Child Welfare: Structure and Funding of the
Adoption Incentives Program along with
Reauthorization Issues
Emilie Stoltzfus
Specialist in Social Policy
April 18, 2013
Congressional Research Service
7-5700
www.crs.gov
R43025
CRS Report for Congress
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epared for Members and Committees of Congress

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Child Welfare: The Adoption Incentives Program

Summary
Under the Adoption Incentives program (Section 473A of the Social Security Act) states earn
federal bonuses when they increase adoptions of children who are in need of new permanent
families. All 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico have earned a part of the $375
million in Adoption Incentive funds that have been awarded since the program was established as
part of the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 (ASFA, P.L. 105-89). Funding authorized for
this program has been extended twice since it was established, most recently in 2008 (P.L. 110-
351), but is currently set to expire on September 30, 2013. Congress may act to revise and/or
extend this program in the 113th Congress.
Congress has long shown interest in improving the chances of adoption for children who cannot
return to their parents and who might otherwise spend their childhoods in temporary foster homes
before “aging out” of foster care. Since ASFA’s enactment in 1997, the annual number of children
leaving foster care for adoption has risen from roughly 30,000 to more than 50,000 and the
average length of time it took states to complete the adoption of a child from foster care declined
by close to one year (from about four years to less than three). Over the same time period, and in
significant measure due to the greater number of children leaving foster care for adoption and at a
faster pace, the overall number of children who remain in foster care declined by 29%—from a
peak of 567,000 in FY1999 to 401,000 in FY2011. Despite these successes, however, the number
of children “waiting for adoption” (104,000 on the last day of FY2011) remains more than double
the number of children who are adopted during a given year. Adoptions of older children remain
far less common than adoptions of younger children, and some 26,000 youth aged out of foster
care in FY2011, compared to just 19,000 in FY1999.
Under the current Adoption Incentive bonus structure, states earn $4,000 for each adoption of a
foster child that is above the number of foster child adoptions finalized by the state in FY2007
and $8,000 for each adoption of an older child (9 years or older) above the number of older child
adoptions it finalized in FY2007. If a state has earned an award in either of those categories—or
if it improves its adoption rate—it earns $4,000 for each adoption of a special needs child (under
age 9) that is above the number of such adoptions it finalized in FY2007. For improving its rate
of adoption (above the rate it achieved in FY2002 or a later year with a higher rate), a state is
eligible for additional incentive funds of $1,000 multiplied by the increased number of adoptions
that are calculated to have resulted from the improved adoption rate. However, increases in
incentive amounts states earn due to improved adoption rates are only paid to those states if
sufficient program appropriations are available after all awards for increases in the number of
adoptions have been made.
In the four years (FY2008-FY2011) that the current incentive structure has been in place, states
were eligible for incentive payments of $166 million. Of that amount, states earned $74 million
for increases in the number of foster child adoptions, $45 million for increases in older child
adoptions, and $37 million for increases in special needs (under age 9) adoptions, and they were
eligible for increases of $10 million in their incentive payments for improvements in their rates of
adoption. However, most appropriations provided for the Adoption Incentives program were
needed to pay awards for the increased number of adoptions, and states received less than $2
million of the incentives for which they were eligible due to improved rates. Therefore, states are
expected to receive no more than $158 million of the $166 million of the bonus funds for which
they were eligible for adoptions finalized in FY2008-FY2011.
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Child Welfare: The Adoption Incentives Program

States are permitted to use Adoption Incentive bonuses to support a broad range of child welfare
services to children and families. Many states report spending incentive funds on adoption-related
child welfare purposes, including post-adoption support services, recruitment of adoptive homes,
and training or conferences to improve adoption casework. A smaller number of states report
using these funds for adoption assistance payments, improved adoption homes studies, child
protection casework, foster care maintenance payments, or other child welfare purposes.
Funding for the Adoption Incentives program is provided on a discretionary basis as part of the
annual appropriations process. The program is authorized to receive $43 million annually
(through FY2013), but in recent years actual appropriations have been around $39 million. Final
FY2013 appropriations for the Adoption Incentives program were included in the Consolidated
and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2013 (P.L. 113-6) at this same level. However, those
appropriations are subject to a 5% reduction (under the March 1 sequestration order).
At a February 27, 2013, hearing of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human
Resources, witnesses called for reauthorization of the Adoption Incentives program and especially
stressed the need to find and support permanent families for older youth and other harder to
place youth.
As part of its FY2014 budget request, the Administration calls for reauthorization of the program
and proposes requiring states to spend their Adoption Incentive funds on “trauma-informed
services to improve social and emotional well-being of children waiting for adoption or those
having achieved adoption.” The Administration does not propose other changes to the program
and it seeks FY2014 funding for Adoption Incentives at the same level that was provided in
FY2012 ($39 million).

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Contents
Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 1
Congressional Interest in Adoptions from Foster Care.............................................................. 1
Adoptions with Public Child Welfare Agency Involvement...................................................... 2
Growth in the Number of Adoptions Out of Foster Care .................................................... 3
Decline in Children in Foster Care Waiting for Adoption ................................................... 3
Reduced Time to Adoption .................................................................................................. 4
Adoption Incentives ......................................................................................................................... 4
How Do States Earn Incentive Funds? ...................................................................................... 5
Amount of Incentives ................................................................................................................ 5
Eligibility for Adoption Incentive Awards ................................................................................. 6
Awards and Appropriations ....................................................................................................... 6
Awards by Category for Adoptions Finalized in FY2008-FY2011 ........................................... 9
Foster Child Adoptions...................................................................................................... 10
Older Child Adoptions ...................................................................................................... 10
Special Needs (Under Age 9) Adoptions ........................................................................... 11
Adoption Rate ................................................................................................................... 11
Spending Award Money .......................................................................................................... 12
Selected Reauthorization Issues ..................................................................................................... 13
Continued Need For and Focus of Incentives ......................................................................... 13
Permanence for Older Children ............................................................................................... 13
Baseline Adjustment ................................................................................................................ 14
Availability of Awards for Improved Rate of Adoption ........................................................... 14
Use of Incentive Funds ............................................................................................................ 15
Related Legislative Actions in the 113th Congress ......................................................................... 16

Tables
Table 1. Adoption Incentives: Summary of Appropriations and Award History.............................. 8
Table 2. Adoption Incentives for Adoptions Completed in FY2008–FY2011 ............................... 10
Table B-1. Adoptions with Public Child Welfare Agency Involvement, FY1995-FY2011 ................. 20
Table B-2. Number of Children Waiting for Adoption and Percentage of Waiting Children
Adopted, FY1998-FY2011 ......................................................................................................... 21
Table B-3. Average and Median Length of Time to Finalized Adoption, In Months,
FY2000-FY2011 ......................................................................................................................... 22
Table C-1. Evolution of Adoption Incentives Bonus Structure ...................................................... 23
Table D-1. Foster Child Adoptions and Incentives Earned for FY2008-FY2011 .......................... 25
Table D-2. Older Child (Age 9 or Above) Adoptions and Incentives Earned, FY2008-
FY2011 ....................................................................................................................................... 27
Table D-3. Special Needs (Under Age 9) Adoptions and Incentives Earned, FY2008-
FY2011 ....................................................................................................................................... 29
Table D-4. Adoption Rates and Incentive Increases for Improved Adoption Rate ........................ 31
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Table D-5. Incentives Earned by Award Category for Adoptions Finalized in FY2008-
FY2011 ....................................................................................................................................... 34
Table E-1. Children in Foster Care on the Last Day of the Fiscal Year by State,
FY2007-FY2011 ......................................................................................................................... 37
Table E-2. Children Waiting for Adoption, FY2007-FY2011, Percentage Change in the
Number of Those Children and Share Adopted by State ............................................................ 39

Appendixes
Appendix A. Glossary of Terms ..................................................................................................... 18
Appendix B. Trends in Adoptions with Public Child Welfare Agency Involvement ..................... 20
Appendix C. Adoption Incentive Bonus Structure......................................................................... 23
Appendix D. Adoptions and Incentives Earned by Category and State ......................................... 25
Appendix E. Children in Foster Care and Waiting for Adoption by State ..................................... 37

Contacts
Author Contact Information........................................................................................................... 41

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Introduction
The Adoption Incentives program (Section 473A of the Social Security Act) provides federal
bonus funds to state child welfare agencies that increase adoptions of children who are in need of
new permanent families. Generally, these are children for whom reuniting with their biological
parents is not possible and who would otherwise be expected to remain in public foster care until
they “age out” (that is, reach the state age of majority or the age at which state custody of children
in foster care is ended). The first awards under the program were made to states (in FY1999) for
improvements in numbers of adoptions in FY1998 and the most recent were made (in FY2012) for
improvements in numbers of adoptions in FY2011. Through FY2012, more than $375 million in
bonus funds have been awarded under the Adoption Incentives program. Currently states are eligible
to receive these incentives for increases in adoptions finalized through FY2012 and funding to pay
those bonuses is authorized through FY2013.
The 113th Congress will likely consider whether to extend the Adoption Incentives program. This
report discusses background related to this program, including the longstanding Congressional
interest in domestic adoption and the significant increases in adoptions from foster care that have
occurred since the middle 1990s. It discusses the current program, including the incentive
structure. State child welfare agencies may receive separate bonuses for increases in the number
of adoptions of (1) foster children, (2) older children (9 years or older), and (3) children under age
9 who are determined to have “special needs.” In addition, they may be eligible for increases in
their incentive awards for an improved rate of adoption. The report also includes a discussion of
some issues Congress may consider as part of the reauthorization debate and it notes
reauthorization-related activities.
Throughout this report some unique terms related to adoption, foster child adoptions, or the
Adoption Incentives program are used, e.g., “special needs” and “adoption rate.” While each of
these terms is explained in the body of the report, for ease of reference, they are also included in a
“Glossary of Terms” provided in Appendix A to this report.
Congressional Interest in Adoptions from Foster Care
Foster care is a temporary living arrangement for children for whom remaining in their own
homes is not safe or appropriate. Most children who enter foster care are ultimately reunited with
their parents. However, when reunification is determined not possible or appropriate, adoption is
generally considered the best way to achieve a new permanent family for a child.
Congress has long shown an interest in encouraging adoptions of children who would otherwise
remain in foster care until they age out. In 1978, the Adoption Opportunities program (Title II of
the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment and Adoption Reform Act, P.L. 95-266) was enacted to
require federal administrative coordination of adoption and foster care programs and to support
research and other activities to “facilitate elimination of barriers to adoption and to provide
permanent and loving home environments for children who would benefit from adoption,
particularly children with special needs.” In 1980, Congress enacted the Adoption Assistance and
Child Welfare Act (P.L. 96-272), including the first federal support for ongoing subsidies to
eligible adoptees with “special needs” (under a new Title IV-E of the Social Security Act). In this
context the “special needs” designation applies to children in need of new permanent families
(i.e., they cannot be returned to their parents) and who have conditions or factors that makes it
harder to find them adoptive homes without offering assistance. States may establish their own
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factors to determine special needs, but commonly use factors such as a child’s older age;
membership in a sibling group; medical condition; mental, physical or emotional disability; or
membership in a minority race/ethnicity.1
By 1997, a renewed concern about the failure to move children from foster care to permanent
families was an important impetus for the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA, P.L. 105-89).
As part of that law, Congress made changes to federal child welfare policy that were intended to
ensure that states focused on achieving expeditious permanence for children in foster care,
including through adoptions whenever appropriate. Among other changes, the law tightened or
added new permanency planning timelines for children in foster care, required states to spend
certain federal child welfare funds (under the Promoting Safe and Stable Families Program) for
adoption promotion and support services, and authorized financial bonuses to states that increase
adoptions of children out of foster care under the newly created Adoption Incentives program.2,3
Adoptions with Public Child Welfare Agency Involvement
Adoption is a social and legal process by which a child gains a new and permanent family. For
each child in foster care who cannot be reunited with his or her parents and for whom adoption is
determined to be the child’s route to permanency, the state must identify suitable and willing
adoptive parent(s). States may begin the process of recruiting an adoptive family before a child is
“legally free” for adoption. However, before the child’s adoption may be finalized a state (or
tribal) court must generally terminate any existing parental rights or responsibilities to a child.
Once this process, referred to as “TPR” (for termination of parental rights), has been completed,
the child’s adoption by new parents may be finalized by a state or tribal court.4
Since the 1997 enactment of ASFA, the annual number of adoptions out of foster care rose
significantly and the rate of adoptions has doubled. There are fewer children in foster care who
are “waiting for adoption,” and the average time it takes to complete an adoption has declined by
roughly one year. At the same time, the number of children waiting for adoption remains more
than double the number of those adopted each year and adoptions of older children remain less
common than those of younger children.

1 See “Conditions or Factors Used by States in Determining Special Needs,” in CRS Report R42792, Child Welfare: A
Detailed Overview of Program Eligibility and Funding for Foster Care, Adoption Assistance and Kinship
Guardianship Assistance under Title IV-E of the Social Security Act, by Emilie Stoltzfus.
2 CRS Report RL30759, Child Welfare: Implementation of the Adoption and Safe Families Act (P.L. 105-89), by Karen Spar.
3 In 2008, as part of the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act (P.L. 110-351) Congress
expanded eligibility for Title IV-E adoption assistance by removing income criteria tied to the family from which a
child had been removed (usually this is the child’s biological family). The revised eligibility criteria are being phased in
and now apply to only some children determined to have special needs. However, as of FY2018, any child determined
by a state to have special needs may be eligible for ongoing, federally supported adoption assistance. See CRS Report
RL34704, Child Welfare: The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 (P.L. 110-351),
by Emilie Stoltzfus and “Federal Adoption Assistance Eligibility Criteria” in CRS Report R42792, Child Welfare: A
Detailed Overview of Program Eligibility and Funding for Foster Care, Adoption Assistance and Kinship
Guardianship Assistance under Title IV-E of the Social Security Act, by Emilie Stoltzfus.
4 Adoptions are generally a matter of state law and most termination of parental rights (TPR) proceedings and adoption
finalizations occur in state courts (although they may also occur in tribal courts). While TPR is required for nearly all
adoptions, a few states (and certain tribes) recognize “tribal customary adoptions,” which do not require TPR.
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Growth in the Number of Adoptions Out of Foster Care
The annual number of adoptions from foster care climbed from less than 30,000 in the mid-
1990s, to a peak of some 57,000 in FY2009. Since then (through FY2011) the number has
remained at, or above, roughly 50,000. The rise in the number of adoptions played a significant
role in the decline in the overall number of children in foster care, which peaked in FY1999 at
567,000 children and had declined by 29%, to 401,000 children, as of the last day of FY2011.5
The fact that the number of foster child adoptions has remained relatively high, despite the
decline in the overall number of children in foster care, is notable. Viewed as a rate—that is the
number of children adopted during a given fiscal year for every 100 children who were in foster
care on the last day of the preceding fiscal year—public child welfare agency adoptions doubled
since the late 1990s (from a rate of roughly 6 adoptions per 100 children in foster care to 12 per
100). (See Table B-1 in Appendix B for annual data on number and rate of adoptions.)
Decline in Children in Foster Care Waiting for Adoption
For roughly one-quarter of the children in foster care on a given day, adoption has been identified
as their case plan goal—that is, their exit strategy to permanency.6 Some children with a
permanency goal of adoption, and certain other children in foster care, are “legally free” for
adoption—meaning the rights of both parents have been terminated. These children—those with a
case plan goal of adoption and/or for whom all parental rights have been terminated are generally
referred to as children who are “waiting for adoption.” 7
For most of FY1998-FY2011, the number of children waiting for adoption was between 130,000
and 135,000. However, in recent years this number has declined and it stood at 104,000 as of the
last day of FY2011. Additionally, the share of waiting children who leave foster care for adoption
generally grew across this time period. Specifically, the number of children adopted from foster
care in FY1999 was 37% of all children waiting for adoption on the last day of FY1998; the
comparable percentage for children adopted in FY2011 was 46%. (See Table B-2 in Appendix B
for annual data on the number of waiting children and the share adopted in the following year.)
Even though the number of waiting children has declined, that number represents a slightly larger
share of the overall foster care caseload in FY2011 (26%) than was the case in FY1998 (22%). This
relatively modest increase in share of children in foster care waiting for adoption—coinciding with
greater success in moving waiting children to adoption—might reflect changes in state practice
regarding who may be assigned a case goal of adoption. Alternatively, or in addition, it might be the

