HHS awards $39 million to states for increasing adoptions

Georgia to receive over $364,000 as incentive

The U. S. Department of Health and Human Services today awarded $39 million to 38 states and Puerto Rico for increasing the number of children adopted from foster care. States use the funds from this adoption incentive award to improve their child welfare programs.

"All children deserve loving, safe and permanent homes," said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. "It is gratifying that most states continue to excel in promoting the adoption of children from foster care. I sincerely thank every adoptive family that has welcomed a child into their home."

States receive $4,000 for every child adopted beyond their best year's total, plus a payment of $8,000 for every child age 9 and older and $4,000 for every special needs child adopted above the respective baselines. The year 2007 is the baseline.

This year's incentive award recipients completed more adoptions in 2009 than in the 2007 baseline year.

"America's communities benefit when children grow up in stable families," said David A. Hansell, HHS acting assistant secretary for children and families. "We're very pleased that the adoption incentives program is helping states improve their programs and place more children into homes that are theirs forever."

States and territories receiving today's funding are: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and Puerto Rico.

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Georgia Child Welfare Reforms Endangered by New Litigation

/PRNewswire/ -- Legal action by a group that calls itself "Children's Rights" (CR) threatens child welfare reforms that have made Georgia's children safer, a national child advocacy group said Tuesday.

CR issued an inflammatory press release alleging that Georgia "may" be endangering thousands of children by keeping them out of foster care. "They rely largely on horror story cases from the state's Office of Child Advocate (OCA)," said Richard Wexler, executive director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform. "But when you try to make policy based on horror stories the results for children are horrible.

"In fact, since Georgia instituted its 'diversion' program, child safety has significantly improved. That's clear from the reduction in re-abuse of children known to the child welfare agency - a reduction seen both in formally-opened cases and in cases where families are helped through a process known in Georgia as 'diversion.'

"In contrast, independent court-appointed monitors overseeing a consent decree negotiated by CR concerning foster care in Atlanta found that there is a huge problem of abuse in foster care itself. Just two months ago, CR's own Associate Director, Ira Lustbader declared that 'We are extremely concerned that children in the Atlanta foster care system are simply not safe. ...' Yet now, CR is back in court, initiating a process apparently designed to shovel more children into this unsafe system."

At the moment, Wexler said, CR is seeking only further information - information even the court monitors refuse to help them get. "As a matter of principle, we believe almost every record maintained by a child welfare agency should be public. So we believe that even though CR may misuse the information, they should get it."

In addition, Wexler said, though diversion has made Georgia's children safer, OCA found real problems in the process, including a lack of statewide standards.

"Georgia has contracted with an outside expert to design a statewide system based on best practice in other states. OCA should monitor the process and make sure it's implemented. That's a far better approach than the one taken by CR, which seems intent on scaring Georgians away from a safe, proven alternative to needless foster care," Wexler said.

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