy Protection - Declares that no program or activity funded wholly or partially by any Federal department or agency shall require a minor to submit without written parental or guardian consent (or, if the minor is emancipated, without the minor's own prior consent) to a survey, analysis, or evaluation that reveals information concerning: (1) parental political affiliations; (2) potentially embarrassing mental or psychological problems; (3) sexual behavior or attitudes; (4) illegal, anti-social, self-incriminating, or demeaning behavior; (5) appraisals of other individuals with whom the minor has a familial relationship; (6) relationships legally recognized as privileged, such as those with lawyers, physicians, and clergy; (7) the minor's household income (except as required by law to determine eligibility for participation in a program or for receipt of program financial assistance); or (8) religious beliefs. Exempts from this prohibition tests intended to measure academic performance, except as they would require information listed in (1) through (6). Prescribes agency notice requirements. Title V: Child Support Enforcement - Amends the Federal judicial code to require the appropriate authorities of every State to enforce child support orders of another State without modification. (Sec. 502) Amends part D (Child Support and Establishment of Paternity) of title IV of the Social Security Act to require a specified designee of the Secretary of Health and Human Services to develop, in conjunction with State executive and judicial organizations, a uniform abstract of a child support order, for use by all State courts to record specified terms in each child support order. (Sec. 503) Directs States to enact procedures subjecting noncustodial parents with certain child support arrearages with respect to a child receiving Aid to Families With Dependent Children (AFDC) to civil penalties and job search and work program participation requirements until such arrearages are reduced by a specified percentage.

Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on January 4, 1995. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.

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