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June 2000Vol. 1, No. 4States at Work: Implementing the Adoption and Safe Families Act, Parts 1-3

American Public Human Services Association. 2000. 8 pages each. $20/three-volume set.

States at Work provides a snapshot of what States are doing to speed up the process of moving children out of foster care and into permanent homes to comply with the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) of 1997. This series reflects survey responses from 39 States and the District of Columbia conducted by the American Public Human Services Association to determine how States are implementing the act. Part I features successful adoption practices. Some of the best practice methods highlighted in the report are:

  • Recruitment, especially using the Internet to publicize adoptable children
  • Moving more quickly to terminate parental rights with diligent searches for birth parents
  • Partnering with private agencies
  • Concurrent permanency planning
  • Dual approval process for foster care and adoption
  • Subsidies and incentives

Part II focuses on innovative practices in child protection. Under ASFA, CPS workers are charged with pursuing reasonable efforts to preserve or reunite a family, termination of parental rights, and early case review when a child is removed from his or her home. Some important practices identified by respondents to the State survey were:

  • A comprehensive, structured decision-making model
  • Neighborhood-based multiple service delivery teams or child advocacy centers
  • Multidisciplinary teams to guide CPS workers
  • Intensive family preservation and reunification programs
  • Family group decision making in permanency planning
  • Mediation in dependency and neglect cases

Part III, in press, will showcase effective foster care practices. It will be published by mid-July.

To purchase the three-volume set of States at Work, contact:

American Public Human Services Association
810 First Street NE
Suite 500
Washington, DC 20002-4267
Tel: 202-682-0100
Fax: 202-289-6555
Email: pubs@aphsa.org
Website: http://www.aphsa.org