March 2010Vol. 11, No. 2Key Themes in Child Welfare Legislation Since 2000
Since 2000, Federal child welfare legislation has shaped the delivery of State child welfare services by increasingly requiring the incorporation of innovative best practices into federally funded child welfare programs. Four Federal legislative themes demonstrate some of the overarching efforts to improve programs and services that ensure the safety, permanency, and well-being of children.
- Ensuring Protection of Children in Foster Care. Increased requirements and guidelines were added to existing Federal child welfare legislation in the past decade to improve the safety of children in foster care:
- Required fingerprint-based criminal record and State child abuse registry checks for prospective foster/adoptive parents and relative guardians (Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006; Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008)
- Supporting Older Foster Youth and Youth Aging Out of Care. Concern regarding the number of older youth remaining in foster care and long-term outcomes of youth aging out of foster care prompted legislative efforts to include federally funded programs and services designed to improve permanency and well-being of older youth in foster care:
- Created a voucher program to provide education and training to youth who aged out of foster care (Promoting Safe and Stable Families Amendments of 2001)
- Implemented programs to increase the number of older foster children placed in adoptive families, including a program to eliminate barriers to placing children for adoption across jurisdictional boundaries (Keeping Children and Families Safe Act of 2003)
- Presented IV-E agencies with the option to extend title IV-E assistance to otherwise eligible youth who are in foster care after reaching age 18 (Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008)
- Focus on Child Well-Being Outcomes. Children in foster care often have multiple and complex issues that affect their well-being. Federal legislation has addressed the importance of improving outcomes of a child's physical, mental, and educational well-being:
- Emphasized linkages in States between child welfare agencies and other State agencies (public health, mental health, etc.) (Keeping Children and Families Safe Act of 2003)
- Required that a child's health and education records be supplied to the foster parent at the time of placement (Safe and Timely Interstate Placement of Foster Children Act of 2006)
- Required IV-B agencies to develop ongoing oversight and coordination of health-care services for children in foster care, including coordination with the State Medicaid agency (Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008)
- Added a case plan requirement to ensure educational stability for children in foster care and required that each IV-E agency ensure that each child receiving a IV-E payment is in school full-time (Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008)
- Reducing Barriers to Placing Children in Permanent Homes.
The movement to reduce barriers to permanency for children has encouraged the use of incentives and other strategies to find safe and nurturing placements and move children into legally permanent homes:- Created a new plan option for States and Tribes to provide federally subsidized kinship guardianship assistance payments on behalf of eligible children and their siblings under specified circumstances (Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008)
- Revised adoption assistance eligibility criteria to delink the Adoption Assistance Program from the Aid to Families With Dependent Children requirements (Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008)
- Amended title IV-E requirements with respect to States eligible to receive Adoption Incentive payments to provide payments for special needs adoptions that are not older child adoptions as well as adoptions of children 9 and older (Adoption Promotion Act of 2003)
- Required assurances in IV-E plans that the agency will eliminate legal barriers to facilitate timely adoptive or permanent placements (Safe and Timely Interstate Placement of Foster Children Act of 2006)
For more information on Federal child welfare legislation, visit the Child Welfare Information Gateway website: