Stop adoption bonuses: Change the Adoption and Safe Families Act
The Issue
I started this petition due to a situation our family is currently facing. My niece was taken from her mother and instead of being placed with a family member CPS placed her into foster care. The first case worker involved cussed at an insulted her two grown sisters when they inquried about her. She completely stonewalled all family members. The case was eventually given to another worker, however, they have continued to resist placement with family. CPS overstepped their bounds of authority by taking this child from family members who were willing and able to take care of her. The lack of cooperation with family was a huge red flag for me. I couldn't get away from the feeling that something was not right. Because of this, I started doing some research to see if other families have had simular experiences. That is when I discovered the Adoption and Safe Families Act, which pays bonuses for adopting out children in foster care. Sounds real nice, right? It was intended to encourage CPS workers to find permanent homes for children that had been in the foster system a long time. However, it has turned into a profitable business for people who prey on families with highly adoptable children. Please take the time to read the information below and view the links I've provided.
From the legislative desk of Senator Nancy Schaefer, 50th District of Georgia,November 16, 2007, Updated: September 25, 2008 - The Adoption and Safe Families Act, set in motion by President Bill Clinton, offered cash “bonuses” to the states for every child they adopted out of foster care. In order to receive the “adoption incentive bonuses,” local child protective services need more children. They must have merchandise (children) that sells and you must have plenty of them so the buyer can choose. Some counties are known to give a $4,000.00 bonus for each child adopted and an additional $2,000.00 for a “special needs” child. Employees work to keep the federal dollars flowing. The National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect in 1998, reported that six times as many children died in foster care than in the general public and that once removed to official “safety,” these children are far more likely to suffer abuse, including sexual molestation than in the general population.
The Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980 encouraged states to replace costly and disruptive out-of-home placements with preventive and reunification programs. The law, which is still in effect today, requires that before placing children in foster care, state agencies must make "reasonable efforts" to enable them to remain safely at home. It also mandates that states make reasonable efforts to safely return children in foster care to their parents.
Shattered Bonds: The Color of Child Welfare (2002), by Dorothy Roberts (Roberts, a professor of law at Northwestern University, argues that ASFA is a wrong-headed assault on family preservation that goes far beyond its goal of ensuring children's safety and establishes "a preference for adoption as the means of reducing the exploding foster care population.") - In the past several years, the pendulum of child welfare philosophy has swung decisively in the opposite direction. Congress has abandoned the focus on preventive and reunification programs it once expressed. Leading the way is the Adoption and Safe Families Act enacted by Congress in 1997 to amend the 1980 Child Welfare Act.6 President Clinton signed the law within a year of directing the federal government to take steps to double the number of foster children adopted annually to 54,000 by 2002.7 The new federal adoption law -- known as "ASFA" -- represents a dramatic change in the way the federal government deals with the overloaded foster care system. Its orientation has shifted from emphasizing the reunification of children in foster care with their biological families toward support for the adoption of these children into new families.
DSS and affiliates rewarded for breaking up families, By Nev Moore, Massachusetts News - Child "protection" is one of the biggest businesses in the country. We spend $12 billion a year on it. The money goes to tens of thousands of state employees, collateral professionals, such as lawyers, court personnel, court investigators, evaluators and guardians, judges, and DSS contracted vendors such as counselors, therapists, more "evaluators", junk psychologists, residential facilities, foster parents, adoptive parents, MSPCC, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, YMCA, etc. This newspaper is not big enough to list all of the people in this state who have a job, draw a paycheck, or make their profits off the kids in DSS custody.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/fostercare/inside/roberts.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztEqMounuRU
http://www.massnews.com/past_issues/2000/5_May/mayds4.htm
http://poundpuplegacy.org/node/20805
http://www.alamoministries.com/content/english/Gospel_literature/governmentracketeering.html
The Issue
I started this petition due to a situation our family is currently facing. My niece was taken from her mother and instead of being placed with a family member CPS placed her into foster care. The first case worker involved cussed at an insulted her two grown sisters when they inquried about her. She completely stonewalled all family members. The case was eventually given to another worker, however, they have continued to resist placement with family. CPS overstepped their bounds of authority by taking this child from family members who were willing and able to take care of her. The lack of cooperation with family was a huge red flag for me. I couldn't get away from the feeling that something was not right. Because of this, I started doing some research to see if other families have had simular experiences. That is when I discovered the Adoption and Safe Families Act, which pays bonuses for adopting out children in foster care. Sounds real nice, right? It was intended to encourage CPS workers to find permanent homes for children that had been in the foster system a long time. However, it has turned into a profitable business for people who prey on families with highly adoptable children. Please take the time to read the information below and view the links I've provided.
From the legislative desk of Senator Nancy Schaefer, 50th District of Georgia,November 16, 2007, Updated: September 25, 2008 - The Adoption and Safe Families Act, set in motion by President Bill Clinton, offered cash “bonuses” to the states for every child they adopted out of foster care. In order to receive the “adoption incentive bonuses,” local child protective services need more children. They must have merchandise (children) that sells and you must have plenty of them so the buyer can choose. Some counties are known to give a $4,000.00 bonus for each child adopted and an additional $2,000.00 for a “special needs” child. Employees work to keep the federal dollars flowing. The National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect in 1998, reported that six times as many children died in foster care than in the general public and that once removed to official “safety,” these children are far more likely to suffer abuse, including sexual molestation than in the general population.
The Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980 encouraged states to replace costly and disruptive out-of-home placements with preventive and reunification programs. The law, which is still in effect today, requires that before placing children in foster care, state agencies must make "reasonable efforts" to enable them to remain safely at home. It also mandates that states make reasonable efforts to safely return children in foster care to their parents.
Shattered Bonds: The Color of Child Welfare (2002), by Dorothy Roberts (Roberts, a professor of law at Northwestern University, argues that ASFA is a wrong-headed assault on family preservation that goes far beyond its goal of ensuring children's safety and establishes "a preference for adoption as the means of reducing the exploding foster care population.") - In the past several years, the pendulum of child welfare philosophy has swung decisively in the opposite direction. Congress has abandoned the focus on preventive and reunification programs it once expressed. Leading the way is the Adoption and Safe Families Act enacted by Congress in 1997 to amend the 1980 Child Welfare Act.6 President Clinton signed the law within a year of directing the federal government to take steps to double the number of foster children adopted annually to 54,000 by 2002.7 The new federal adoption law -- known as "ASFA" -- represents a dramatic change in the way the federal government deals with the overloaded foster care system. Its orientation has shifted from emphasizing the reunification of children in foster care with their biological families toward support for the adoption of these children into new families.
DSS and affiliates rewarded for breaking up families, By Nev Moore, Massachusetts News - Child "protection" is one of the biggest businesses in the country. We spend $12 billion a year on it. The money goes to tens of thousands of state employees, collateral professionals, such as lawyers, court personnel, court investigators, evaluators and guardians, judges, and DSS contracted vendors such as counselors, therapists, more "evaluators", junk psychologists, residential facilities, foster parents, adoptive parents, MSPCC, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, YMCA, etc. This newspaper is not big enough to list all of the people in this state who have a job, draw a paycheck, or make their profits off the kids in DSS custody.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/fostercare/inside/roberts.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztEqMounuRU
http://www.massnews.com/past_issues/2000/5_May/mayds4.htm
http://poundpuplegacy.org/node/20805
http://www.alamoministries.com/content/english/Gospel_literature/governmentracketeering.html
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Petition created on October 8, 2014