Last month, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar introduced the Supporting Adoptive Families Act (S. 369), “A bill to enhance pre- and post-adoptive support services.” The bill was referred to the Senate Committee on Finance, where it awaits a hearing. (For an easy-to-read version of the bill’s full text, see Text of the Supporting Adoptive Families Act from GovTrack.us.)

Adoption Support Services

The first section of S. 369 covers adoption support services. S. 369 would make it a purpose of the Stephanie Tubbs Jones Child Welfare Services Program (Title IV-B, subpart 1 of the Social Security Act) to ensure the well-being of adopted children and their adoptive families and to promote efforts aimed at preventing adopted children from entering foster care through the provision of pre- and post-adoptive support services.

S. 369 would then modify Promoting Safe and Stable Families (Title IV-B, subpart 2) by expanding the section on adoption promotion and support services. Currently, this section is fairly brief and defines “adoption promotion and support services” as “services and activities designed to encourage more adoptions out of the foster care system, when adoptions promote the best interests of children.” This would be modified to include domestic and international adoptions along with foster care adoptions, thus expanding the scope of the pre- and post-adoptive support services. It also modifies the “best interests” statement to read “consistent with promoting the best interests of adopted children and their adoptive families.”

Under this same section, pre- and post-adoptive support services are more explicitly defined to include:

  • information, education, and training for pre-adoptive parents on issues related to mental health, disabilities, culture, ethnicity, grief, loss, and attachment;
  • peer-to-peer mentoring and support groups for adoptive parents and for adopted children;
  • respite services;
  • direct services and counseling for adopted children (including treatment services); and
  • crisis and family preservation services.

Funding for Adoption Support Services

The next section covers funding for adoption support services by amending the Adoption and Guardianship Assistance Program of Title IV-E (Federal Payments for Foster Care and Adoption Assistance) to explicitly focus on the provision of pre- and post-adoptive support services. Specifically, it states that a “significant portion” of any savings in State expenditures for adoption assistance payments for children with special needs (who were involuntarily removed or voluntarily relinquished) must go toward the provision of pre- and post-adoptive support services, with the remainder going to other services for children and families that may be provided under Titles IV-E or B. Each State would also be required to submit a report the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) regarding the services that were provided using these savings.

Current law requires States to spend “an amount equal to the amount of savings” for the provision of “any service (including post-adoption services)” for children and families under IV-E or IV-B.

Federal Grant Program for Post-Adoption Mental Health Services

The bill also includes a new section in the Public Health Service Act (under Center for Mental Health Services) that would require the Administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to award grants or cooperative agreements to eligible entities (States, State-designated public or private nonprofit organizations, and federally recognized Indian tribes, tribal organizations, or urban Indian organizations) to develop and implement State-sponsored, statewide or tribal post-adoption mental health service programs for all adopted children. The eligible entity would be required to

  • report back on the efficacy of services provided;
  • develop and provide training and education regarding the mental health needs of adopted children and their families; and
  • develop and provide materials for potential adoptive parents interested in domestic and international adoptions on the possible need for post-adoption mental health services.

Only 1 grant per state would be awarded, and at least 85% of funds awarded would need to be used for direct services while at least 5% would need to be used for research and evaluation. Funding for this program would be $20,000,000 each fiscal year.

Data Collection on Adoption Disruption and Dissolution

The final section of the bill would amend Title IV-E by adding a section under collection of data relating to adoption and foster care that would require data to be collected regarding adoption disruption and dissolution. Adoption disruption occurs prior to adoption finalization, whereas adoption dissolution occurs after the finalization of an adoption. Data to be collected would include statistics and demographics concerning children adopted from other countries who experience disruption or dissolution. The purpose of this data collection is to more fully understand the causes of and potential preventive measures for adoption disruptions and dissolutions. This information would need to be included in the annual report on state child welfare outcomes required by law.