NACAC | Public Policy

On October 7, President Bush signed into law the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 (HR 6893). Passed by the House on September 17 and the Senate on September 22, the legislation will (among other things):

Reauthorize and revise the adoption incentive program
Gradually de-link Title IV-E adoption assistance from income requirements so that all children with special needs eventually have access to this federal support
Provide for Title IV-E funding of kinship guardianship placements
Extend direct Title IV-E funding to tribal governments
Allow states to receive federal reimbursement for support provided to foster youth up to age 21
Create a grant program to support kinship caregivers
Require reasonable efforts to keep siblings together
Require agencies to inform prospective adopters about the adoption tax credit

Thanks so much to all of you who worked so hard to make this incredible reform happen! Children and families across the country will truly benefit.

Read NACAC's press release

Key provisions of the bills below were included in the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoption Act:

Below you will find more information about other pending legislation that was not addressed by the new law.

Visit our policy blog (Reform Foster Care Now) at http://reformfostercare.blogspot.com. Focusing on U.S. foster care system reform, our policy blog features posts from youth and parents who have system experience, as well as from staff and board members. Blog posts link to recently published reports and news items, and highlight changes that we believe must be made to better serve children and families.

In November, Representative Shelly Berkley (D-NV) introduced the Partnership for Children and Families Act (H.R. 4207)—an important bill that would expand the federal/state partnership that provides assistance to foster and adopted youth through the federal Title IV-E program.

Under current law, a foster child can access federal Title IV-E support only if his family of origin was poor enough to be eligible for the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program as it existed in 1996. A child’s access to Title IV-E adoption assistance is also usually tied to 1996 AFDC income limits or to eligibility for the federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program.

The Partnership for Children and Families Act would eliminate the outdated AFDC income eligibility restriction that impairs children’s access to adoption assistance and foster care maintenance. It would also eliminate the SSI eligibility requirement for adoption assistance.

The significant decrease in Title IV-E-eligible children has translated into an estimated $1.9 billion loss in federal funding to the states. Since states must shoulder the cost for all children in foster care, regardless of the children’s parents’ income, diminished federal support adversely affects other service programs—including family support and preservation services, programs to safely reunite children with their birth families, and efforts to find new adoptive or guardianship families.

By linking federal foster care support to the defunct AFDC program, the federal government also wastes precious time and money as child welfare staff spend hours tracking down income data to determine eligibility. These resources would be far better spent protecting children and ensuring that they exit foster care to permanent families instead of leaving care at 18 with no family safety net.

Under current law, states lose federal funds when they reduce their caseloads. The Partnership for Children and Families Act would instead allow states that reduce their foster care population below a set baseline to reinvest extra foster care funds in other child welfare services. This support for children and families could include:

On November 19, Senators Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and John D. Rockefeller (D-WV) introduced the the Adoption Improvement Act (S. 2395), a bill designed to speed the adoptions of children from foster care. The legislation would dedicate $50 million to help retain prospective adopters as they go through the process of adopting from foster care.

As currently constructed, the legislation is designed to breach adoption obstacles identified in a recent study by the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute in collaboration with Harvard University and the Urban Institute. The study, "Listening to Parents: Overcoming Barriers to the Adoption of Children from Foster Care," found that each year, about 240,000 people in the United States seek information about adopting a child from foster care. Yet only a very small fraction of these prospects end up actually adopting a child from care. As a result, thousands of needy children will remain in foster care and thousands of prospective parents will turn away from the children they hoped to find.

To address these barriers, the act would fund projects that effect long-range improvements in the adoption process by increasing prospective adoptive parents’ access to adoption information and strengthening agencies’ responsiveness to potential adoptive parents. At least 10 child welfare agencies could benefit from these funds—a good first step to help ensure that the 114,000 children who are awaiting permanence have more chances to find their forever families.

“I believe that success today is when we hear of a child who has found a loving home, and when we see a sad situation turn into an inspirational story of hope,” Senator Rockefeller asserted. “But success tomorrow will be when we reach each and every child – when not one is left wondering who is there to love them, when not one is left without a nurturing home.”