{ "id": "R43025", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "number": "R43025", "active": true, "source": "EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "versions": [ { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 432747, "date": "2014-07-15", "retrieved": "2016-04-06T20:15:56.451389", "title": "Child Welfare: The Adoption Incentive Program and Its Reauthorization", "summary": "Under the Adoption Incentive program (Section 473A of the Social Security Act), states earn federal incentive payments 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 $424 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). Discretionary funding authorized for this program has been extended twice since it was established, most recently in 2008 (P.L. 110-351). \nAlthough funding authority for the Adoption Incentive program expired on September 30, 2013, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2014 (P.L. 113-76) permits states to continue to receive the Adoption Incentive payments and appropriates $37.9 million for them. In addition, Title II of the Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act (H.R. 4980), which was introduced on June 26, 2014, would extend current annual discretionary funding authority ($43 million) for Adoption Incentive payments through FY2016. Beyond this, Title II of H.R. 4980 would add incentive payments for states that make improvements in appropriately moving children from foster care to legal guardianship and would determine awards based on the percentage (or rate) of children leaving foster care to adoption and/or guardianship, instead of the absolute number of children leaving. In similar statements issued on June 26, 2014, by the House Committee on Ways and Means and the Senate Committee on Finance, Representatives Camp and Levin, along with Senators Wyden and Hatch, announced H.R. 4980 as \u201cbipartisan legislation [that] reflects agreements reached between House and Senate negotiators\u201d on legislation previously approved in the House and in the Senate Finance Committee. Specifically, Title II of H.R. 4980 draws on H.R. 3205, passed by the House in October 2013, and provisions included in Title I of S. 1870, approved by the Senate Finance Committee in December 2013.\nCongress 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 \u201caging out\u201d of foster care. Since ASFA\u2019s 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%\u2014from a peak of 567,000 in FY1999 to 400,000 in FY2012. Despite these successes, however, the number of children \u201cwaiting for adoption\u201d (102,000 on the last day of FY2012) remains about 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 23,000 youth aged out of foster care in FY2012, compared to just 19,000 in FY1999. \nUnder the current award structure, a state\u2019s adoption incentive payment equals the specified incentive amount for a given category of adoptions multiplied by the number of adoptions in the category that is above the number completed by the state in FY2007. The specified incentive amount is $4,000 for foster child adoptions, $8,000 for older child (9 years or more) adoptions, and\u2014provided a state is eligible for an incentive in another award category\u2014$4,000 for special needs (under age 9) adoptions. Additionally, if sufficient appropriations are available in the fiscal year, a state may also earn incentive payments for improving the rate (or percentage) of foster child adoptions. In the five years (FY2008-FY2012) that this incentive structure has been in place, states received combined incentive payments of nearly $202 million, including $95 million for increases in the number of foster child adoptions, $57 million for increases in older child adoptions, and $48 million for increases in special needs (under age 9) adoptions. They also received about $2 million for increases in the rate of foster child adoptions. (This amount was significantly less than the nearly $12 million states were eligible to receive based on improved adoption rates. However, that full amount was not paid because nearly all appropriations provided were needed to make incentive payments for increased numbers of adoptions.)\nStates are permitted to use Adoption Incentive payments 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. \nIn addition to amending and extending Adoption Incentive payments, Title II of H.R. 4980 would extend funding for Family Connection Grants (Section 427 of the Social Security Act) for one year, add new reporting and spending requirements for states with regard to certain federal funds they receive under the adoption assistance component of the Title IV-E program, and make possible continued federal Title IV-E guardianship assistance eligibility for children already receiving that assistance who are subsequently placed with a \u201csuccessor guardian.\u201d Additionally, the bill would make changes to federal foster care requirements intended to further facilitate placement of siblings together while in foster care.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/R43025", "sha1": "5ecd844061bc0b46b012280aa0158891716e0d97", "filename": "files/20140715_R43025_5ecd844061bc0b46b012280aa0158891716e0d97.html", "images": null }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R43025", "sha1": "29e04f3cdd52baff8b319fca5ff9ca384e198251", "filename": "files/20140715_R43025_29e04f3cdd52baff8b319fca5ff9ca384e198251.pdf", "images": null } ], "topics": [] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc809784/", "id": "R43025_2013Apr18", "date": "2013-04-18", "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26", "title": "Child Welfare: Structure and Funding of the Adoption Incentives Program along with Reauthorization Issues", "summary": null, "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20130418_R43025_98179bafe5d2cafbbe1acc9fc1c899e662344317.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20130418_R43025_98179bafe5d2cafbbe1acc9fc1c899e662344317.html" } ], "topics": [] } ], "topics": [ "Appropriations" ] }