5 From the late FY1990s through FY2005, the annual number of children entering foster care remained fairly stable
even as the national foster care caseload declined. This was due to more, and faster, exits of children from foster care
via adoption (and to some extent guardianship). From FY2006 through FY2011, the continued decline of the national
caseload has been driven by both a decline in the number of children entering foster care each year, as well as a
continuation of relatively high numbers of exits to adoptions.
6 The most common case plan goal for children in foster care is to reunite with their parents. Smaller numbers of
children in care have a case plan goal of living with another relative or living with a legal (relative or non-relative)
guardian. Aside from these goals (and adoption), each of which plan for a child’s exit from care to a permanent family,
some youth in care have a goal of “emancipation” (leaving care as an “independent” adult) and others are assigned the
goal of “long-term foster care.” See HHS, ACF, ACYF, Children’s Bureau, The AFCARS Report, No. 19 (July 2012).
7 For a more complete definition of “waiting children” see Glossary of Terms in Appendix A.
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result of state efforts to reduce unnecessary entries to foster care—which in turn could mean a
higher percentage of those entering will need to find a new permanent family via adoption.
Reduced Time to Adoption
Adoption is a multi-step legal and social process that takes time to accomplish. Children who
enter foster care do not typically move directly to adoption. With limited exceptions federal
policy requires that a state must make “reasonable efforts” to reunite a child with his or her
family.8 When reunification is determined not possible however, the state must take certain steps
to free a child for adoption. Specifically, as amended by ASFA, federal law requires a state to
petition a state court for termination of parental rights (TPR) to the child if a state court finds
either that the child is an abandoned infant (as defined in state law) or that reasonable efforts to
reunite the child and his/her parents are not required (because the parent has committed one of
certain heinous crimes against the child or his/her sibling). Additionally, once a child has been in
foster care for 15 out of the last 22 months, the state must petition the court for TPR, unless it can
document for the court that doing so would not be in the child’s best interest, that services
necessary for reunification and agreed to in the child’s case plan have not been provided, or that
the child is living with a relative.9 The state court must then determine—based on state laws
defining when parental rights may be severed—whether to grant TPR.10 At the same time, for any
child who cannot be reunited and whose case plan goal is adoption, the state agency must work to
find an appropriate and willing adoptive family. Once this step is complete, and a child is
successfully placed with the family, a state court must again act, this time to finalize the adoption
and, as part of this process, to formally provide the adoptive parents with all legal parental rights
and responsibilities for the child.
Since FY2000, the amount of time a child spends in foster care before leaving via a finalized
adoption has declined by roughly one year. Most of this reduction in time is a result of the shorter
time frame needed to reach TPR. However, there has also been some decline in the amount of
time it takes to finalize a child’s adoption after TPR is completed. On average, adoptions of
children out of foster care that were finalized in FY2000 took just under four years to complete
(45.9 months). By contrast, children who reached a finalized adoption in FY2011 did so, on
average, in just under three years (34.0 months). (For annual data on average and median time
from removal to finalized adoption see Table B-3 in Appendix B.)
Adoption Incentives
Promoting the use of adoptions to ensure children who would otherwise remain in foster care
have a permanent family has been a driving purpose of the Adoption Incentives program since its
creation. The program has also sought to provide special incentives to states for adoptions of
children who are considered harder to place in adoptive homes, including children with special

8 See “Prevent Entry or Reunite Children with Their Parents” in CRS Report R42794, Child Welfare: State Plan
Requirements under the Title IV-E Foster Care, Adoption Assistance, and Kinship Guardianship Assistance Program ,
by Emilie Stoltzfus.
9 Ibid. See “Ensure Timely Placement in a New Permanent Family When Appropriate.”
10 TPR must be determined for each parent individually. For more information see Child Welfare Information Gateway,
State Statutes Series, Grounds for Involuntary Termination of Parental Rights (2010).
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needs and older children.11 Established by ASFA in 1997 (at Section 473A of the Social Security
Act) the Adoption Incentives program has been amended and extended twice: first, by the
Adoption Promotion Act of 2003 (P.L. 108-145), and, more recently, by the Fostering
Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 (P.L. 110-351).
Each reauthorization of Adoption Incentives has made some changes to the incentive structure
used to determine awards, including the categories for which awards may be earned, the
“baselines” used to determine improvement, and/or the amount of the individual incentive
awards. The current incentive structure is described below. (Appendix C includes a table that
shows development of the incentive structure across program reauthorizations.)
How Do States Earn Incentive Funds?
States may earn Adoption Incentive funds in four ways. For an increase in the
• number of children adopted out of foster care overall;
• number of children adopted at age 9 or older;
• number of children adopted with special needs and who are under the age of 9; or
• rate at which children are adopted from foster care.
Whether a specific state has increased the number of adoptions is determined by comparing the
number of adoptions that the state finalized during the fiscal year to the number of such adoptions
it finalized in FY2007 (the “baseline” year). A state is determined to have increased its rate of
adoption if the percentage of children adopted from foster care (as a share of the number of all
children in foster care in the prior year) is greater than it was in FY2002, or in any succeeding
fiscal year prior to the year for which the award is being determined.
Amount of Incentives
An eligible state earns $4,000 for each foster child adopted above its baseline number of foster
child adoptions and $8,000 for each older child (age 9 or above) adoption above its older child
adoption baseline.12 If a state has earned an award in either of those categories—or if it improves
its adoption rate—it also earns $4,000 for each adoption of a special needs child (under age 9)
that is above its baseline number of such adoptions. Finally, for an improvement in its rate of
adoption, a state is eligible for additional incentive funds of $1,000 multiplied by the increased
number of adoptions achieved by the state that are attributed to its improved adoption rate.13

11 The Adoption Incentive program seeks to influence state child welfare agency behavior. Congress has, separately
provided a tax credit to individuals who adopt children, including children with special needs. This “incentive” to adopt
is not a part of the discussion in this report. However, for more information see, CRS Report RL33633, Tax Benefits for
Families: Adoption, by Christine Scott.
12 These awards are separately calculated. One child’s adoption (if child is age 9 or older) may be counted for purposes
of determining awards in both categories. However, a state that increases its foster child adoptions does not necessarily
increase its older child adoptions (or vice versa). To earn awards in both categories, the state must show increases in
both categories.
13 An award for an improved rate is calculated by multiplying the state’s baseline adoption rate (i.e., highest rate
achieved in FY2002 or any subsequent year preceding year for which award is being determined) by the number of
children in the state’s foster care caseload on the last day of the fiscal year preceding the year for which the award is
(continued...)
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However, increases due to improved adoption rates may only be paid if sufficient program
funding is available after all awards for increases in the number of adoptions have been made.
Eligibility for Adoption Incentive Awards
Any state (includes the 50 states, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico) operating a Title IV-E
program may be eligible to earn Adoption Incentive funds provided awards are authorized for that
year.14 Current law authorizes awards for adoptions finalized in FY2008-FY2012—and authorizes
funds for that purpose through FY2013.
Further, to be eligible for Adoption Incentives, the state must provide—via the Adoption and
Foster Care Analysis Reporting System (AFCARS)—the necessary data to calculate the incentive
amounts. The state must also assure that it provides health insurance coverage to any adoptive
child for whom the state determined the child has special needs—including those eligible for
ongoing Title IV-E adoption assistance and those with special needs who are not eligible for this
assistance.15 In addition, no state may receive an award for an increase in the number of special
needs adoptions of children under the age of 9, unless that state has also shown an increase in that
same year of the number of foster child or older child adoptions (compared to what the state
achieved in FY2007), or an increase in the state’s rate of adoption (compared to the rate achieved
by the state in FY2002, or any subsequent year with a higher rate that is prior to the year the
award is earned).
Awards and Appropriations
The first Adoption Incentive awards were paid in FY1999 for adoptions finalized in FY1998 and
the most recent were paid in FY2012 for adoptions finalized in FY2011. During the life of the
program, all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have earned Adoption Incentive
payments in one or more years and more than $375 million has been awarded to all states through
FY2012. Discretionary funding is authorized for the program through FY2013 at the annual level
of $43 million. Actual appropriation levels have varied and in recent years have been at roughly
$39 million annually. Final FY2013 appropriations for the Adoption Incentives program were
included in the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2013 (P.L. 113-6) at this
same level. However, that appropriation is subject to a 5% reduction (under the March 1
sequestration order).
Appropriations made as part of a given fiscal year’s appropriation cycle are used to provide
bonuses for increases in adoptions finalized in the previous fiscal year. For example, Adoption
Incentives funding provided as part of the FY2012 appropriations cycle was awarded to states in

(...continued)
being determined. This result is then subtracted from the number of foster child adoptions in the state in the year for
which the award is being determined. The difference represents the number of adoptions that are attributed to the
increased adoption rate and this number (rounded to nearest whole number) is multiplied by $1,000 to determine the
award amount. For an example of this award calculation see HHS, ACF, Information Memorandum, “Adoption
Incentive Payments,” September 1, 2009 (ACYF-CB-IM-09-03), p. 6.
14 Section 473A(b)(1) of the Social Security Act. Tribes may not participate in this program. See HHS, ACF, ACYF-
CB-IM-09-03, p. 1.
15 Section 473A(b)(3) and (4) of the Social Security Act.
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August 2012 for adoptions finalized in FY2011. If not all of the funds available in the Adoption
Incentive account are needed to make incentive awards, these funds may typically be carried over
and used for bonus awards in a subsequent year.16 Alternatively, if funding is not sufficient to
make full bonus awards for increases in the number of adoptions, HHS pro-rates awards earned
and, assuming appropriations are made for the subsequent year, will use some of the funds from
that following year to pay the remainder of the incentives earned. However, bonus increases
related to an improvement in the state’s rate of adoption are only paid after all incentive awards
for increase in the number of adoptions have been made and, then, only to the extent that funding
is available when those awards are initially made. If insufficient funds are available at the time
the initial incentive amounts are awarded, only part, or none, of these increases are paid.17
Table 1 summarizes the appropriations provided and awards made by fiscal year for which the
funds were initially appropriated and the fiscal year for which the incentive funds were earned.
For numerous years, not all of the funding shown as the award amount for a given year was
actually paid to states at a single time or in a single fiscal year. However, with the exception of
FY2011 (discussed below), the total award amount shown was eventually paid once additional
funding was provided for the program. For adoptions finalized in FY2011, 87% ($31.8 million) of
the total award amount shown in Table 1 ($36.5 million) was available to be awarded in FY2012.
However, the additional $4.7 million is expected to be awarded to states in FY2013 (using
FY2013 appropriations and before awards for adoptions finalized in FY2012 are made).

