Adoption and Safe Families Act

Adoption and Safe Families Act

The Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA, Public Law 105-89) was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on November 19, 1997 after having been approved by the United States Congress earlier in the month.cite news | url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9806E6D81038F934A25752C1A961958260 | title= Clinton to Approve Sweeping Shift in Adoption | author=Katherine Q. Seelye | publisher="The New York Times" | date=1997-11-17 | accessdate=2008-03-15]

AFSA was enacted in an attempt to correct problems that were inherent in the foster care system that deterred the adoption of children with special needs. Many of these problems had stemmed from an earlier bill, the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980, although they had not been anticipated when that law was passed in as states decided to intrepet that law as requiring biological families be kept together no matter what. The biggest change to the law was how ASFA amended Title IV-E of the Social Security Act regarding funding.

Moreover, AFSA marked a fundamental change to child welfare thinking, shifting weight towards children's health and safety concerns at the expense of reuniting with birth parents no matter the level of abusiveness. En such, AFSA was considered the most sweeping change to the U.S. adoption and foster care system in some two decades. One of AFSA's lead sponsors, Republican Senator John H. Chafee of Rhode Island, said, "We will not continue the current system of always putting the needs and rights of the biological parents first. ... It's time we recognize that some families simply cannot and should not be kept together."

Ideas for the bill originated with both Democrats and Republicans. First Lady of the United States Hillary Rodham Clinton originally voiced interest in the issue of orphaned children in an article she wrote in 1995.cite web | title = First Lady Biography: Hillary Clinton | url = http://www.firstladies.org/biographies/firstladies.aspx?biography=43 | publisher = National First Ladies' Library | accessdate = 2006-08-22 ] She then held public events to give the issue exposure, and meet with U.S. Department of Health and Human Services officials and private foundation executives over policy questions and recommendations. The bill began in Congress with bipartisan support, then became contentious over issues of terminating birth parents' rights to children and funding levels for programs to keep children out of foster care.cite news | url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A00E7D91730F93AA15753C1A9669C8B63 | title= Campaigns Soft-Pedal On Children and the Poor | author=Somini Sengupta | publisher="The New York Times" | date=2000-10-29 | accessdate=2008-03-15] Hillary Clinton played a key role in finding a compromise between Republicans and Democrats on the latter issue after negotiations first broke down.

In greeting the final measure, Bill Clinton stated that the bill "makes clear that children's health and safety are the paramount concerns."

References

External links

* [http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=105_cong_bills&docid=f:h867enr.txt.pdf Full text of Adoption and Safe Families Act]
* [http://www.ncsl.org/statefed/cf/asfasearch.htm The Adoption and Safe Families Act]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Adoption in the United States — is the legal act of adoption, of permanently placing a person under the age of 18 with a parent or parents other than the birth parents in the United States.The 2000 census was the first census in which adoption statistics were collected. The… …   Wikipedia

  • Adoption disclosure — refers to the official release of information relating to the legal adoption of a child. Throughout much of the 20th century, many Western countries had legislation intended to prevent adoptees and adoptive families from knowing the identities of …   Wikipedia

  • Adoption — For other uses, see Adoption (disambiguation). Sister Irene of New York Foundling Hospital with children. Sister Irene is among the pioneers of modern adoption, establishing a system to board out children rather than institutionalize them.… …   Wikipedia

  • Cultural variations in adoption — Adoption is an arrangement by which a child whose biological parents are unable to care for it is adopted and given the same legal and social status as though he/she were the biological child of the adoptive parents. For example, under a system… …   Wikipedia

  • Disruption (adoption) — Disruption is the term most commonly used for ending an adoption. While technically an adoption is disrupted only when it is abandoned by the adopting parent or parents before it is legally completed (an adoption that is reversed after that point …   Wikipedia

  • Closed adoption — (also called confidential adoption and sometimes secret adoption) is the process by where an infant is adopted by another family, and the record of the biological parent(s) is kept sealed. (Often, the biological father is not recorded even on the …   Wikipedia

  • Child and Family Services Review — The Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSR) are conducted by the Children s Bureau, within the United States Department of Health and Human Services, to help States improve safety, permanency, and well being outcomes for children and families… …   Wikipedia

  • Interracial adoption — means placing a child who is of one race or ethnic group with adoptive parents of another race or ethnic group, usually through the public child welfare system. The most recent estimates, which include international adoptions, found that 8% of… …   Wikipedia

  • Christian law of adoption in India — Christians in India can adopt children by resort to section 41 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2006 read with the Guidelines and Rules issued by various State Governments. Apart from that there are customary laws… …   Wikipedia

  • Foster Care Independence Act — The Foster Care Independence Act (H.R. 3443) was passed by the United States Congress in November 1999 and signed into law by President Bill Clinton on December 17, 1999. [cite news | url=http://www.ssa.gov/legislation/legis bulletin 121799a.html …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”