At an event early today, surrounded by adoptive families from across Iowa, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) introduced the Improved Adoption Incentives and Relative Guardianship Support Act (S. 3038).
"These parents are extraordinary for their commitment to children. Few things are as powerful as the desire of children in foster care for a safe and permanent home," said the Senator as he noted that public policy ought to encourage and foster more adoptions for everyone's benefit, especially children.
NACAC strongly support this legislation, which would:
- increase payments to state for finalizing adoptions for children with special needs
- make all foster children with special needs eligible for federal adoption assistance
- create a federal subsidized guardianship program to support relatives who become guardians so that their kin can permanently leave foster care
The bill has also been endorsed by the Kids Are Waiting campaign, the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, and the National Foster Care Coalition.
Showing posts with label subsidy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label subsidy. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
New Report Highlights Barriers to Adoption from Foster Care
The Collaboration to AdoptUsKids recently released a report that presents the findings of two longitudinal studies led by Dr. Ruth McRoy of the University of Texas at Austin Center for Social Work Research. Key findings from the study include:
Barriers
Families interviewed most frequently cited the following agency barriers to adoption:
- agency emotional support
- adoption process logistics
- jurisdictional or interjurisdictional issues
- agency communications/responsiveness
All of these factors, except for jurisdictional/interjurisdictional issues, correlated with whether a family successfully completed the adoption process.
Workers surveyed saw barriers due that included:
- the type of child (age, behaviors, sibling groups, etc.)prospective families were willing to adopt
- prospects' criminal background
- lack of experience with children who have special needs
- the availability of post-adoption services
Successes
Families cited the following factors (among others) as important to the success of their adoption:
- parents' commitment to the child
- child's showing progress in the home
- the parents' and child had bonded
the parents had realistic expectations of the child
A majority of families also found post-adoption supports (adoption subsidies, counseling, medical care, and more) to be very or extremely helpful. More than 40 percent of families, however, reported a problem accessing services. When asked to offer advice to adoption agencies, families suggested improved access to services such as respite, subsidy, support groups, and counseling.
To learn more, download a copy of the full report.
Barriers
Families interviewed most frequently cited the following agency barriers to adoption:
- agency emotional support
- adoption process logistics
- jurisdictional or interjurisdictional issues
- agency communications/responsiveness
All of these factors, except for jurisdictional/interjurisdictional issues, correlated with whether a family successfully completed the adoption process.
Workers surveyed saw barriers due that included:
- the type of child (age, behaviors, sibling groups, etc.)prospective families were willing to adopt
- prospects' criminal background
- lack of experience with children who have special needs
- the availability of post-adoption services
Successes
Families cited the following factors (among others) as important to the success of their adoption:
- parents' commitment to the child
- child's showing progress in the home
- the parents' and child had bonded
the parents had realistic expectations of the child
A majority of families also found post-adoption supports (adoption subsidies, counseling, medical care, and more) to be very or extremely helpful. More than 40 percent of families, however, reported a problem accessing services. When asked to offer advice to adoption agencies, families suggested improved access to services such as respite, subsidy, support groups, and counseling.
To learn more, download a copy of the full report.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
NACAC Seeks Support for the Adoption Equality Act
Originally introduced in May 2007 by Senator John D. Rockefeller (D-WV), the Adoption Equality Act (S 1462/HR 4091) gained a companion bill when Representative Jim Cooper (D-TN) introduced the House version on November 6. Aimed at promoting adoptions from care, the bill would remove the link between a birth family’s income and their child’s eligibility for federal Title IV-E adoption assistance. All children with special needs who are adopted from foster care would then be eligible for subsidies.
Tying federal assistance for children to the income of birth parents whose legal rights have been severed makes no sense. And as fewer children have access to federal subsidies, states will have to shoulder the burden of supporting adoptive families alone. In some cases, this will lead to more limited adoption assistance benefits, which may make a child less likely to be adopted or less likely to have the support she needs in a new adoptive family. When states receive reduced federal support it may also result in cuts to other necessary child welfare programs or services.
NACAC has long championed de-linking income from eligibility, and is seeking nationwide support for this legislation. If your agency, group, or organization would like to help ensure that more children receive federal adoption assistance, please contact Mary Boo at maryboo@nacac.org or 651-644-3036 to learn how you can help.
Tying federal assistance for children to the income of birth parents whose legal rights have been severed makes no sense. And as fewer children have access to federal subsidies, states will have to shoulder the burden of supporting adoptive families alone. In some cases, this will lead to more limited adoption assistance benefits, which may make a child less likely to be adopted or less likely to have the support she needs in a new adoptive family. When states receive reduced federal support it may also result in cuts to other necessary child welfare programs or services.
NACAC has long championed de-linking income from eligibility, and is seeking nationwide support for this legislation. If your agency, group, or organization would like to help ensure that more children receive federal adoption assistance, please contact Mary Boo at maryboo@nacac.org or 651-644-3036 to learn how you can help.
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