16 Since its establishment, Section 473A(h)(2) has provided that funds appropriated for the Adoption Incentives
program may be used in any fiscal year through the last fiscal year for which funding for the program is authorized
(initially this was FY2003, then FY2008, and currently it is FY2013). However, the use of funds across years has
usually been limited to fewer years due to language in the annual appropriations bill accompanying the program’s
funding.
17 Section 473A(d)(3) of the Social Security Act. See also HHS, ACF, ACYF-CB-IM-09-03, September 1, 2009.
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Table 1. Adoption Incentives: Summary of Appropriations and Award History
Appropriation Law
Appropriations
FY Adoptions Finalized
Award Amount
P.L. 105-277 (1999)
$19,994,999 FY1998 (35 states)
$42,510,000
P.L. 106-113 (2000)
$41,784,342 FY1999 (43 states and D.C.)
$51,488,000
P.L. 106-554 (2001)
$42,994,000 FY2000 (35 states and D.C.)
$33,238,000
P.L. 107-116 (2002)
$43,000,000 FY2001 (23 states and P.R.)
$17,578,000
P.L. 108-7 (2003)
$42,721,000a FY2002 (25 states and P.R.)
$14,926,845
P.L. 108-199 (2004)
$7,456,000 FY2003 (31 states and P.R.)
$17,896,000
P.L. 108-447 (2005)
$9,346,000b
FY2004 (24 states, D.C. and P.R.)
$14,488,000
P.L. 109-149 (2006)
$17,808,000a FY2005 (21 states)
$11,568,000
P.L. 110-7 (2007)
$5,000,000 FY2006 (19 states)
$7,354,000
P.L. 110-161 (2008)
$4,323,000 FY2007 (21 states)
$11,086,000
P.L. 111-8 (2009)
$36,500,000 FY2008 (38 states and D.C.)
$35,357,280d
P.L. 111-117(2010)
$39,500,000 FY2009 (38 states and P.R.)
$45,896,000d
P.L. 112-10 (2011)
$39,421,000 FY2010 (32 states)
$40,144,000a
P.L. 112-74 (2012)
$39,346,000 FY2011 (30 states)
$36,472,000c,d
P.L. 113-6 (2013)
$39,346,000e
Awards for FY2012 adoptions expected to be made in late FY2013.
TOTAL appropriated
$414,012,341
TOTAL expected to be awarded
$379,858,125
(includes some funds transferred, lapsed, or subject to
(includes amounts earned for FY2011increases in numbers of
sequestration and therefore unavailable for award; see
adoptions for which funds were insufficient at the time of the initial
table notes)
award but which are expected to be paid)c, d
Source: Table prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) based on appropriations laws, HHS, ACF
budget justifications, and CRS communication with ACF budget and program analysts who work on Adoption
Incentives.
a. Some of the funds provided in this appropriation cycle lapsed and were returned to the federal treasury.
Funds may lapse when the Congressional authority for their use expires before they are needed to make
incentive awards to states.
b. The appropriation in P.L. 108-447 was initial y $31.8 million. However, as part of FY2006 appropriations (P.L.
109-149), Congress rescinded $22.5 million of that funding. In addition, HHS/ACF exercised its discretion to
move 1% of the appropriated funds ($318,000) to the Refugee and Entrant Assistance program. This
additionally reduced the total FY2005 funds available for Adoption Incentives to $9.0 million, although the
amount shown in the table reflects funding after the rescission and prior to the transfer.
c. This is the total amount of funds states earned for increases in the numbers of adoptions finalized in FY2011.
When it issued initial bonus funds for FY2011 adoptions (in August 2012), HHS had Adoption Incentive
funding available to award 87% of this amount ($31.8 million). However, if HHS follows its past practice,
states can expect to receive the remaining $4.7 million out of FY2013 program appropriations.
d. The award amounts shown in the final column of this table include increases tied to improved adoption rates
only if those increases were paid to states. Beginning with adoptions finalized in FY2008-FY2011, states were
eligible for increases in their Adoption Incentive awards if they improved their rate of adoptions. However,
Section 473A(d)(3) of the Social Security Act provides that these awards may only be paid if funds remain
available after any awards for increases in the number of adoptions are made. Funding was available to
provide 48% ($1.7 million) of total increases ($3.5 million) calculated for improved FY2008 adoption rates.
No funds were available to provide awards for any part of the increases for which states with improved
adoption rates were eligible in FY2009 ($3.5 million), FY2010 ($2.3 million) or FY2011 ($0.9 million).
e. This appropriation is subject to the March 1 sequestration order, which is expected to reduce funding by 5%.
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Awards by Category for Adoptions Finalized in FY2008-FY2011
Under the incentive structure used to make awards for adoptions finalized in FY2008-FY2011,
states were eligible to receive $166 million and were expected to receive a total of $158 million
in Adoption Incentive payments.
As of the end of FY2012, states had been paid 97% ($151 million) of the $156 million they
earned for increasing the numbers of adoptions finalized in FY2008-FY2011. They are expected
to receive the remaining 3% of the bonus amounts tied to increased number of adoptions, out of
the FY2013 appropriation made for the Adoption Incentives program. By contrast, while states
are eligible for increases in their adoption incentive payments when they improve on their
highest-ever adoption rate, those additional incentive amounts may only be paid when the
program funding exceeds what is needed to pay awards tied to increases in the number of
adoptions. Therefore, although states were eligible for additional bonus payments of $10.2
million—for improving their adoption rates in award years FY2008-FY2011—they were paid
only a fraction of that total (16% or $1.7 million) and no more of that total is to be paid.18
Under the current incentive structure, 44 states were paid Adoption Incentives bonus payments in
one or more award category for adoptions finalized in any of FY2008-FY2011. 19 Among the
eight states that were not paid an incentive for adoptions finalized in those years, five (Colorado,
Massachusetts, New Jersey, Ohio, and Vermont) actually increased their rate of adoption in one
or more of those award years and therefore were eligible for an adoption incentive payment, but
did not receive an award due to the program funding level. Additionally, one state (New York)
increased the number of special needs (under age 9) adoptions in three of those four years.
However, because it did not earn an incentive in any of the other categories (foster child, older
child, or adoption rate), it was not eligible for incentive funds for those increases. The remaining
two states (District of Columbia and Iowa) did not increase the number of adoptions achieved or
improve their rates of adoption in any of the four years.
Table 2 shows the total amounts paid (or expected to be paid) to states under the current incentive
structure by award year and incentive category. States did not necessarily receive all of these
bonus payments in a single fiscal year. Further, there were insufficient program funds available to
pay bonuses for improved adoption rates in most years. Therefore the total amount of bonus
payments that states were eligible to receive for adoptions finalized in FY2008-FY2011 is about
$8 million more than the total amount they were expected to receive. (For incentive awards by
category and for each state, see Table D-5 in Appendix D.)

18 Section 473A(d)(3) of the Social Security Act.
19 For purposes of this discussion “states” are defined to include the 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico,
which makes a total of 52 states.
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Table 2. Adoption Incentives for Adoptions Completed in FY2008–FY2011
Dollars in millions; summed parts may not equal totals due to rounding.
Incentive Category
FY2008
FY2009
FY2010
FY2011
Total
Foster Child
$16.1
$23.4
$18.9
$16.0
$74.5
Older Child (9 years or older)
$8.7
$12.0
$12.5
$11.8
$44.9
Special Needs (under 9 years)
$8.9
$10.3
$8.8
$8.7
$36.7
Adoption Rate
$3.5
$3.5
$2.3
$.09
$10.2
TOTAL incentives for which states were eligiblea $37.1
$49.3
$42.4
$37.4
$166.3
TOTAL incentives paid or expected to be paidb $35.4
$45.8
$40.1
$36.5
$157.7
Source: Table prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) based on data provided by HHS, Children’s Bureau.
a. Beginning with FY2008, states are eligible for additional incentive sums based on improvements to their
adoption rate if sufficient appropriations are available to pay these awards after awards are made for increases in the
numbers of adoptions. FY2008 was the only year for which some funds were available for increases due to
states’ improved adoption rates. Eligible states were paid $1.7 million or about 48% of the $3.5 million in
incentive amounts tied to improved adoption rates achieved that year. There were no funds available for
incentives tied to adoption rate improvements in FY2009 ($3.5 million), FY2010 ($2.3 million), and FY2011
($898,000).
b. Adoption Incentive awards are typically made at the end of the fiscal year for adoptions finalized in the previous
fiscal year and after any unpaid awards tied to increases in the number of adoptions finalized in an earlier year.
For example, HHS used FY2012 adoption incentive appropriations to complete bonus payments to states for
increases in the number of adoptions finalized in FY2010. After those payments were made there was just
$31.8 million remaining available from the FY2012 appropriations to make awards for adoptions finalized in
FY2011. States received that amount (on a pro-rated basis) in August 2012. However, assuming HHS fol ows
past practice, states are expected to be paid an additional $4.7 million (i.e., the remaining bonus amounts tied
to increases in the number of adoptions finalized in FY2011) out of the FY2013 Adoption Incentives
appropriations (and before any awards for adoptions finalized in FY2012 are made with those funds).
Foster Child Adoptions
States earned bonus payments of $74.5 million (45% of the total bonuses they were eligible to
receive) for increasing their number of foster child adoptions finalized in FY2008-FY2011. That
award category is the broadest—applying to children adopted from foster care generally. States
may earn $4,000 for every adoption of a foster child in the given award year that is above the
number of foster child adoptions the state completed in FY2007 (the baseline year). Sixteen states
finalized more foster child adoptions in each of FY2008-FY2011 than they did in FY2007, and
they earned foster child adoption bonuses in each of these four years. Half of the states (26)
earned incentives for increases in foster child adoptions in at least one of the four years, and 10
states did not improve on their FY2007 record in any of these four years. (For information by
state see Table D-1 in Appendix D.)
Older Child Adoptions
Twenty-seven percent ($44.9 million) of the total bonus dollars states were eligible to receive for
adoptions finalized in FY2008-FY2011 were tied to increases in the number of children who were
adopted at 9 years of age or older. Adoptions of older children are less common than are
adoptions of those who are younger. However, states may earn the largest award amount for
increases in this incentive category. Specifically, states may earn $8,000 for every adoption of an
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“older child” in the given award year that is above the number of older child adoptions the state
completed in FY2007 (the baseline year). Fifteen states earned incentives for increasing their
numbers of older child adoptions in each of FY2008-FY2011 and close to half of the states (25)
did so in at least one of those four years. Twelve states did not increase their number of older
child adoptions (above their FY2007 level in the state) in any of those four years. (For
information by state see Table D-2 in Appendix D.)
Special Needs (Under Age 9) Adoptions
Twenty-two percent ($36.7 million) of the bonus funds states were eligible to receive for
adoptions finalized in FY2008-FY2011 were linked to increases in the number of adoptions of
children who were determined to have special needs and who were under the age of nine. States
are only eligible to earn bonus funds in this category if they have earned an award in at least one
other incentive category during the same fiscal year (i.e., they increased older child or foster child
adoptions or they improved their rate of adoption). For eligible states, the award amount is $4,000
for every adoption of a special needs child under 9 years of age that is above the state’s baseline
number of such adoptions (i.e., above the number of such adoptions it achieved in FY2007).
For adoptions finalized in FY2008-FY2011, ten states increased their number of special needs
(under age 9) adoptions above their baseline, but were not eligible in one or more years when this
occurred because they did not earn a bonus in any other Adoption Incentive category in that same
year. Overall, ten states earned bonus funds for increases in the number of special needs (under
age 9) adoptions finalized in each of FY2008-FY2011; close to half of the states (24) did so in at
least one of the four years; and 18 states did not earn an award in this category in any of those
four years (either because they didn’t increase the number of these adoptions or because they did
not earn an incentive in any other award category). (For information by state see Table D-3 in
Appendix D.)
Adoption Rate
Finally, the total bonus amount a state is eligible to receive in a year is increased if the state
improves its rate of adoption. However, this increased bonus amount is only authorized to be paid
to states if sufficient appropriations remain available after awards are made for increases in the
number of adoptions. For adoptions finalized in FY2008-FY2011, states were eligible for $10.2
million in bonus payments for improved adoption rates (6% of bonus payments states were
eligible for across all four award categories). However, there were sufficient appropriations to
award just $1.7 million of this amount.
A state’s adoption rate is equal to the total number of foster child adoptions it completed in the
fiscal year for every 100 children that were in its foster care caseload on the last day of the
preceding fiscal year. An award for an increased rate of adoption can ensure that an incentive may
be earned by a state that continues to appropriately move children from foster care to adoption
even as the total number of children in foster care declines. In those states, the total number of
children for whom adoption is the desired or appropriate permanency outcome is also likely to
decline.
To be counted as having an improved adoption rate, a state was required to exceed the highest
rate of adoptions it had achieved in any year (beginning with FY2002) that came before the year
for which the awards were being calculated. A state that improved its adoption rate was eligible
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for $1,000 award for each adoption calculated to have been achieved due to the higher rate of
adoptions.
The large majority of states (43) improved on their initial adoption rate baseline in one or more
years from FY2008-FY2011. In FY2008, on average, states finalized roughly 11 adoptions for
every 100 children who were in foster care; the comparable number for FY2011 was approaching
13 adoptions for every 100 children in foster care. (For information by state see Table D-4 in
Appendix D.)
Spending Award Money
States may spend Adoption Incentive funds anytime within a 24-month period, beginning with the
month in which the funds are awarded to a state.20 The statute permits states to spend these bonus
dollars on any service authorized to be provided to children and families under Title IV-B or Title
IV-E of the Social Security Act. Those parts of the law authorize a broad range of child welfare-
related activities, including activities to prevent child abuse or neglect and/or provide services to
enable a child to remain in his/her own home; investigation of alleged child abuse or neglect and
placement of children in foster care if necessary; provision of services to reunite a child in foster
care with his/her parents and for services to maintain the reunification; finding a new permanent
home for children who may not be reunited with their parents, including through adoption or
guardianship; provision of post-permanency services; and services to assist a youth in foster care
to make a successful transition to adulthood. A state may not count its spending of Adoption
Incentive funds toward meeting any of the “matching” requirements included in the programs
authorized in Title IV-E and Title IV-B of the Social Security Act. (Programs under those parts of
the law generally require states to supply between 20% -50% of the total program funding out of
its non-federal, state or local, dollars.)21
Many states report spending incentive funds on adoption-related purposes, including post-
adoption support services (e.g., support for adoptive parent mentors or adoptive family support
groups, respite care, casework and supports for adoptive families of children at risk of re-entering
foster care); recruitment of adoptive homes (e.g., support for online adoption exchange or photo-
listing, development of promotional materials, child-specific recruitment efforts); and training or
conferences to improve adoption casework. Other adoption-related services or supports funded
with Adoption Incentive awards (in a smaller number of states) included provision of monthly
adoption assistance payments, purchase of new equipment or provision of other resources to
improve processing and archiving of adoption records, support for new or improved adoption
home studies, and attention to inter-jurisdictional adoption placement. Some states used Adoption
Incentive funds for foster care-related activities (e.g., training or recruitment of foster parents—
alone or in combination with adoptive parents and foster and/or adoptive parent supports). Others
referenced support for permanency efforts more generally (i.e., incorporating guardianship or
reunification). At least one state reported using these incentive funds for foster care maintenance
payments. Finally, a few states described use of Adoption Incentive funds for services to families

20 Section 473A(e) of the Social Security Act. The 2008 reauthorization amended the law to ensure that states have a
full two years from the date they receive the bonus funds to spend them. Prior law permitted states to spend funds
through the end of the fiscal year following the fiscal year in which awards were made. However, because the bulk of
award funding is provided in the waning days of the fiscal year, this typically permitted states only a little more than 12
months to spend the award funds.
21 Section 473A(f) of the Social Security Act.
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and children remaining in the home (e.g., alternative response and direct child protection
services).22
Selected Reauthorization Issues
From its inception in 1997, the Adoption Incentives program has sought to encourage
permanency for more children by rewarding states that increase the number of adoptions of
children who would otherwise have no permanent family to call their own. In considering its
reauthorization Congress may want to examine the continued need for and purpose of incentives
for adoption, as well as, the particular focus and structure of any continued program. Selected
issues are discussed below.
Continued Need For and Focus of Incentives
Since the 1997 enactment of ASFA, including the Adoption Incentives program, the number and
rate of adoptions from foster care has increased significantly and the length of time needed to
complete those adoptions has decreased. Given these successes, Congress might consider whether
there is a continued need for this incentive program. On the other hand—given that each year
many more children remain in foster care waiting for adoptions than are adopted, and also that
many thousands of youth age out of state custody (26,000 in FY2011) without being safely
reunited with biological parents or placed in a new permanent family—Congress may seek to
continue the program with adjustments. For example, Congress could provide incentives to states
for successful exits from foster care to permanent families of any kind (e.g., safe return to
biological family and/or legal guardianship with a family, in addition to adoption). Alternatively,
Congress could continue to exclusively support exits to adoption but it could refocus the kinds of
categories for which states receive awards. For example, Congress could limit awards to
successful adoption of the hardest to place children exclusively, such as older youth (particularly
those entering care at an older age), children or youth with multiple foster care placements, or
those with mental health challenges.
Permanence for Older Children
Youth who leave foster care without placement in a permanent family are at high-risk for
homelessness, poor job outcomes, low educational attainment, and other negative outcomes.23
Beginning with adoptions finalized in FY2004, the Adoption Incentives program offered states
particular incentives for the adoption of children who are age 9 or older. These children are
referred to as “older” in the Adoption Incentives program. Despite this incentive, older child
adoptions remain less common than those of younger children. Among children adopted from
foster care, 31% were age nine or older in FY2004 and in FY2011 that share was just 26%. In
addition, many older children continue to leave foster care without placement in a permanent
family. Among youth who left foster care in FY2004 and were age 15 or older, 21,600 were

