adoption disruption

Earlier this week, while reporting on the confirmation of new Administration for Children and Families (ACF) leader Lynn Johnson, Youth Services Insider speculated that perhaps an agreement had been reached, or assurances had been made, about a timeline to finalize new child welfare data collection.

Lawrence Booker had been living apart from his adoptive family for around two years when he learned that his adoptive mother might still be receiving money for his care — money that could have gone a long way toward helping him instead.

Youth Services Insider has predicted that Adoption Subsidies Could Become a Hot Topic in Child Welfare. There is good reason to take another look at these subsidies. Most adopted parents are loving and generous people who spend much more on their children than they receive in subsidies.

When adoptions from foster care fall apart, youth often end up back in foster care, with a biological relative, or on the streets. But in most cases, the government still provides financial assistance to the adoptive parents.

Last month I wrote a column called “Why the ‘Foster-Care-at-All-Costs’ Crowd Will Never Surrender Their Horror Stories.” I offered those wedded to a take-the-child-and-run approach to child welfare a deal: a mutual moratorium on the use of horror stories to make our points.

The Imprint is highlighting each of the policy recommendations made this summer by the participants of the Foster Youth Internship Program (FYI), a group of 12 former foster youths who have completed congressional internships.

The curtain has closed on 2015, which was The Imprint’s third year of existence and our second full year of publishing. We have again more than doubled our page views. So Youth Services Insider begins with a hearty “Thank You” to anyone and everyone who read an article this year.

2016 could be the first year that America has clear, nationwide information about the success rate of adoptions from foster care. But the game plan for tracking this at the federal level might not capture the whole story; maybe not even half of it.

The Children’s Law Center of New York (CLCNY) will hold what Youth Services Insider believes is the first national event focused on a major blind spot in child welfare services: what happens when adoptions from foster care go bad?