State Child Welfare Policy Guide: Part of the Policy Matters Series

5. Adoption

When children in foster care can not return home, adoption is the best possible option for long term security with a family. Adoption from foster care can provide children with the safety and security of a permanent family. It also helps to prevent the negative outcomes associated with aging out of foster care with no permanent home. (see Policy area 7, “Youth in Transition to Adulthood” which summarizes this research)

Adoption not only benefits the individual child, but has long term social and financial benefits to society. Research has shown that both the public and private benefits of adoption are considerable. In terms of public benefits, adoption helps to prevent the long term costs of foster care, special education and juvenile justice involvement. Private benefits include the income contributed to society over the life of an adopted child. The research concludes that a dollar spent on adoption subsidy yields approximately three dollars in benefits to society. [i]

Another study estimates that for the 50,000 children adopted from foster care each year, government savings range from $3.3 billion to $6.3 billion, depending upon the subsidy rate provided in the state. [ii] Savings are realized by the reduced foster care costs associated with children exiting foster care, as well as the negative outcomes and costs associated with children aging out of care.

Adoption from foster care has received considerable attention, particularly since enactment of the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1998. This act provided additional support to children awaiting adoption by tightening the timeframes for making decisions about children in foster care and requiring more oversight of case plans by child welfare agencies and the courts. It also provided incentives to states to achieve adoption for children with special needs, including older children and children of color. As a result adoptions have more than doubled over the last decade. In 1995, there were 25,000 adoptions from foster care. Today, public agencies consistently find adoptive families for 50,000 children in foster care who can not return home. [iii]

Despite these successes, there is still much work to be done. In 2006, there were 130,000 children waiting to be adopted. Of these waiting children, 84,000 already had their parental rights terminated and were legally free for adoption. Many of these children have been in foster care too long. Of the 130,000 children waiting to be adopted from foster care in 2006, 60% had been in foster care two years or more. [iv]

Policymakers have a range of policy options available to them to further enhance the adoption of children from foster care. These include policies designed to strengthen the subsidy and benefits program for children adopted from foster care, as well as those intended to streamline court processes for oversight and termination of parental rights. Policies that can further promote adoption from foster care include the following options.

Specific state policy options are presented for each of the following areas:

5.1 Adequate adoptions, subsidies and benefits

5.2 Streamline court processes

5.3 Post-adoption services

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