22 Based on CRS review of state Annual Progress and Services Reports (APSRs) submitted by states, generally, in mid-
to late-2012, as part of requesting certain federal FY2013 child welfare funding.
23 See CRS Report R40218, Youth Transitioning from Foster Care: Issues for Congress, by Adrienne L. Fernandes-
Alcantara.
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emancipated and an additional 4,200 were formally discharged with an exit reason of “runaway.”
The comparable figures in FY2011 were 24,300 and 1,300.
Congress may consider ways to further adjust the incentive structure or make other changes
designed to reduce the number of youth who leave care without placement in a permanent family.
As discussed by witnesses at a February 27, 2013 hearing held by the Subcommittee on Human
Resources of the House Ways and Means Committee, ensuring adoption (or permanence via
guardianship) is possible but may require specific kinds of recruitment efforts, youth engagement
in the process, belief on the part of caseworkers that permanence can be achieved for these youth
and more limited or different use of the case plan goal “another planned permanent living
arrangement (APPLA)” for older youth. (For more discussion see “Related Legislative Actions in
the 113th Congress.”)
Baseline Adjustment
Congress may consider whether to adjust the baselines used to determine whether a state has
achieved an increase in the number of foster child, older child, or special needs under age 9
adoptions. Throughout the program history, the incentive structure has been adjusted by Congress
to update the award structure to ensure continued incentive for states to increase adoptions from
foster care. (See Appendix C.)
Currently states must achieve a higher number of adoptions than they achieved in FY2007 to be
eligible for awards in the foster child, older child, or special needs under age 9 award categories.
Nationally, between FY2007 and FY2011, the number of children in foster care declined by 18%
(from 510,000 to 401,000) and the number of those children in foster care who were counted as
“waiting for adoption” declined by 22% (from 134,000 to 104,000).24 While the amount and kind
of change in the foster child and “waiting” population varied greatly by state, only six states saw
an increase in their foster care caseload from the last day of FY2007 to the last day of FY2011
and just eight saw an increase in the number of children waiting for adoption. (See Table E-1 and
Table E-2 in Appendix E.)
A declining number of children for whom adoption is appropriate makes it more difficult to
exceed an absolute number of adoptions that were achieved in a state when that number of
children was larger. The 2008 reauthorization of the Adoption Incentives program sought to
address this concern, in part, by moving the “baseline” year closer to the year for which the award
is to be determined. Separately, it authorized some awards based on improved adoption rates as
discussed below.
Availability of Awards for Improved Rate of Adoption
Calculating a state’s rate of adoption—that is the number of foster child adoptions in a given year
for every 100 children in foster care on the last day of the prior fiscal year—effectively holds

24 There is no formal definition in federal law or regulation of children who are “waiting for adoption.” In its published
counts of children “waiting for adoption,” HHS counts any child in foster care who has a case plan goal of adoption
and/or (in most cases) children for whom all parental rights have been terminated. Youth who are age 16 or older and
for whom all parental rights have been terminated are excluded from this count if they have a case plan goal of
“emancipation.”
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constant the size of the state’s foster care caseload and thus provides a view of a state’s success at
completing adoptions that is independent of any change in the size of its foster care caseload.
Congress introduced this new award category as part of the FY2008 reauthorization of the
Adoption Incentive Program. However, although nearly every state improved its rate of adoption
since this award category was established (see Table D-4 in Appendix D) only 1% of all bonus
funds expected to be paid for adoptions in FY2008 through FY2011 were tied to adoption rate
increases. The reasons for this include the following:
• The size of the award for a rate increase ($1,000), which is just one-quarter of the
award amount offered for increases in the number of foster child or special needs
under age 9 adoptions and one-eighth of the amount offered for older child
adoptions.
• The stipulation that awards for adoption rate increases may only be paid once
states receive all award amounts earned for an absolute increase in the number of
children adopted. (There have been sufficient funds to pay just $1.7 million of the
total $10.2 million in increased bonuses states were eligible for due to rate
increases since this award category was established.)
• The fact that the baseline for this award category changes to a higher rate each
year the state makes an improvement in its adoption rate. (By contrast, the
baselines for increases in each of the number of adoption award categories are
fixed at the state’s level of success in FY2007.)
Use of Incentive Funds
States may spend Adoption Incentive funds they receive for any of the range of child welfare
services authorized under Title IV-B or Title IV-E of the Social Security Act and they may not
count these funds as “non-federal” dollars for purposes of providing required matching dollars
under any of those programs. The Administration, as part of its FY2014 budget request for
reauthorization of the Adoption Incentive program, proposes requiring states to spend any of
these bonus funds on “trauma-informed services to improve social and emotional well-being of
children waiting for adoption or those having achieved adoption.”25 Congress might consider
narrowing the purposes on which states might spend incentive funds. For example, they might
limit use of the awards to post-permanency-related supports or to the trauma-informed services
proposed by the Administration. Additionally, or alone, they might stipulate certain activities that
may not be supported with these funds (e.g., foster care maintenance, adoption assistance, or
guardianship assistance payments). On the other hand, given that bonus funds are by their nature
less predictable than other kinds of federal grants, and the fact that states have earned the bonus
by improved performance, Congress might choose to retain the current flexibility states have in
the use of these funds.

25 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Administration for Children and Families (ACF), FY2014
Justification of Estimates for Appropriations Committees, April 2013, p. 152.
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Related Legislative Actions in the 113th Congress
On February 27, 2013, the Subcommittee on Human Resources of the House Ways and Means
Committee held a hearing on “Increasing Adoptions from Foster Care.” Subcommittee Chairman
Dave Reichert, noting the increase in adoptions and decline in the foster care caseload since the
enactment of the Adoption Incentives program and other changes to the law in 1997, said that the
hearing was to consider if other changes were needed to encourage adoption from foster care.26
Four witnesses discussed the importance of adoption as a way for children to find permanent
homes and they gave particular attention to the need for adoptions of older children and those
with special needs. Each of the witnesses supported reauthorization of the Adoption Incentives
program.
Several witnesses described successful efforts to recruit adoptive families for older or harder to
place children as those that start with a focus on the individual children or youth in need of
families and engage them in the search for those families. 27 One recruitment model, known as
“Wendy’s Wonderful Kids” includes small caseloads that allow adoption caseworkers to get to
know and work with the children for whom they are seeking permanent homes. A rigorous study
of the model’s effectiveness found that children served under this recruitment and placement
model were one and a half times more likely to leave foster care for permanent homes then those
who received traditional adoptive home recruitment services. The model’s impact is greatest
among older children and those with mental health disorders.28 The state of Ohio has recently
contracted to use the Wendy’s Wonderful Kids model (on a nearly statewide basis) to find homes
for harder to place children age 9 or older. By moving children from foster care to permanent
homes more quickly, Ohio anticipates significant fiscal savings. 29
Raising awareness of the need for adoptive families is a central goal of the Wait No More
campaign, discussed by another hearing witness. This campaign brings together public child
welfare agencies, private and public adoption agencies, church leaders and other support partners
to promote and host adoption events at churches around the country. Interested families may
begin the adoption process at the event, where speakers stress that adoption is about meeting the
needs of the child (not the needs of adults), discuss common behavioral challenges for adoptees
from foster care, and, offer strategies to enable successful child and family outcomes. 30
Witnesses also focused on the need for post-adoption services, including counselors with specific
training and knowledge about the needs of adoptive families, to ensure safety and stability of
these families.31 One witness asked that the longer-standing federal focus and financial support

26 See Opening Statement of Chairman Dave Reichert, Subcommittee on Human Resources of the House Ways and
Means Committee, Hearing on Increasing Adoptions from Foster Care, February 27, 2013. (Hereafter Hearing,
February 27, 2013.)
27 Testimony of Rita Soronen, President and CEO, Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption and Testimony of Pat
O’Brien, Executive Director and Founder, You Gotta Believe! The Older Child Adoption and Permanency Movement,
Inc., Hearing, February 27, 2013.
28 Karin Malm, Sharon Vandivere, with Tiffany Allen, Kerry DeVooght, Raquel. Ellis, Amy McLindon, Jacqueline
Smollar, Eric Williams, and Andrew Zinn, Evaluation Report Summary: The Wendy’s Wonderful Kids’ Initiative, Child
Trends, Washington, D.C.: 2011, pp. 9-11, 14-15.
29 Testimony of Rita Soronen, Hearing, February 27, 2013.
30 Testimony of Kelly Rosati, Vice President, Community Outreach, Focus on the Family, Hearing, February 27, 2013.
31 Ibid. See also Testimony of Nicole Dobbins, Executive Director, Voice for Adoption, Hearing, February 27, 2013.
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for increasing adoptions be coupled with a greater focus on (and financial support for) post-
adoption services and suggested that Congress require states to spend their Adoption Incentive
funds on post-adoption support.32 Another asked that Congress ensure that children who were
adopted did not lose access to education, mental health-related or other services that would be
available to them if they remained in foster care.33
Several witnesses mentioned assignment of the case plan goal “another planned permanent living
arrangement” (APPLA) as a potential barrier to finding permanent families for youth in care.34
Once a youth’s goal is fixed as “APPLA,” one witness noted the child welfare agency stops
searching for a permanent family and focuses exclusively on preparing the youth for
“independent living.” He asserted that federal policy should always require efforts to find a
permanent home for youth in care and noted that those efforts could continue even as the agency
worked to help the youth develop independent living skills.35
Other issues raised at the hearing included a call for reauthorization of the separate competitive
grant program known as Family Connections,36, 37 which one witness noted supports projects that
can help connect youth with permanent families through greater kinship support, intensive
family-finding efforts and family group decision-making meetings, and greater use (by states) of
Title IV-E training funds to support more competent adoption casework.38 As part of the hearing
question and answer, witnesses also supported expanding the Adoption Incentives program to
reward states that help youth gain a safe, permanent family through means other than adoption. In
particular, several mentioned the importance of legal guardianship to achieving a permanent
family for some older youth.39

32 Testimony of Nicole Dobbins. Dobbins also sought more accountability from states on their use of projected savings
from the growing federal investment in Title IV-E adoption assistance (authorized by the Fostering Connections to
Success and Increasing Adoptions Act, P.L. 110-351). She maintained that states should be required to invest a portion
of any savings they experience (due to this increased federal adoption assistance support) in post-adoption support
services.
33 Testimony of Rosati, including response to questions at Hearing, February 27, 2013. While states may make certain
benefits available only to youth who remain in care, Congress has provided that certain education benefits and other
assistance available to youth who “age out” of care (under Title IV-E of the Social Security Act) may also be available
to youth who leave foster care for adoption or guardianship on or after their 16th birthday. In addition, as part of the
Higher Education Act, Congress permits any youth who was in foster care on or after his/her 13th birthday to apply for
federal financial aid as an “independent” student. For more information, see CRS Report RL34499, Youth
Transitioning from Foster Care: Background and Federal Programs, by Adrienne L. Fernandes-Alcantara.
34 Testimony of Nicole Dobbins, Executive Director, Voice for Adoption and Testimony of Pat O’Brien, Hearing,
February 27, 2013.
35 Testimony of Pat O’Brien, Hearing, February 27, 2013.
36 Family Connection grants were established in the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act
(P.L. 110-351). That law placed the grant program in Section 427 of the Social Security Act and appropriated five years
of funding for them ($15 million annually for FY2009-FY2013). In addition to family group decision-making
meetings, intensive family-finding efforts, and kinship navigator programs, these competitive grants have also been
available for support of residential family treatment. For more information see “Family Connection Grantees” on the
website of the HHS, Children’s Bureau-supported National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connections.
37 The President’s FY2014 budget calls for extension of this grant program for two years (FY2014-FY2016). It also
proposes integrating the use of trauma-informed and trauma-focused approaches and or services (into the existing
program focus areas) and increasing access to services for children subject to the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA).
HHS, ACF FY2014 Justification of Estimates for Appropriations Committees, April 2013, p. 341.
38 Testimony of Nicole Dobbins, Hearing, February 27, 2013.
39 See response of each witness to question raised by Representative Danny Davis, Hearing, February 27, 2013.
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Appendix A. Glossary of Terms
ADOPTION RATE—The number of children in foster care who are adopted during a fiscal year
for every 100 children who were in foster care on the last day of the previous fiscal year.
ADOPTION RATE BASELINE—Highest ever adoption rate achieved by the state for any
fiscal year that is before the fiscal year for which the Adoption Incentive rate award is being
determined, beginning with FY2002.
ANOTHER PLANNED PERMANENT LIVING ARRANGEMENT (APPLA)—Each child
in foster care must have a permanency goal—that is a plan for leaving foster care to a permanent
home. A hearing to determine (or re-determine) that permanency goal must be held no later than
12 months after a child enters foster care, and every 12 months thereafter while the child remains
in foster care. If at this hearing it is determined that the child’s plan for permanency may not be
any of reuniting with his/her parents, placement for adoption, placement with a legal guardian, or
going to live with a fit and willing relative, then a child’s plan for exiting care may be “another
planned permanent living arrangement.”
BASELINE (as used in the Adoption Incentive program)—The standard against which state
performance is measured to determine whether, in a given year, the state has increased its number
of adoptions or improved its adoption rate. A baseline is specific to the state, and is based on a
state’s past performance. (The four specific baselines used in the current Adoption Incentives
program are defined individually in this glossary.)
FOSTER CHILD ADOPTION—The finalized adoption of a child who, at the time of adoptive
placement, was in public foster care under the placement and care responsibility of the state child
welfare agency.
FOSTER CHILD ADOPTION BASELINE—The number of foster child adoptions in the state
in FY2007 as reported by the state via the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis Reporting System
(AFCARS).
GUARDIANSHIP—A judicially created legal relationship between child and caretaker which is
intended to be permanent and self-sustaining as evidenced by the transfer to the caretaker of the
following parental rights with respect to the child: protection, education, care and control of the
person, custody of the person, and decision-making.
OLDER CHILD ADOPTION—The finalized adoption of a child who is nine years of age or
older and who, at the time of the adoptive placement was in public foster care or was the subject
of a Title IV-E adoption assistance agreement between the state child welfare agency and the
child’s adoptive parents.
OLDER CHILD ADOPTION BASELINE - The number of older child adoptions in the state in
FY2007 as reported by the state via AFCARS.
SPECIAL NEEDS ADOPTION– The adoption of a child whom the state has determined (1)
cannot be returned to his or her parents and (2) is unlikely to be adopted without assistance
because of a particular factor or condition (e.g., child’s age; membership in a sibling group;
minority race/ethnicity; medical or physical condition; or emotional, mental or behavioral
disability). Additionally, unless this is not in the best interest of the child, the state must have
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made reasonable efforts to place the child for adoption without providing assistance. (A state is
required to enter into a Title IV-E adoption assistance agreement with the adoptive parents of any
child it finds to have special needs.)
SPECIAL NEEDS (UNDER AGE 9) ADOPTION—The finalized adoption of a child who is
eight years of age or younger and who at the time of the adoptive placement was the subject of a
Title IV-E adoption assistance agreement between the state child welfare agency and the child’s
adoptive parents.
SPECIAL NEEDS (UNDER AGE 9) ADOPTION BASELINE—The number of special needs
(under age 9) adoptions in the state in FY2007 as reported by the state via AFCARS.
TERMINATION OF PARENTAL RIGHTS (TPR)—The legal severing (in a state court /court
of competent jurisdiction) of the parent-child relationship. (Typically this severs the rights and
responsibilities of a biological parent to his/her child. In the case of a previously adopted child
however, it is the severing of the rights and responsibilities of the adoptive parent.)
WAITING FOR ADOPTION (as counted by HHS, Children’s Bureau)—A child who is in
foster care and who has a case plan goal of adoption and/or to whom all parental rights have been
terminated. Except that any youth age 16 or older and to whom all parental rights have been
terminated is excluded if that youth has a case plan goal of “emancipation.”


