November 2003 Archives

This website never ceases to amaze me. For a great example of an exceptional foster parent / child advocacy / adoption / permanency / sibling rights / children's rights organization website visit the New York State Citizens' Coalition for Children. Not only does Executive Director Judith Ashton put out some great information (she's been doing this since 1975!), she also advocates, lobbies and puts on a fantastic annual conference. Whether you are in New York or New Delhi, a visit to NYSCCC's site will enrich your mind and provide a great model of grassroots advocacy. Way to go Judith and the New York State Citizens' Coalition for Children! Keep up the good work.

Last year Nightlight Christian Adoptions received a federal grant to promote so called Snowflake (a/k/a embryo) adoptions. The pro-life community views this largely as a means to protect the "life" inherent in every embryo which are commonly used and discarded in assisted reproduction procedures. Nightlight is forging new ground in this area which is largely unregulated and in a legal gray area. Are snowflake "adoptions" really adoptions? Are embryos "property"? Does contract, adoption or estate law govern alone or in combination? Nightlight attempts to answer some of these questions in this FAQ, but raises more questions than answers. What do you think?

Snowflakes - Frequently Asked Questions

UPDATE: Snowflakes now "flying" in Britian! Also Frozen dreams

What's going on in Michigan? I completely agree with this editorial - it's a no brainer - convicted sex offenders should not be allowed to adopt. My question is why was a sex offender allowed to adopt in the first place? What happened to the criminal background check? The homestudy? Judicial review? That's the more important story here. Why were Michigan adoption professionals duped? Even worse, did they know and do nothing? Anyone with some insight drop me a line.

UPDATE: On November 12, 2003 the Michigan legislature passed a law which states that a "child shall not be placed with a prospective adoptive parent and an adoption order shall not be issued if a person authorized to place the child or the court authorized to issue the order has reliable information that the prospective adoptive parent has been convicted" of a sex crime.

On Friday, November 14th, the Senate passed the House version of The Adoption Promotion Act of 2003. The legislation extends the ASFA-created Adoption Incentive Program for another five years and focus greater attention on finding adoptive families for older children in foster care.

The bill authorizes $43 million per year in performance-based incentives to states that are successful in increasing the number of children adopted from foster care. The bonus program, first created as part of the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997, has contributed to the substantial increase in adoptions in recent years--from 31,000 in fiscal year 1997 to approximately 51,000 in fiscal year 2002.

Despite recent progress made, many more children are in need of adoptive families. At the end of fiscal year 2002, 532,698 children remained in foster care, and 116,653 of the children in foster care had adoption as their permanent placement goal. About half of the children waiting to be adopted are over the age of nine. Today, national data show that a child over the age of nine is more likely to remain in foster care through his or her 18th birthday than to find an adoptive home.

The Adoption Promotion Act of 2003 is intended to change that statistic by encouraging states to focus greater effort on finding adoptive families for children ages nine and older. Under the legislation the Adoption Incentive Program will now include a targeted bonus for states successful in increasing the number of older children adopted from foster care, as well as continue to recognize overall progress in increasing adoptions from foster care.

Reactions?

For a 2001 report on how the money was spent last time see A Carrot Among the Sticks: The Adoption Incentive Bonus