1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Protecting All Parents and Adoptees Act or the PAPA Act . 2. Findings The Congress finds as follows: (1) A permanent, stable home is critical for the physical and cognitive development of children. (2) Identifying the biological father of a child is crucial to ensuring a timely adoption proceeding to provide permanency and stability for the child. (3) Responsible father registries, also known as putative father registries, help to facilitate the stable placement of children by providing a mechanism to identify possible fathers and determine whether a biological father has a protectable interest in participating in the placement decisions for a child. (4) Responsible father registries remove the burden from the mother of having to identify possible fathers, to protect her privacy and safety, especially in cases of rape or domestic violence. (5) Responsible father registries empower possible fathers to take responsibility for the protection of their rights by enabling them to voluntarily register and increase the likelihood of receiving timely notice of a proceeding. (6) Responsible father registries reduce the risk to prospective adoptive parents of delayed or disrupted placements resulting from challenges to adoptions due to a possible father’s untimely receipt of notice of such proceedings. (7) Responsible father registries and related paternal identification registries have been established by a number of States and Indian tribes but no mechanism exists to cross-reference registries. (8) National cross-referencing of State and Tribal responsible father registries would provide registered individuals an ability to receive timely notice of a proceeding related to a child they may have fathered out of wedlock in a State other than the State in which the individual is registered. 3. Linking of State responsible father registries (a) In general The Secretary of Health and Human Services (in this section referred to as the Secretary ) shall— (1) establish a national