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Appendix B. Trends in Adoptions with Public Child
Welfare Agency Involvement
Table B-1 shows, by fiscal year, the number of adoptions in which the public child welfare
agency was involved, the number of children in foster care (under the responsibility of the public
child welfare agency) on the last day of the fiscal year, and the rate of adoptions. All children who
leave public foster care for adoption are adopted with public child welfare agency involvement
and they represent the very large number of children shown in the adoption column. A small
number of children who do not enter foster care may also be adopted with public child welfare
agency involvement and that number is also included in the number shown in the adoptions
column.
Table B-1. Adoptions with Public Child Welfare Agency Involvement, FY1995-FY2011
Adoption Rate = Number of public child welfare agency adoptions in the given fiscal year for every 100
children in foster care on the last day of the preceding fiscal year.
Fiscal
Children in Public Foster Care
Public Agency-Involved Adoptions
Adoption
Year
on the last day of the fiscal year
during the fiscal year
Rate
1995 483,000
25,700 5.5
1996 507,000
27,800 5.7
1997 537,000
31,000 6.1
1998 559,000
38,000 7.1
1999 567,000
46,900 8.4
2000 552,000
51,100 9.0
2001 545,000
50,600 9.2
2002 523,000
51,400 9.4
2003 510,000
49,600 9.5
2004 508,000
51,000 10.0
2005 511,000
51,600 10.2
2006 505,000
50,600 9.9
2007 482,000
52,700 10.4
2008 464,000
55,200 11.5
2009 422,000
57,100 12.3
2010 406,000
53,600 12.7
2011 401,000
50,500 12.4
Source: Table prepared by the Congressional Research Service. Children in foster care based on Table 11-4,
“Additional Tables and Figures,” Chapter 11, U.S. House Ways and Means Committee, 2012, Green Book.
Adoptions (based on Table 11-56 in 2008 Green Book (for FY2001 and earlier years) and HHS, Children’s Bureau,
“Adoptions of Children with Public Child Welfare Agency Involvement by State” posted in June 2011(for
FY2002) and July 2012 (for FY2003-FY2012).
Note: Data are displayed rounded to nearest 1,000 for total caseload and nearest 100 for adoptions. However,
whenever more exact numbers were available they were used to compute the rate shown.

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Table B-2. Number of Children Waiting for Adoption and Percentage of Waiting
Children Adopted, FY1998-FY2011
Percentage of Waiting Children Adopted
Children Waiting for Adoption
Children adopted in given fiscal year as percentage of
Fiscal Year
on last day of the fiscal year
waiting children on last day of previous fiscal year
1998 125,000
not available a
1999 130,000
37%
2000 131,000
39%
2001 130,100
39%
2002 133,900
40%
2003 130,600
37%
2004 130,400
39%
2005 130,700
40%
2006 135,400
39%
2007 133,700
39%
2008 125,700
41%
2009 114,500
45%
2010 109,500
47%
2011 104,200
46%
Source: Table prepared by the Congressional Research Services based on data reported by states via AFCARS
and provided to CRS by HHS, Children’s Bureau.
Notes: Number of children waiting for adoption is displayed rounded to nearest 100. However, whenever a
more exact number was available, it was used to calculate the percentage. There is no definition of “waiting
children” in statute or regulation. For purposes of analysis, the HHS, Children’s Bureau counts as “waiting” each
child in foster care on the last day of the fiscal year who has a case plan goal of adoption and/or for whom all
parental rights have been terminated. However, it excludes from this number any youth in care who is age 16 or
older for whom all parental rights have been terminated if that youth’s case plan goal is “emancipation.”
a. Could not be calculated because there is no estimate of the number of waiting children in FY1997.
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Table B-3. Average and Median Length of Time to Finalized Adoption, In Months,
FY2000-FY2011
Months from Removal to
Termination of Parental
Months from Termination
TOTAL TIME TO
Rights (TPR)
of Parental Rights (TPR) to
FINALIZE ADOPTION
Fiscal
(Among children later adopted)
Adoption
Months from removal to adoption
Year
Average
Median Average
Median
Average
Median
2000
32.3 26.0 15.9 12.0 45.9 39.3
2001
29.7 23.5 16.0 11.8 44.0 37.5
2002
27.8 21.5 16.1 12.0 42.9 35.9
2003
26.1 20.1 16.2 12.0 41.8 34.9
2004
24.4 19.3 15.8 11.3 40.3 33.5
2005
23.4 18.8 15.0 10.7 38.3 32.0
2006
22.3 18.4 14.6 10.5 36.9 31.1
2007
21.6 17.9 14.1 10.3 35.7 30.3
2008
21.0 17.7 14.3 10.5 35.2 30.2
2009
20.8 17.8 14.1 10.3 34.8 30.3
2010
20.6 17.7 13.8 10.0 34.6 30.0
2011
20.1 17.4 13.7 9.8 34.0 29.2
Source: Table prepared by the Congressional Research Service based on state-reported AFCARS data (as of
August 2012) provided to CRS by HHS, Children’s Bureau.
Note: The median length of time to adoption measures the point at which half of the children adopted in the
given fiscal year reached a finalized adoption in fewer months and half in more. By contrast, an average combines
the total months to adoptions for all children with a finalized adoption in the given fiscal year and divides that
number by the total number of adoptions. The average time to adoption is considerably longer than the median
time to adoption because the average is affected by children with significantly longer stays in foster care.

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Appendix C. Adoption Incentive Bonus Structure
At each reauthorization of the Adoption Incentives program, Congress has adjusted the bonus
structure. New award categories and adjustments to the baselines have placed greater emphasis on
adoption of harder to place children, helped to ensure that earning an incentive was possible even
as caseloads declined, and protected the value of the incentives from erosion by inflation.
Table C-1. Evolution of Adoption Incentives Bonus Structure
NA = not authorized
Original Structure
Initial Amendment
Current Structure
Bonus
Adoption and Safe Families Act
Adoption Promotion Act of 2003,
Fostering Connections and Increasing
Structure
of 1997, P.L. 105-89
P.L. 108-145
Adoptions Act of 2008, P.L. 110-351
Award
Foster Child: Increase in
Foster Child: Same as prior law. Foster Child: Same as prior law.
category number of children adopted
from foster care.


Special Needs: Increase in
Special Needs Under Age 9:
Special Needs Under Age 9:
number of children adopted
Increase in number of children
Same as prior law.
who are determined to have
adopted who are determined to
“special needs.”
have special needs b and are
younger than 9 years of age.
NA
Older Child: Increase in number Older Child: Same as prior law.
of older children (age 9 years or
above) adopted.
NA
NA
Adoption Rate: Increase in rate of
children adopted from foster care
(where rate equals the state’s
number of foster child adoptions in
a fiscal year for every 100 children
in foster care in that state on the
last day of the previous fiscal year).
Baselines Adoptions finalized in
Adoptions finalized in FY2003-
Adoptions finalized in FY2008 -
Number
FY1998: For each award
FY2007: For each award
FY2012: For each award category,
category, the average number
category, the highest number of
the number of adoptions finalized
of adoptions achieved by the
adoptions finalized by the state in by the state in that award category
state in that category for
that category in FY2002 or the
during FY2007.
FY1995-FY1997.
highest number in any following
fiscal year that precedes the year
Adoptions finalized in
for which the award is being
FY1999-FY2002: For each
determined.
award category, the highest
number of adoptions finalized
by the state in that category in
FY1997 or the highest number
in any following fiscal year that
precedes the year for which
the award is being determined.
Rate
NA NA Adoptions finalized in FY2008 -
FY2012: The highest rate of foster
child adoptions achieved by the
state in FY2002 or the highest rate
achieved in any fol owing fiscal year
that precedes the year for which
the award is being determined.
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Original Structure
Initial Amendment
Current Structure
Bonus
Adoption and Safe Families Act
Adoption Promotion Act of 2003,
Fostering Connections and Increasing
Structure
of 1997, P.L. 105-89
P.L. 108-145
Adoptions Act of 2008, P.L. 110-351
Bonus
Foster Child: $4,000 for
Foster Child: Same as prior law. Foster Child: Same as prior law.
Amounts
every foster child adoption
above the state’s baseline.


Special Needs: $2,000 for
Special Needs under age 9:
Special Needs under age 9:
every special needs adoption
$2,000 for every special needs
$4,000 for every special needs
above the state’s baseline.
under age nine adoption above
under age nine adoption above the
(Except that a state may only
the state’s baseline. (Except that state’s baseline. (Except that a
earn a bonus in this category if a state may only earn a bonus in state may only earn a bonus in this
it also earned a bonus for
this category if it also earned a
category if it also earned a bonus
increases in foster child
bonus for increases in either
for increases in either foster child
adoptions.)
foster child or older child
or older child adoptions or if it
adoptions.)
improved its adoption rate.)
NA
Older Child: $4,000 for every
Older Child: $8,000 for every
older child adoption above the
older child adoption above the
state’s baseline.
state’s baseline.
NA
NA
Adoption Rate: $1,000 for every
adoption finalized that is attributed
to the state’s higher rate of
adoption. (States may only receive
bonus funds in this award category
if sufficient funds remain available
to make the award after all
bonuses have been paid for any
increases in foster child, older
child, and special needs under age
9 adoptions.)
Source: Table prepared by the Congressional Research Service.


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Appendix D. Adoptions and Incentives Earned by
Category and State
Table D-1. Foster Child Adoptions and Incentives Earned for FY2008-FY2011
Initial incentive awards are paid in the fiscal year following the year in which the incentive was earned
Baseline
Number of Foster Child
Incentives Earned for Foster Child Adoptions
Number
Adoptions Finalized in
Finalized in
of Foster
child
adoptions
State
in FY2007 FY2008 FY2009 FY2010 FY2011 FY2008 FY2009 FY2010 FY2011
Alabama
349
402 624
606
439
$212,000 $1,100,000
$1,028,000 $360,000
Alaska
244
261 338
336
292
$68,000
$376,000 $368,000 $192,000
Arizona
1,565
1,596 1,636
2,045
2,243
$124,000
$284,000 $1,920,000 $2,712,000
Arkansas
401
498 591
589
589
$388,000
$760,000 $752,000 $752,000
California
7,622
7,777 7,033
5,644
5,007
$620,000
$0
$0
$0
Colorado
1,077
995 1,057
968
930
$0
$0
$0
$0
Connecticut
569
647 684
564
505
$312,000
$460,000
$0
$0
Delaware
118
111 125
67
95
$0
$28,000
$0
$0
District of Columbia
151
111 99
127
104
$0
$0
$0
$0
Florida
2,970
3,959 3,763
3,243
2,899 $3,956,000 $3,172,000 $1,092,000
$0
Georgia
1,237
1,265 1,242
1,193
1,060
$112,000
$20,000
$0
$0
Hawaii
242
257 265
209
192
$60,000
$92,000
$0
$0
Idaho
190
229 338
306
254
$156,000
$592,000 $464,000 $256,000
Illinois
1,512
1,527 1,414
1,214
482a
$60,000
$0 $0 $0
Indiana
1,278
1,506 1,562
1,458
1,554
$912,000 $1,136,000 $720,000 $1,104,000
Iowa
1,060
1,038 1,005
795
851
$0
$0
$0
$0
Kansas
777
704 863
685
777
$0
$344,000
$0
$0
Kentucky
689
779 842
754
824
$360,000
$612,000 $260,000 $540,000
Louisiana
419
587 576
638
641
$672,000
$628,000 $876,000 $888,000
Maine
329
322 336
274
291
$0
$28,000
$0
$0
Maryland
197
210 606
637
514
$52,000
$36,000 $160,000
$0
Massachusetts
794
712 790
726
724
$0
$0
$0
$0
Michigan
2,617
2,731 3,089
2,597
2,500
$456,000 $1,888,000
$0
$0
Minnesota
548
768 652
619
566
$880,000
$416,000 $284,000 $72,000
Mississippi
290
272 292
352
350
$0
$8,000 $248,000 $240,000
Missouri
896
956 1,009
954
1,048
$240,000
$452,000 $232,000 $608,000
Montana
245
238 185
181
234
$0
$0
$0
$0
Nebraska
483
537 575
424
408
$216,000
$368,000
$0
$0
Nevada
453
459 527
635
806
$24,000
$296,000 $728,000
$1,412,000
New Hampshire
141
167 136
173
144
$104,000
$0 $128,000 $12,000
New Jersey
1,561
1,255 1,349
1,282
1,084
$0
$0
$0
$0
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Baseline
Number of Foster Child
Incentives Earned for Foster Child Adoptions
Number
Adoptions Finalized in
Finalized in
of Foster
child
adoptions
State
in FY2007 FY2008 FY2009 FY2010 FY2011 FY2008 FY2009 FY2010 FY2011
New Mexico
355
427 437
420
351
$288,000
$328,000 $260,000
$0
New York
2,488
2,394 2,398
2,205
2,214
$0
$0
$0
$0
North Carolina
1,521
1,667 1,622
1,494
1,377
$584,000
$404,000
$0
$0
North Dakota
125
144 82
138
113
$76,000
$0 $52,000
$0
Ohio
1,710
1,505 1,453
1,359
1,420
$0
$0
$0
$0
Oklahoma
1,227
1,463 1,496
1,569
1,226
$944,000 $1,076,000 $1,368,000
$0
Oregon
1,016
1,050 1,101
780
652
$136,000
$340,000
$0
$0
Pennsylvania
1,916
2,082 2,234
2,362
1,999
$664,000 $1,272,000 $1,784,000 $332,000
Rhode Island
239
258 273
184
201
$76,000
$136,000
$0
$0
South Carolina
431
525 513
529
588
$376,000
$328,000 $392,000 $628,000
South Dakota
160
173 165
131
156
$52,000
$20,000
$0
$0
Tennessee
1,214
1,098 1,001
972
772
$0
$0
$0
$0
Texas
4,022
4,530 4,988
4,709
4,718 $2,032,000 $3,864,000 $2,748,000 $2,784,000
Utah
450
541 510
572
569
$364,000
$240,000 $488,000 $476,000
Vermont
195
181 156
161
134
$0
$0
$0
$0
Virginia
668
595 633
645
748
$0
$0
$0 $320,000
Washington
1,276
1,245 1,618
1,626
1,573
$0 $1,368,000 $1,400,000 $1,188,000
West Virginia
398
513 537
654
685
$460,000
$556,000
$1,024,000
$1,148,000
Wisconsin
656
624 725
690
644
$0
$276,000 $136,000
$0
Wyoming
72
82 69
69
73
$40,000
$0
$0 $4,000
Puerto Rico
143
133 179
98
42
$0
$144,000
$0
$0
TOTAL 51,306
54,106
55,793 51,662
48,662 $16,076,00 $23,448,00 $18,912,000 $16,028,000
0
0
Source: Table prepared by the Congressional Research Service based on earnings and award data received from
HHS, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Administration on Children, Youth, and Families (ACYF),
Children’s Bureau. Data shown for numbers of adoptions are as determined for the Adoption Incentives
program and may differ somewhat from data reported elsewhere on adoptions with public child welfare agency
involvement.
Note: For incentives earned in FY2009, FY2010 and FY2011, there were insufficient appropriations to pay the
full bonus amounts earned at the time of the initial awards. Accordingly, for incentives earned in FY2009 and
FY2010, states received a portion of their bonus amount at the time of the initial award (i.e., at the end of the
fiscal year fol owing the fiscal year in which the incentive was earned) and the remainder when sufficient funds
were available (in the following fiscal year). For incentives earned for increases in the number of foster child
adoptions finalized in FY2011, states received an initial, partial award in August 2012. However, assuming it
fol ows past practice, HHS is expected to use Adoption Incentives funds appropriated for FY2013 to pay states
the remaining incentive amounts for increases in foster child adoptions (up to the full amount shown in the final
column of the table).
a. As part of its comments in Child Welfare Outcomes, FY2008-FY2011, Illinois notes it has begun an improvement
plan to address certain data concerns, including recent system changes leading to a miscount of adoptions.

