ASFA Failure – Only 71 Interstate Adoptions Last Year

This just in from blogger Jeff Katz of the Huffington Post: The simple fact is that it is virtually impossible to adopt a foster child across state lines in the United States. In the most recent year for which we have data, states reported that only 71 children in the entire country were adopted from foster care across state lines by non-relatives. Why is interstate adoption so rare? The primary reason is that we do not have a national adoption system. Instead, we have 50 different child welfare systems, each with its own process for adoption eligibility, recruitment, approval, and training. Even worse, our current system has created profound ...

Impact of Adoption and Safe Families Act Webcast

On December 14, 2009, at 9:00 a.m. E.T., the Urban Institute and the Center for the Study of Social Policy will host an audio Webcast on the impact of the Adoption and Safe Families Act on the safety, permanence, and well-being of abused and neglected children. The nearly 2-hour session will be moderated by Susan Notkin, New York Director, Center for the Study of Social Policy. Panelists include: Olivia Golden, Fellow, Urban Institute John Mattingly, Commissioner, New York City's Administration for Children's Services Carmen Nazario, Assistant Secretary for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Jeanette Vega, writer, ...

Congress Passes Adoption Promotion Act of 2003

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 approxim...

HHS Awards $100 Million in Bonuses to States for Reductions in Out-Of-Wedlock Births

Coming just weeks after HHS announced its ASFA adoption bonuses, the $100 million bonus for reducing out-of-wedlock births is an interesting contrast. I must admit that I do not know much about the federal bastard reduction program, but it's probably a good idea. As far as the adoption incentive program goes, the feds spent about $15 million to encourage 3700 adoptions in 2002 or about $4000 per child. This got me wondering, how much are we spending per child to reduce out-of-wedlock births? This seemingly simple task was actually quite difficult because states receive the bastard bonuses based on the rate of reduction, not on raw numbers. After a ...

HHS Awards Almost $15 Million in Adoption Bonuses

Last week HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson announced almost $15 million in adoption bonuses paid to 25 states and Puerto Rico for increasing the number of children adopted from state-supervised foster care in fiscal year 2002. In states that qualified for bonuses, 3,703 more children were adopted in fiscal year 2002 than in the previous year. The highest award was Florida with an eye popping $3.5 million in bonuses. New Jersey got almost $2 million. Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Wisconsin each got around $1.1 million. HHS reports that around 51,000 foster children are adopted each year. President Bush wants to extend the adoption bonus program in ...