Child Welfare: Better Data and Evaluations Could Improve Processes and Programs for Adopting Children with Special Needs

United States. Government Accountability Office.

United States. Government Accountability Office.

关键词: Government accountability -- United States.;    worker and family assistance;    child welfare;    letter report;   

RP-ID  :  GAO-05-292
RP-ID  :  246659

美国|英语

来源: UNT Digital Library

【 摘 要 】

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "On September 30, 2002, the most recent date for which Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) data were available, about 126,000 foster children were waiting to be adopted. Estimates suggest that a significant portion of these children had one or more special needs, such as a medical condition or membership in a minority group, that may discourage or delay their adoption. Federal support in the form of adoption subsidies and incentive payments to states is available to promote special needs adoption. This report (1) identifies the major challenges to placing and keeping special needs children in adoptive homes, (2) examines what states and HHS have done to facilitate special needs adoptions, and (3) assesses how well the Adoption Assistance Program and the Adoption Incentives Program have worked to facilitate special needs adoptions, and determines if changes might be needed."