Congressional Research Service
26

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Child Welfare: The Adoption Incentives Program

Table D-2. Older Child (Age 9 or Above) Adoptions and Incentives Earned,
FY2008-FY2011
Initial incentive awards are paid in the fiscal year following the year in which the incentive was earned
Baseline
Number of Older Child
Incentives Earned for Older Child Adoptions
Number of
Adoptions Finalized in
Finalized in
older child
adoptions in
State
FY2007 FY2008 FY2009 FY2010 FY2011 FY2008 FY2009 FY2010 FY2011
Alabama
115
136 186
220
108 $168,000
$568,000 $840,000
$0
Alaska
72
87 99
114
89 $120,000
$216,000
$336,000
$136,000
Arizona
345
388 392
536
557 $344,000
$376,000
$1,528,000
$1,696,000
Arkansas
102
116 147
135
137 $112,000
$360,000 $264,000 $280,000
California
1,646
1,734 1,555
1,293
1,060 $704,000
$0
$0
$0
Colorado
236
207 204
210
207
$0
$0
$0
$0
Connecticut
140
157 156
142
126 $136,000
$128,000 $16,000
$0
Delaware
24
18 31
14
26
$0
$56,000
$0 $16,000
District of Columbia
63
38 36
49
40
$0
$0
$0
$0
Florida
703
951 919
843
771 $1,984,000
$1,728,000
$1,120,000 $544,000
Georgia
356
356 405
370
320
$0
$392,000 $112,000
$0
Hawaii
48
66 63
53
65 $144,000
$120,000 $40,000
$136,000
Idaho
56
60 92
83
80
$32,000
$288,000
$216,000
$192,000
Illinois
336
358 358
302
145a $176,000
$176,000 $0 $0
Indiana
383
458 433
367
432 $600,000
$400,000
$0 $392,000
Iowa
240
213 217
179
163
$0
$0
$0
$0
Kansas
205
214 208
168
224
$72,000
$24,000
$0 $152,000
Kentucky
209
247 290
293
275 $304,000
$648,000 $672,000 $528,000
Louisiana
96
117 103
140
137 $168,000
$56,000 $352,000 $328,000
Maine
113
93 83
62
63
$0
$0
$0
$0
Maryland
43
61 170
167
140 $144,000
$160,000 $136,000
$0
Massachusetts
189
125 137
141
149
$0
$0
$0
$0
Michigan
828
843 963
758
694 $120,000
$1,080,000
$0
$0
Minnesota
153
158 158
162
148
$40,000
$40,000 $72,000
$0
Mississippi
95
84 86
91
111
$0
$0
$0
$128,000
Missouri
286
317 292
291
261 $248,000
$48,000 $40,000
$0
Montana
70
61 49
46
75
$0
$0
$0 $40,000
Nebraska
141
150 139
104
100
$72,000
$0
$0
$0
Nevada
122
122 111
153
223
$0
$0 $248,000 $808,000
New Hampshire
43
55 50
59
38
$96,000
$56,000
$128,000
$0
New Jersey
375
311 361
366
279
$0
$0
$0
$0
New Mexico
118
127 156
119
130
$72,000
$304,000 $8,000 $96,000
New York
1,053
976 952
798
803
$0
$0
$0
$0
Congressional Research Service
27

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Child Welfare: The Adoption Incentives Program

Baseline
Number of Older Child
Incentives Earned for Older Child Adoptions
Number of
Adoptions Finalized in
Finalized in
older child
adoptions in
State
FY2007 FY2008 FY2009 FY2010 FY2011 FY2008 FY2009 FY2010 FY2011
North Carolina
376
438 455
460
408 $496,000
$632,000 $672,000 $256,000
North Dakota
27
26 24
37
29
$0
$0 $80,000 $16,000
Ohio
541
454 396
325
403
$0
$0
$0
$0
Oklahoma
343
376 350
381
320 $264,000
$56,000 $304,000
$0
Oregon
234
227 250
154
133
$0
$128,000
$0
$0
Pennsylvania
538
516 501
554
459
$0
$0 $128,000
$0
Rhode Island
57
64 63
44
54
$56,000
$48,000
$0
$0
South Carolina
113
135 125
126
150 $176,000
$96,000 $104,000 $296,000
South Dakota
51
38 42
36
41
$0
$0
$0
$0
Tennessee
524
435 342
379
276
$0
$0
$0
$0
Texas
805
1,007 1,122
1,172
1,246 $1,616,000
$2,536,000 $2,936,000 $3,528,000
Utah
80
93 83
105
106 $104,000
$24,000
$200,000
$208,000
Vermont
67
50 50
54
37
$0
$0
$0
$0
Virginia
215
164 217
224
294
$0
$16,000 $72,000 $632,000
Washington
246
240 307
392
332
$0
$488,000
$1,168,000 $688,000
West Virginia
105
107 153
183
179
$16,000
$384,000 $624,000 $592,000
Wisconsin
219
175 187
178
152
$0
$0
$0
$0
Wyoming
12
23 19
18
20
$88,000
$56,000 $48,000 $64,000
Puerto Rico
34
36 70
28
11
$16,000
$288,000
$0
$0
TOTAL 13,591 14,008
14,357 13,678 12,826 $8,688,00 $11,976,000 $12,464,000 $11,752,000
0
Source: Table prepared by the Congressional Research Service based on earnings and award data received from
HHS, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Administration on Children, Youth, and Families (ACYF),
Children’s Bureau. Data shown for numbers of adoptions are as determined for the Adoption Incentives
program and may differ somewhat from data reported elsewhere on adoptions with public child welfare agency
involvement.
Note: For incentives earned in FY2009, FY2010 and FY2011, there were insufficient appropriations to pay the
full bonus amounts earned at the time of the initial awards. Accordingly, for incentives earned in FY2009 and
FY2010, states received a portion of their bonus amount at the time of the initial award (i.e., at the end of the
fiscal year fol owing the fiscal year in which the incentive was earned) and the remainder when sufficient funds
were available (in the following fiscal year). For incentives earned for increases in the number of older child
adoptions finalized in FY2011, states received an initial, partial award in August 2012. However, assuming it
fol ows past practice, HHS is expected to use Adoption Incentives funds appropriated for FY2013 to pay states
the remaining incentive amounts for increases in older child adoptions (up to the full amount shown in the final
column of the table).
a. As part of its comments in Child Welfare Outcomes, FY2008-FY20l1, Illinois notes it has begun an
improvement plan to address certain data concerns, including recent system changes leading to a miscount
of adoptions.

Congressional Research Service
28

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Child Welfare: The Adoption Incentives Program

Table D-3. Special Needs (Under Age 9) Adoptions and Incentives Earned,
FY2008-FY2011
Initial incentive awards are paid in the fiscal year following the year in which the incentive was earned
Baseline Number of Special Needs (under Incentives Earned for Special Needs (under
Number of age 9) Adoptions Finalized in
age 9) Adoptions Finalized in
Special
Needs
(under 9)
Adoptions
State
in FY2007 FY2008 FY2009 FY2010 FY2011
FY2008 FY2009 FY2010 FY2011
Alabama
110
118 20
6
58
$32,000
$0 $0
$0
Alaska
127
136 182
160
146
$36,000
$220,000
$132,000 $76,000
Arizona
1,026
989 973
1,180
1,388
$0
$0
$616,000
$1,448,000
Arkansas
181
256 285
320
289
$300,000
$416,000
$556,000
$432,000
California
4,921
4,884 4,539
3,735
3,248
$0
$0
$0
$0
Colorado
356
96 332
300
310
$0
$0
$0
$0
Connecticut
310
282 270
237
167
$0
$0
$0
$0
Delaware a
19
35 27
18
20
$0
$32,000 $0 $4,000
District of Columbia
52
38 12
0
44
$0
$0 $0
$0
Florida
1,181
1,994 1,570
1,589
1,543 $3,252,000 $1,556,000
$1,632,000
$1,448,000
Georgia
459
489 453
434
446
$120,000
$0
$0
$0
Hawaii
170
164 161
116
96
$0
$0
$0
$0
Idaho
106
147 210
198
155
$164,000
$416,000
$368,000
$196,000
Illinois a
0
0 462
670
253 b
$0
$0 $0 $0
Indiana
708
601 623
809
675
$0
$0
$404,000
$0
Iowa a
399
424 384
299
346
$0
$0
$0
$0
Kansas
396
343 454
369
394
$0
$232,000
$0
$0
Kentucky
464
489 536
445
527
$100,000
$288,000
$0
$252,000
Louisiana
210
299 323
342
324
$356,000
$452,000
$528,000
$456,000
Maine a
137
154 162
143
159
$68,000
$100,000
$0 $88,000
Maryland
23
0 82
294
86
$0
$0 $0
$0
Massachusetts
320
205 268
209
220
$0
$0
$0
$0
Michigan
1,027
1,097 1,276
831
46
$280,000
$996,000
$0
$0
Minnesota
231
323 243
191
228
$368,000
$48,000
$0
$0
Mississippi
149
149 158
199
192
$0
$36,000
$200,000
$172,000
Missouri
521
398 540
571
646
$0
$76,000
$200,000
$500,000
Montana
142
139 91
83
81
$0
$0 $0
$0
Nebraska a
114
175 202
168
157
$244,000
$352,000
$0
$0
Nevada
288
285 346
378
450
$0
$232,000
$360,000
$648,000
New Hampshire
87
103 68
86
71
$64,000
$0 $0
$0
New Jersey
885
242 577
578
459
$0
$0
$0
$0
New Mexico
207
245 235
249
173
$152,000
$112,000
$168,000
$0
New York a
969
1,022 1,082
1,071
924
$0
$0
$0
$0
Congressional Research Service
29

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Child Welfare: The Adoption Incentives Program

Baseline Number of Special Needs (under Incentives Earned for Special Needs (under
Number of age 9) Adoptions Finalized in
age 9) Adoptions Finalized in
Special
Needs
(under 9)
Adoptions
State
in FY2007 FY2008 FY2009 FY2010 FY2011
FY2008 FY2009 FY2010 FY2011
North Carolina
757
812 802
768
744
$220,000
$180,000
$44,000
$0
North Dakota
60
49 29
39
51
$0
$0 $0
$0
Ohio
1,135
919 880
890
903
$0
$0
$0
$0
Oklahoma
609
683 666
649
548
$296,000
$228,000
$160,000
$0
Oregon
615
636 678
481
443
$84,000
$252,000
$0
$0
Pennsylvania
1,099
1,232 1,395
1,413
1,253
$532,000 $1,184,000
$1,256,000 $616,000
Rhode Island
118
137 128
81
102
$76,000
$40,000
$0
$0
South Carolina
163
198 242
181
241
$140,000
$316,000
$72,000
$312,000
South Dakota a
75
89 87
69
88
$56,000
$48,000 $0
$0
Tennessee a
196
334 311
249
282
$552,000
$0
$212,000
$0
Texas
2,214
2,471 2,722
2,566
2,617 $1,028,000 $2,032,000
$1,408,000
$1,612,000
Utah
149
229 205
174
193
$320,000
$224,000
$100,000
$176,000
Vermont a
85
88 51
80
56
$0
$0 $0
$0
Virginia
327
309 282
271
290
$0
$0
$0
$0
Washington
975
936 576
938
935
$0
$0
$0
$0
West Virginia
244
252 300
332
308
$32,000
$224,000
$352,000
$256,000
Wisconsin a
422
402 431
410
439
$0
$36,000
$0
$0
Wyoming
31
27 22
19
9
$0
$0 $0
$0
Puerto Rico
36
45 34
28
8
$36,000
$0 $0
$0
TOTAL 25,605
26,169
26,987
25,916
23,831 $8,908,000 $10,328,000 $8,768,000 $8,692,000
Source: Table prepared by the Congressional Research Service based on earnings and award data received from
HHS, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Administration on Children, Youth, and Families (ACYF),
Children’s Bureau. Data shown for numbers of adoptions are as determined for the Adoption Incentives program and
may differ somewhat from data reported elsewhere on adoptions with public child welfare agency involvement.
Note: For incentives earned in FY2009, FY2010 and FY2011, there were insufficient appropriations to pay the full
bonus amounts earned at the time of the initial awards. Accordingly, for incentives earned in FY2009 and FY2010,
states received a portion of their bonus amount at the time of the initial award (i.e., at the end of the fiscal year
following the fiscal year in which the incentive was earned) and the remainder when sufficient funds were available (in
the fol owing fiscal year). For incentives earned for increases in the number of special needs (under age 9) adoptions
finalized in FY2011, states received an initial, partial award in August 2012. However, assuming it fol ows past practice,
HHS is expected to use Adoption Incentives funds appropriated for FY2013 to pay states the remaining incentive
amounts for increases in special needs (under age 9) adoptions (up to the ful amount shown in the final column of the
table).
a. As provided in the law, states that exceeded their special needs (under age 9) adoption baseline did not
earn an incentive for this increase unless, in that same fiscal year, they separately earned an incentive for
increases in foster child or older child adoptions, or if they improved their adoption rate.
b. As part of its comments in Child Welfare Outcomes, FY2008-FY2011, Illinois notes it has begun an
improvement plan to address certain data concerns, including recent system changes leading to a miscount
of adoptions.

