Arts , Humanities & Social Science

Abstract

In 1997 the Adoption and Safe Families Act was enacted in response to the number of children that had been in foster care for an extended amount of time. Many of the children that spent an extended amount of time in the foster care system also experienced multiple placements. While children languish in the foster care system their ability to form healthy attachments to caregivers and establish a sense of stability suffers greatly. The hope was that the Adoption and Safe Families Act would facilitate more adequate permanency planning and thus, providing more stability and security for the children. This writing will explore the impact that key provisions of the Adoption and Safe Families Act has on the permanency rate for youth that are removed from their family of origin, what the consequences are, and where improvements could be made.