preview

Adoption And Safe Families Essay

Decent Essays
The Adoption and Safe Families Act was signed into action in 1997 by President Bill Clinton. The Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) of 1997 was implemented to improve the 1980 Child Welfare Act, the new act states the importance of child welfare agencies to work to place children into permanent housing at a faster rate. The Act made changes that increase the likelihood of children finding permanent housing. Some of the changes include; a requirement of children’s first permanency hearings to be held faster, 12 months instead of 18 months, sets new requirements for termination of parental rights by states, offers financial incentives for adopters in order to increase the number of adoptions, and the Act reauthorizes the Family Preservation and Support Program. The reauthorization of the Family Preservation and Support Program allows for the expansion of medical coverage for children with special needs, who often have the hardest time finding permanent adoptive homes, it also allows for states to develop standards to verify quality of services received.
The Act has four sections of provisions to ensure child safety and permanency. Title I of the ASFA specifies areas of reasonable efforts made for placements. Such as allowing for concurrent planning which works toward reunifying children with their parents while
…show more content…
While some of the negatives of the Act are the benefits for adoption versus reunification with family, the openness for interpretation by states to focus on adoption versus reunification, and the lack of funding for caseworkers working cases that require immediate changes due to new law. As with any law there are strengths and weaknesses and the Adoption and Safe Families Act is no
Get Access