Congressional Research Service
30

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Table D-4. Adoption Rates and Incentive Increases for Improved Adoption Rate
Adoption Rate = Number of foster child adoptions finalized in the fiscal year for every 100 children in foster care on the last day of the previous fiscal year.
Initial
Actual Adoption Rate Achieved
Current
Fiscal
Incentive Increases States Were Eligible to Receive
Baseline
Baseline
Year
Highest
Highest
Highest
adoption rate
adoption rate Adoption
FY2002-
FY2002-
Rate
State
F2007
FY2008 FY2009 FY2010 FY2011
FY2011
Achieved
FY2008
FY2009
FY2010 FY2011
Alabama
6.5
5.5 9.1
9.8
8.2
9.8
FY2010 $0
$177,000
$44,000
$0
Alaska
12.3
12.3 15.6
15.5
16.5
16.5
FY2011 $0
$71,000
$0
$17,000
Arizona
16.0
16.7 15.7
21.7
22.6
22.6
FY2011 $65,000
$0
$471,000
$88,000
Arkansas
12.5
13.8 16.8
16.1
15.7
16.8
FY2009 $46,000
$105,000
$0
$0
California
10.0
10.5 10.4
9.4
8.9
10.5
FY2008 $377,000
$0
$0
$0
Colorado
13.2
12.8 13.3
13.1
13.3
13.3
FY2009 $0
$11,000
$0
$0
Connecticut
8.9
11.2 12.7
11.8
11.3
12.7
FY2009 $132,000
$82,000
$0
$0
Delaware
13.0
9.6 13.3
8.2
12.9
13.3
FY2009 $0
$3,000
$0
$0
District of Columbia
12.2
5.1 4.5
6.0
5.0
12.2
FY2004 $0
$0
$0
$0
Florida
10.4
14.8 17.0
16.9
15.5
17.0
FY2009 $1,173,000
$479,000
$0
$0
Georgia
9.4
10.4 12.4
14.8
15.4
15.4
FY2011 $118,000
$204,000
$193,000
$40,000
Hawaii
14.7
13.2 16.3
14.4
15.6
16.3
FY2009 $0
$27,000
$0
$0
Idaho
11.7
12.2 19.6
21.2
17.4
21.2
FY2010 $10,000
$128,000
$23,000
$0
Illinois
12.9
8.5 7.9
7.1
2.7a
12.9
FY2002 $0
$0
$0
$0
Indiana
11.2
13.2 12.6
11.9
12.7
13.2
FY2008 $232,000
$0
$0
$0
Iowa
21.0
12.6 14.9
12.1
13.0
21.0
FY2003 $0
$0
$0
$0
Kansas
12.5
10.6 13.7
12.0
13.0
13.7
FY2009 $0
$75,000
$0
$0
Kentucky
12.5
11.1 11.7
11.0
11.8
12.5
FY2005 $0
$0
$0
$0
Louisiana
10.6
11.0 11.4
13.3
14.4
14.4
FY2011 $22,000
$19,000
$92,000
$49,000
CRS-31

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Initial
Actual Adoption Rate Achieved
Current
Fiscal
Incentive Increases States Were Eligible to Receive
Baseline
Baseline
Year
Highest
Highest
Highest
adoption rate
adoption rate Adoption
FY2002-
FY2002-
Rate
State
F2007
FY2008 FY2009 FY2010 FY2011
FY2011
Achieved
FY2008
FY2009
FY2010 FY2011
Maine
15.8
16.3 18.0
16.6
18.8
18.8
FY2011 $11,000
$32,000
$0
$13,000
Maryland
7.3
2.1 7.8
9.0
8.4
9.0
FY2010 $0
$40,000
$86,000
$0
Massachusetts
7.2
6.8 7.6
7.5
8.1
8.1
FY2011 $0
$39,000
$0
$43,000
Michigan
13.6
13.1 15.3
14.7
15.2
15.3
FY2009 $0
$346,000
$0
$0
Minnesota
10.1
11.4 10.8
11.4
11.2
11.4
FY2008 $86,000
$0
$0
$0
Mississippi
9.9
8.2 8.9
10.6
9.8
10.6
FY2010 $0
$0
$23,000
$0
Missouri
11.1
9.7 10.0
11.1
10.6
11.1
FY2002 $0
$0
$0
$0
Montana
12.8
13.7 11.6
11.0
13.6
13.7
FY2008 $16,000
$0
$0
$0
Nebraska
7.8
9.1 10.3
7.9
7.6
10.3
FY2009 $79,000
$66,000
$0
$0
Nevada
9.8
9.1 10.5
13.3
16.8
16.8
FY2011 $0
$35,000
$133,000
$167,000
New Hampshire
12.3
15.4 13.2
18.6
17.2
18.6
FY2010 $34,000
$0
$30,000
$0
New Jersey
14.5
13.9 15.9
16.4
15.7
16.4
FY2010 $0
$115,000
$41,000
$0
New Mexico
15.7
17.6 19.7
21.1
18.8
21.1
FY2010 $47,000
$46,000
$28,000
$0
New York
10.8
8.0 8.1
7.9
8.3
10.8
FY2004 $0
$0
$0
$0
North Carolina
13.7
15.4 16.5
15.6
15.6
16.5
FY2009 $184,000
$106,000
$0
$0
North Dakota
10.7
11.4 6.6
11.4
10.5
11.4
FY2008 $9,000
$0
$0
$0
Ohio
11.2
8.8 10.6
11.1
11.9
11.9
FY2011 $0
$0
$0
$83,000
Oklahoma
12.9
12.4 14.1
18.0
15.6
18.0
FY2010 $0
$129,000
$341,000
$0
Oregon
12.4
11.0 12.2
9.0
7.2
12.4
FY2002 $0
$0
$0
$0
Pennsylvania
9.3
10.0 11.6
13.9
13.2
13.9
FY2010 $142,000
$312,000
$394,000
$0
Rhode Island
11.0
9.5 11.3
8.7
9.6
11.3
FY2009 $0
$8,000
$0
$0
South Carolina
9.0
10.2 10.3
10.7
13.1
13.1
FY2011 $62,000
$3,000
$20,000
$108,000
CRS-32

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Initial
Actual Adoption Rate Achieved
Current
Fiscal
Incentive Increases States Were Eligible to Receive
Baseline
Baseline
Year
Highest
Highest
Highest
adoption rate
adoption rate Adoption
FY2002-
FY2002-
Rate
State
F2007
FY2008 FY2009 FY2010 FY2011
FY2011
Achieved
FY2008
FY2009
FY2010 FY2011
South Dakota
10.4
11.0 11.1
8.8
10.5
11.1
FY2009 $10,000
$2,000
$0
$0
Tennessee
14.1
14.2 13.9
14.5
11.5
14.5
FY2010 $5,000
$0
$17,000
$0
Texas
13.0
15.0 17.7
17.6
16.3
17.7
FY2009 $612,000
$765,000
$0
$0
Utah
21.6
19.8 18.8
20.7
19.7
21.6
FY2006 $0
$0
$0
$0
Vermont
15.0
13.8 13.0
15.2
14.4
15.2
FY2010 $0
$0
$2,000
$0
Virginia
8.7
8.0 8.9
10.9
13.8
13.8
FY2011 $0
$15,000
$117,000
$158,000
Washington
13.6
11.2 14.1
14.8
15.5
15.5
FY2011 $0
$53,000
$80,000
$73,000
West Virginia
10.9
11.6 12.2
15.4
16.7
16.7
FY2011 $32,000
$25,000
$137,000
$52,000
Wisconsin
14.3
8.4 9.8
10.2
9.8
14.3
FY2004 $0
$0
$0
$0
Wyoming
6.1
6.7 6.0
6.0
7.4
7.4
FY2011 $7,000
$0
$0
$7,000
Puerto Rico
2.7
2.0 2.9
1.8
0.9
2.9
FY2009 $0
$12,000
$0
$0
Median
12.0
11.2 12.2
12.0
13.1
13.8
$3,511,000
$3,530,000
$2,272,000
$898,000
Source: Table prepared by the Congressional Research Service based on earnings and award data received from HHS, Administration for Children and Families,
Administration on Children, Youth, and Families, Children’s Bureau. Adoption data used to calculate these rates are based on foster child adoptions as counted for the
Adoption Incentives program.
Note: A state is eligible for an increase in its Adoption Incentive award (above the amount, if any, it earned for increases in number of adoptions) if it improves its
adoption rate. However, any increase due to improved adoption rates may only be paid if there are sufficient funds remaining after the awards are made for increased
numbers of adoption. FY2008 is the first year for which increases tied to improved adoption rates were authorized and it is also the only earnings year for which some
funds were available to pay these increases. Specifically, for that year there were sufficient funds to pay about one-half (48%) of the increases for which states with
improved adoption rates were eligible. (The full increase for which states were eligible is shown in the table above, although states received less than $1.7 million of
these amounts.) In each succeeding earnings year, there were no funds available to pay increased incentive amounts to states with improved adoption rates. Therefore,
none of the amounts shown in the table above (for FY2009, FY2010, or FY2011) were paid to states that improved their adoption rates in those years.
a. As part of its comments in Child Welfare Outcomes, FY2008-FY2011, Illinois notes it has begun an improvement plan to address certain data concerns, including
recent system changes leading to a miscount of adoptions.

CRS-33

---

Table D-5. Incentives Earned by Award Category for Adoptions Finalized in FY2008-FY2011
Blank cell indicates not applicable
Special Needs
Total
Adoption Rate
Foster Child
Older Child
under Age 9
Adoption Rate
Incentive
Amount Paid
Amount
for which
TOTAL
State was
Expected
State
$ % $ % $ % $
Elig
% ible
$
%
to Be Paida
Alabama
$2,700,000 59.6% $1,576,000 34.8%
$32,000 0.7%
$221,000 4.9% $4,529,000
$0
0.0%
$4,308,000
Alaska
$1,004,000 42.5%
$808,000 34.2%
$464,000 19.6%
$88,000 3.7% $2,364,000
$0
0.0%
$2,276,000
Arizona
$5,040,000 43.2% $3,944,000 33.8% $2,064,000 17.7%
$624,000 5.3% $11,672,000
$31,200
5.0%
$11,079,200
Arkansas
$2,652,000 48.0% $1,016,000 18.4% $1,704,000 30.9%
$151,000 2.7% $5,523,000
$22,080
14.6%
$5,394,080
California
$620,000 36.4%
$704,000 41.4%
$0 0.0%
$377,000 22.2% $1,701,000
$180,960
48.0%
$1,504,960
Colorado $0
$0
0.0%
$0
0.0%
$11,000
100.0%
$11,000
$0
0.0%
$0
Connecticut
$772,000 61.0%
$280,000 22.1%
$0 0.0%
$214,000 16.9% $1,266,000
$63,360
29.6%
$1,115,360
Delaware
$28,000
20.1% $72,000
51.8% $36,000
25.9% $3,000
2.2% $139,000
$0 0.0%
$136,000
District of Columbia
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0

$0
Florida
$8,220,000 35.5% $5,376,000 23.2% $7,888,000 34.1% $1,652,000 7.1% $23,136,000
$563,040
34.1%
$22,047,040
Georgia
$132,000
10.1% $504,000
38.4% $120,000
9.2% $555,000
42.3% $1,311,000
$56,640 10.2%
$812,640
Hawaii
$152,000 24.6%
$440,000 71.1%
$0 0.0%
$27,000 4.4%
$619,000
$0
0.0%
$592,000
Idaho
$1,468,000 41.9%
$728,000 20.8% $1,144,000 32.7%
$161,000 4.6% $3,501,000
$4,800
3.0%
$3,344,800
Illinois
$60,000 14.6%
$352,000 85.4%
$0 0.0%
$0 0.0%
$412,000
$412,000
Indiana
$3,872,000 65.6% $1,392,000 23.6%
$404,000 6.8%
$232,000 3.9% $5,900,000
$111,360
48.0%
$5,779,360
Iowa
$0 $0 $0 $0 $0

$0
Kansas
$344,000 38.3%
$248,000 27.6%
$232,000 25.8%
$75,000 8.3%
$899,000
$0
0.0%
$824,000
Kentucky
$1,772,000 38.8% $2,152,000 47.2%
$640,000 14.0%
$0 0.0% $4,564,000
$0
$4,564,000
Louisiana
$3,064,000 51.6%
$904,000 15.2% $1,792,000 30.2%
$182,000 3.1% $5,942,000
$10,560
5.8%
$5,770,560
CRS-34

---

Special Needs
Total
Adoption Rate
Foster Child
Older Child
under Age 9
Adoption Rate
Incentive
Amount Paid
Amount
for which
TOTAL
State was
Expected
State
$ % $ % $ % $
Elig
% ible
$
%
to Be Paida
Maine
$28,000 8.2%
$0 0.0% $256,000 75.3%
$56,000 16.5%
$340,000
$5,280
9.4%
$289,280
Maryland
$248,000 30.5%
$440,000 54.1%
$0 0.0%
$126,000 15.5%
$814,000
$0
0.0%
$688,000
Massachusetts
$0 0.0%
$0 0.0%
$0 0.0%
$82,000 100.0%
$82,000
$0
0.0%
$0
Michigan
$2,344,000 45.4% $1,200,000 23.2% $1,276,000 24.7%
$346,000 6.7% $5,166,000
$0
0.0%
$4,820,000
Minnesota
$1,652,000
71.6% $152,000
6.6% $416,000
18.0% $86,000 3.7% $2,306,000
$41,280 48.0%
$2,261,280
Mississippi
$496,000 47.0%
$128,000 12.1%
$408,000 38.7%
$23,000 2.2% $1,055,000
$0
0.0%
$1,032,000
Missouri
$1,532,000 57.9%
$336,000 12.7%
$776,000 29.3%
$0 0.0% $2,644,000
$2,644,000
Montana
$0
0.0% $40,000
71.4%
$0
0.0% $16,000
28.6% $56,000
$7,680 48.0%
$47,680
Nebraska
$584,000
41.8% $72,000
5.2% $596,000
42.7% $145,000
10.4% $1,397,000
$37,920 26.2%
$1,289,920
Nevada
$2,460,000 48.3% $1,056,000 20.7% $1,240,000 24.4%
$335,000 6.6% $5,091,000
$0
0.0%
$4,756,000
New
Hampshire
$244,000
37.4% $280,000
42.9% $64,000
9.8% $64,000
9.8% $652,000
$16,320 25.5%
$604,320
New
Jersey
$0 0.0%
$0 0.0%
$0 0.0% $156,000 100.0%
$156,000
$0
0.0%
$0
New
Mexico
$876,000
45.9% $480,000
25.1% $432,000
22.6% $121,000 6.3% $1,909,000
$22,560 18.6%
$1,810,560
New
York $0 $0 $0 $0 $0
$0
North
Carolina
$988,000 26.2% $2,056,000 54.4%
$444,000 11.8%
$290,000 7.7% $3,778,000
$88,320
30.5%
$3,576,320
North
Dakota
$128,000 54.9%
$96,000 41.2%
$0 0.0%
$9,000 3.9%
$233,000
$4,320
48.0%
$228,320
Ohio
$0 0.0%
$0 0.0%
$0 0.0%
$83,000 100.0%
$83,000
$0
0.0%
$0
Oklahoma
$3,388,000
65.6% $624,000
12.1% $684,000
13.2% $470,000 9.1% $5,166,000
$0 0.0%
$4,696,000
Oregon
$476,000 50.6%
$128,000 13.6%
$336,000 35.7%
$0 0.0%
$940,000
$940,000
Pennsylvania
$4,052,000 47.0% $128,000 1.5% $3,588,000 41.6% $848,000 9.8% $8,616,000
$68,160
8.0%
$7,836,160
Rhode
Island
$212,000 48.2%
$104,000 23.6%
$116,000 26.4%
$8,000 1.8%
$440,000
$0
0.0%
$432,000
CRS-35

