Implementing Fully Every Tool in the Child Welfare Toolbox

Chuck JohnsonPresident and CEONational Council For Adoption

Thank You!

About NCFA

MissionPassionately 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• 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.

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Foster Care Trends

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Public Agency-Involved Adoptions Children in Public Foster Care

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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 fundso Required States to use reasonable efforts to move eligible foster care children

towards permanent placementso Promoted adoptions of all special needs children and ensured health coverage for

adopted special needs childreno Prohibited States from delaying/denying placements of children based on the

geographic location of the prospective adoptive familieso 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 performanceo Required States to document child-specific efforts to move children into

adoptive homes

• Clarified ''reasonable efforts'':o Emphasized children's health and safetyo 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 rightso A relative is caring for the child

• Reasonable efforts are not required to reunify families when:

o The child is an abandoned infanto The parent has subjected the child to “aggravated circumstances” such as

torture, chronic abuse, sexual abuse, or abandonmento The parent has committed, or assisted in the committing of, the murder or

voluntary manslaughter of one of the parent’s other childreno The parent has committed a felony assault resulting in serious injury to the

child or another child of the parento The parent had his or her parental rights involuntarily terminated to another

childo 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)

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Adoptions through Foster Care

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Recommendation #2Consider national child welfare legislation that promotes and rewards timely decision-making.

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 ConclusionIncorporate 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.