Implementing Fully Every Tool
in the Child Welfare Toolbox
Chuck Johnson
President and CEO
National Council For Adoption
Thank You!
About NCFA
Mission
Passionately committed to the belief that every child deserves to
thrive in a nurturing, permanent family, NCFA’s mission is to meet
the diverse needs of children, birthparents, adopted individuals,
adoptive families, and all those touched by adoption through global
advocacy, education, research, legislative action, and collaboration.
Verdict is in:
Children need a permanent and stable
connection to a caregiver to develop normally and this is best achieved in a permanent and
legally-recognized family.
The “Serve and Return” Process – it’s this give
and take between the child and the caregiver
that helps the brain learn to function
properly.
Science Proves the Damage
Children without families experience
toxic stress which often leads to
permanent damage.
Scientific studies prove that
children’s brains don’t develop
properly without consistent parental
care and connection.
Children who cannot bond with a
parental figure during the first years
of life experience toxic stress which
often leads to profound, permanent
damage.
Science Proves the Damage
A picture of the neurological impact on a child’s
brain from institutionalization
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Reduced brain activity
Reduced IQ
Smaller brain
Mental health problems
Inability to attach
Difficulty earning a living
SOME RECOVERY POSSIBLE
TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE
Child Welfare Continuum
Recommendation #1:
Review and remove unnecessary delays to the
process with the stated goal of achieving
permanency for the child sooner than is
happening presently.
Foster Care Trends
(1995 – 2011)
700
Children (In Thousands)
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Fiscal Year
Public Agency-Involved Adoptions
Children in Public Foster Care
Four Larger Goals of AFSA
• To promote the safety of children first and foremost
• To decrease the time it takes to achieve permanency for
children
• To promote adoption and other permanency options
• To enhance state capacity and accountability for both safety
and permanency
http://www.naswdc.org/practice/children/cws1003.pdf
Major Specific Provisions of AFSA
• Extended categories of services to include time-limited reunification
services and adoption promotion and support services
• Added ''safety of the child'' to every step of the case plan and review
process
• Accelerated permanent placement:
o Required States to initiate court proceedings to free a child for adoption once that child had
been waiting in foster care for at least 15 of the most recent 22 months, unless there was an
exception
o Allowed children to be freed for adoption more quickly in extreme cases
• Promoted adoptions:
o Rewarded States that increased adoptions with incentive funds
o Required States to use reasonable efforts to move eligible foster care children
towards permanent placements
o Promoted adoptions of all special needs children and ensured health coverage for
adopted special needs children
o Prohibited States from delaying/denying placements of children based on the
geographic location of the prospective adoptive families
o Required States to document and report child-specific adoption efforts
Major Specific Provisions of AFSA
• Increased accountability:
o Required HHS to establish new outcome measures to monitor and improve State
performance
o Required States to document child-specific efforts to move children into adoptive homes
• Clarified ''reasonable efforts'':
o Emphasized children's health and safety
o Required States to specify situations when services to prevent foster placement and
reunification of families are not required
• Required shorter time limits for making decisions about
permanent placements:
o Required permanency hearings to be held no later than 12 months after
entering foster care
o Required States to initiate termination of parental rights proceedings after the
child has been in foster care 15 of the previous 22 months, except if not in the
best interest of the child, or if the child is in the care of a relative
Major Specific Provisions of AFSA
• States have the option not to pursue termination of parental rights
(TPR) when any of these three conditions apply:
o A compelling reason can be demonstrated regarding why it would not be in the best interest of
the child to terminate parental rights
o A relative is caring for the child
• Reasonable efforts are not required to reunify families when:
o The child is an abandoned infant
o The parent has subjected the child to “aggravated circumstances” such as torture,
chronic abuse, sexual abuse, or abandonment
o The parent has committed, or assisted in the committing of, the murder or
voluntary manslaughter of one of the parent’s other children
o The parent has committed a felony assault resulting in serious injury to the child or
another child of the parent
o The parent had his or her parental rights involuntarily terminated to another child
o The state has determined that another reason exists that justifies not using
reasonable efforts to reunify the family, with the child’s health and safety as the
paramount concern
State Incentives
• The Adoption Incentives program provides federal bonus funds
to state child welfare agencies that increase adoptions of
children who are in need of new permanent families.
• States earn Adoption Incentive funds in four ways. For an
increase in the (1) number of children adopted out of foster
care overall, (2) number of children adopted at age 9 or older,
(3) number of children adopted with special needs and who
are under the age of 9, (4) rate at which children are adopted
from foster care. http://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R43025.pdf (page
5)
Adoptions through Foster Care
(1995 – 2011)
60
Children (In Thousands)
50
40
30
20
10
0
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Fiscal Year
Recommendation #2
Consider national child welfare legislation that
promotes and rewards timely decisionmaking.
Recommendation #3
Incorporate Concurrent Planning into the
existing child welfare process.
Concurrent Planning…
is an approach that seeks to eliminate delays
in achieving permanency for children outside
of parental care by identifying and working
toward two desirable goals at the same time.
In Conclusion
Incorporate Every Tool in the Child Welfare Toolbox to Achieve
Permanency by:
1. Reviewing and removing unnecessary delays to the process
with the stated goal of achieving permanency for the child
sooner than is happening presently.
2. Considering national child welfare legislation that promotes
and rewards timely decision-making.
3. Incorporating Concurrent Planning into the existing child
welfare decision-making process.