---

Special Needs
Total
Adoption Rate
Foster Child
Older Child
under Age 9
Adoption Rate
Incentive
Amount Paid
Amount
for which
TOTAL
State was
Expected
State
$ % $ % $ % $
Elig
% ible
$
%
to Be Paida
South
Carolina
$1,724,000
50.3% $672,000
19.6% $840,000
24.5% $193,000 5.6% $3,429,000
$29,760 15.4%
$3,265,760
South
Dakota
$72,000
38.3%
$0
0.0% $104,000
55.3% $12,000
6.4% $188,000
$4,800 40.0%
$180,800
Tennessee
$0 0.0%
$0 0.0% $764,000 97.2%
$22,000 2.8%
$786,000
$2,400
10.9%
$766,400
Texas
$11,428,000 38.7% $10,616,000 36.0% $6,080,000 20.6% $1,377,000 4.7% $29,501,000
$293,760
21.3%
$28,417,760
Utah
$1,568,000 53.6%
$536,000 18.3%
$820,000 28.0%
$0 0.0% $2,924,000
$2,924,000
Vermont
$0 0.0%
$0 0.0%
$0 0.0%
$2,000 100.0%
$2,000
$0
0.0%
$0
Virginia
$320,000 24.1%
$720,000 54.1%
$0 0.0%
$290,000 21.8% $1,330,000
$0
0.0%
$1,040,000
Washington
$3,956,000 60.8% $2,344,000 36.0%
$0 0.0%
$206,000 3.2% $6,506,000
$0
0.0%
$6,300,000
West
Virginia
$3,188,000 53.9% $1,616,000 27.3%
$864,000 14.6%
$246,000 4.2% $5,914,000
$15,360
6.2%
$5,683,360
Wisconsin
$412,000
92.0% $0
0.0%
$36,000
8.0% $0
0.0%
$448,000
$448,000
Wyoming
$44,000 14.0%
$256,000 81.5%
$0 0.0%
$14,000 4.5%
$314,000
$3,360
24.0%
$303,360
Puerto
Rico
$144,000
29.0% $304,000
61.3% $36,000
7.3% $12,000
2.4% $496,000
$0 0.0%
$484,000
TOTAL
$74,464,000 44.8% $44,880,000 27.0% $36,696,000 22.1% $10,211,000 6.1% $166,251,000
$1,685,280
16.5%
$157,725,280
Source: Table prepared by the Congressional Research Service based on earnings and award data received from HHS, Administration for Children and Families (ACF),
Administration on Children, Youth, and Families (ACYF), Children’s Bureau.
Note: States are expected to receive all incentive amounts they were eligible to receive for increases in the number of foster child, older child, and special needs (under
age 9) adoptions. However, they may only receive awards for improved adoption rates if there are sufficient funds to pay these awards at the time initial awards are
made for a fiscal year and after all awards for increases in numbers of adoptions are made. There were sufficient funds to pay some (48%) of awards earned for improved
adoption rates for adoptions finalized in FY2008. However, there were no funds for this award category for adoptions finalized in FY2009, FY2010, or FY2011.
a. In August 2012, states received an initial portion of any incentive earned for increases in the number of foster child, older child, or special needs (under age 9)
adoptions. At that time there were insufficient funds to pay the ful amount states earned. Therefore, states received a pro-rated amount ($31.8 million, 87%) of the
award they were eligible for increases in numbers of adoptions. Assuming HHS follows past practice, however, states are expected to receive the remaining award
amount ($4.7 million) out of FY2013 appropriations provided for the Adoption Incentive program.
CRS-36

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Child Welfare: The Adoption Incentives Program

Appendix E. Children in Foster Care and Waiting
for Adoption by State
Table E-1. Children in Foster Care on the Last Day of the Fiscal Year by State,
FY2007-FY2011
States are ordered by caseload change (largest % decline to greatest % increase), FY2007 to FY2011
% Change in
Caseload
FY2007-
State
FY2007 FY2008 FY2009 FY2010 FY2011 FY2011
Hawai 1,940
1,621
1,472
1,234
1,126
-42.0%
Georgia 12,197
9,984
8,068
6,895
7,591
-37.8%
Virginia 7,718
7,099
5,968
5,414
4,846
-37.2%
Rhode Island
2,768
2,407
2,112
2,086
1,806
-34.8%
Maine 1,971
1,864
1,646
1,546
1,296
-34.2%
New Hampshire
1,102
1,029
930
839
742
-32.7%
Pennsylvania 20,999
26,571
16,623
15,179
14,175
-32.5%
Maryland 8,415
7,613
7,065
6,098
5,704
-32.2%
Puerto Rico
6,330
6,185
5,351
4,476
4,363
-31.1%
Oklahoma 11,785
10,595
8,712
7,857
8,280
-29.7%
New Jersey
9,056
8,510
7,803
6,892
6,440
-28.9%
Wyoming 1,231
1,154
1,155
981
886
-28.0%
Idaho 1,870
1,723
1,446
1,462
1,354
-27.6%
Michigan 20,830
20,171
17,723
16,412
15,105
-27.5%
Alabama 7,262
6,941
6,179
5,350
5,295
-27.1%
Delaware 1,157
938
814
739
845
-27.0%
Florida 26,788
22,187
19,162
18,743
19,760
-26.2%
South Carolina
5,167
5,054
4,978
4,487
3,821
-26.0%
Minnesota 6,711
6,028
5,410
5,050
4,995
-25.6%
California 73,998
67,703
60,583
56,183
55,409
-25.1%
New Mexico
2,423
2,221
1,992
1,869
1,859
-23.3%
Vermont 1,309
1,200
1,062
933
1,010
-22.8%
Iowa 8,005
6,743
6,564
6,533
6,344
-20.7%
North Carolina
10,827
9,841
9,547
8,828
8,601
-20.6%
District of Columbia
2,197
2,217
2,111
2,066
1,797
-18.2%
Massachusetts 10,497
10,427
9,652
8,958
8,619
-17.9%
New York
30,072
29,493
27,992
26,783
24,962
-17.0%
Ohio 14,532
13,703
12,232
11,940
12,069
-16.9%
Congressional Research Service
37

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Child Welfare: The Adoption Incentives Program

% Change in
Caseload
FY2007-
State
FY2007 FY2008 FY2009 FY2010 FY2011 FY2011
Colorado 7,777
7,964
7,392
6,980
6,488
-16.6%
North Dakota
1,263
1,223
1,210
1,078
1,066
-15.6%
Louisiana 5,333
5,065
4,786
4,453
4,531
-15.0%
Connecticut 5,764
5,373
4,761
4,462
4,926
-14.5%
Washington 11,107
11,167
10,961
10,136
9,533
-14.2%
Alaska 2,126
1,954
1,851
1,765
1,829
-14.0%
Wisconsin 7,541
7,403
6,785
6,575
6,547
-13.2%
Nebraska 5,875
5,591
5,343
5,358
5,117
-12.9%
Kansas 6,631
6,306
5,691
5,979
5,852
-11.7%
South Dakota
1,566
1,482
1,484
1,485
1,407
-10.2%
Nevada 5,070
5,023
4,783
4,807
4,636
-8.6%
Kentucky 7,207
7,182
6,872
6,983
6,659
-7.6%
Oregon 9,562
8,988
8,650
9,001
8,871
-7.2%
Indiana 11,295
11,903
12,238
12,276
10,779
-4.6%
Utah 2,765
2,714
2,759
2,886
2,701
-2.3%
Tennessee 7,751
7,219
6,723
6,695
7,647
-1.3%
Illinois 17,864
17,843
17,080
17,730
17,641
-1.2%
Texas 30,137
28,154
26,686
28,947
30,109
-0.1%
West Virginia
4,432
4,412
4,237
4,112
4,475
1.0%
Arkansas 3,616
3,522
3,657
3,756
3,732
3.2%
Montana 1,737
1,600
1,639
1,723
1,794
3.3%
Missouri 10,282
7,607
8,667
9,880
10,620
3.3%
Mississippi 3,328
3,292
3,320
3,582
3,597
8.1%
Arizona 9,099
9,590
9,423
9,930
10,883
19.6%
TOTAL 488,285
463,799
421,350
406,412
400,540
-18.0%
Source: Table prepared by the Congressional Research Service based on caseload data by state, included in
HHS, ACF, ACYF, Children’s Bureau, “Foster Care FY2003-FY2011: Entries, Exits and Number of Children in
Care on the Last Day of Each Fiscal Year by State” (data are as reported by states via AFCARS as of July 2012).

Congressional Research Service
38

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Child Welfare: The Adoption Incentives Program

Table E-2. Children Waiting for Adoption, FY2007-FY2011, Percentage Change in the
Number of Those Children and Share Adopted by State
States are ordered by change in number of waiting children (largest % decline to greatest % increase),
FY2007-FY2011
Share of Children
%
Waiting on Last
Change
Day of Previous
in
Fiscal Year Who
Number of Children Waiting to be Adopted
Number Were Adopted in
of
Waiting
State
FY2007 FY2008 FY2009 FY2010 FY2011 Children FY2008 FY2011
Hawai
733
555
428
351
277
-62.2%
49.2%
56.4%
Maryland
1,660
1,506
1,221
883
719
-56.7%
36.7%
60.0%
New Hampshire
325
297
272
227
167
-48.6%
51.4%
63.4%
Idaho
593
576
498
389
334
-43.7%
39.8%
66.6%
Minnesota
1,674
1,393
1,227
1,073
955
-43.0%
46.9%
54.1%
Illinois
5,598
4,608
2,728
2,944
3,272
-41.6%
26.3%
41.3%
Pennsylvania
3,408
3,525
2,943
2,551
2,045
-40.0%
61.3%
78.9%
California
20,830
17,847
15,664
14,872
12,881
-38.2%
37.3%
36.0%
Colorado
1,762
1,897
1,506
1,246
1,098
-37.7%
57.0%
75.0%
Florida
7,927
7,942
6,364
5,022
4,994
-37.0%
48.8%
58.6%
District of Columbia
560
493
486
419
357
-36.3%
20.2%
25.3%
Puerto Rico
1,145
1,071
956
903
746
-34.8%
13.3%
6.2%
Oregon
2,527
2,206
1,840
1,827
1,663
-34.2%
41.6%
36.0%
Rhode Island
400
415
333
310
267
-33.3%
65.0%
64.8%
Missouri
2,853
1,792
1,982
1,952
1,946
-31.8%
30.6%
61.4%
North Dakota
337
288
298
227
230
-31.8%
47.2%
52.4%
Michigan
6,115
5,674
4,902
5,236
4,237
-30.7%
44.7%
47.7%
New Jersey
3,262
3,009
2,694
2,464
2,294
-29.7%
38.8%
44.2%
Alabama
1,824
1,751
1,475
1,271
1,296
-28.9%
24.2%
34.6%
North Carolina
3,095
2,903
2,722
2,427
2,234
-27.8%
54.7%
60.3%
Georgia
2,162
2,244
1,802
1,690
1,567
-27.5%
62.0%
63.4%
Oklahoma
4,022
3,766
3,429
2,872
2,956
-26.5%
37.7%
45.1%
Ohio
3,762
3,477
3,380
3,013
2,789
-25.9%
43.5%
47.1%
Virginia
1,834
1,769
1,617
1,562
1,372
-25.2%
36.2%
48.3%
Vermont
257
225
231
180
196
-23.7%
70.8%
74.4%
Montana
597
521
537
495
460
-22.9%
40.5%
48.1%
Delaware
311
304
239
253
244
-21.5%
35.7%
37.5%
South Carolina
1,781
1,823
1,862
1,699
1,415
-20.6%
29.5%
34.6%
New Mexico
963
907
870
777
786
-18.4%
44.3%
45.2%
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Child Welfare: The Adoption Incentives Program

Share of Children
%
Waiting on Last
Change
Day of Previous
in
Fiscal Year Who
Number of Children Waiting to be Adopted
Number Were Adopted in
of
Waiting
State
FY2007 FY2008 FY2009 FY2010 FY2011 Children FY2008 FY2011
South Dakota
452
423
380
418
376
-16.8%
38.9%
40.2%
Maine
614
619
571
575
511
-16.8%
52.4%
51.5%
Iowa
1,299
1,158
1,003
1,068
1,088
-16.2%
80.1%
80.9%
New York
7,659
7,014
6,890
6,603
6,418
-16.2%
31.3%
33.5%
Wyoming
151
98
73
85
127
-15.9%
61.6%
85.9%
Kentucky
2,153
2,101
2,048
1,951
1,918
-10.9%
35.9%
42.2%
Indiana
3,210
3,090
3,224
3,192
2,886
-10.1%
46.8%
48.7%
Wisconsin
1,284
1,329
1,255
1,159
1,163
-9.4%
56.2%
61.9%
Massachusetts
2,868
2,846
2,839
2,758
2,672
-6.8%
24.8%
26.3%
Alaska
766
769
714
686
714
-6.8%
38.4%
42.9%
Mississippi
898
996
975
843
880
-2.0%
31.3%
42.5%
Washington
2,837
3,035
3,147
3,089
2,783
-1.9%
44.4%
51.2%
Utah
574
553
565
553
567
-1.2%
93.4%
104.3%
Texas
13,552
13,414
12,844
13,108
13,481
-0.5%
33.4%
36.0%
Kansas
1,812
1,960
1,852
1,825
1,817
0.3%
39.8%
42.8%
Nevada
1,936
2,200
2,098
2,094
1,968
1.7%
24.3%
39.2%
Louisiana
1,137
1,069
1,093
1,091
1,162
2.2%
52.4%
58.8%
Nebraska
805
881
831
768
831
3.2%
64.6%
53.8%
Arizona
2,516
2,323
2,792
2,673
2,822
12.2%
67.4%
85.1%
West Virginia
1,278
1,300
1,220
1,241
1,473
15.3%
40.9%
56.2%
Connecticut
1,162
1,430
1,354
1,245
1,341
15.4%
66.4%
49.1%
Tennessee
1,622
1,477
1,326
1,692
2,027
25.0%
64.5%
45.6%
Arkansas
780
872
850
1,604
1,414
81.3%
64.7%
36.8%
TOTAL 133,682
125,741
114,450
109,456
104,236
-22.0%
41.3%
46.2%
Source: Table prepared by the Congressional Research Service based on state-level data reported via AFCARS
as of July 2012, included in HHS, ACF, ACYF, Children’s Bureau, “Children in Public Foster Care Waiting to be
Adopted” and “Adoptions of Children with Public Child Welfare Agency Involvement.”
Notes: There is no definition in federal law or regulation for the term “waiting for adoption.” For purposes of
analysis, and as used in this table, the HHS, Children’s Bureau counts as “waiting” any child in foster care with a
case plan goal of adoption and/or to whom all parental rights have been terminated. However, it excludes from
this count any youth 16 or older to whom al parental rights have been terminated if that youth has a case plan
goal of “emancipation.”
Although not true for every child, the very large majority of children adopted with public child welfare agency
involvement were previously in foster care.
Congressional Research Service
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Child Welfare: The Adoption Incentives Program



Author Contact Information
Emilie Stoltzfus
Specialist in Social Policy
estoltzfus@crs.loc.gov, 7-2324

Congressional Research Service
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