Foster Care: HHS Could Better Facilitate the Interjurisdictional Adoption Process
HEHS-00-12
Published: Nov 19, 1999. Publicly Released: Nov 19, 1999.
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Highlights
Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO provided information on interjurisdictional adoption issues, focusing on the: (1) number of foster children who are available and waiting for an adoptive home to be identified; (2) actions taken by state and county child welfare agencies and nonprofit organizations to improve the adoption process when prospective adoptive families and foster children live in different jurisdictions; and (3) actions taken by the federal government to improve the adoption process when prospective adoptive families and foster children live in different jurisdictions.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Health and Human Services | The Secretary of Health and Human Services should develop and make widely available an action plan to address areas that would facilitate the interjurisdictional adoption of foster children. The plan should critically assess planned and ongoing activities by HHS and others and, at a minimum, should include strategies to encourage collaborative partnerships among governments and others to promote standardization of homestudies and additional training on ICPC and its process. |
Closed – Implemented
DHHS continues to maintain its position that there is no need to create a public strategy paper (i.e., widely available action plan) and does not intend to develop such a document. However, according to agency officials, DHHS continues to make progress in implementing a three-pronged strategy--namely, through discretionary grant activities; assisting the Secretariat of ICPC to enhance technology, implementation, and management of ICPC; and supporting technical assistance and training through its resource centers--to facilitate the in jurisdictional adoption of foster children. In particular, DHHS awarded a 3-year discretionary grant in FY1999 to the Secretariat of the ICPC to improve implementation, identify barriers, and develop and implement solutions to improve ICPC operations. Among other activities, the grantee is in the process of working on barriers related to homestudies and training in ICPC processes for judges, attorneys, placement agencies, and parents.
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| Department of Health and Human Services | The Secretary of Health and Human Services should develop and make widely available an action plan to address areas that would facilitate the interjurisdictional adoption of foster children. The plan should critically assess planned and ongoing activities by HHS and others and, at a minimum, should include strategies to provide technical assistance to states on the effective use of adoption web sites to recruit adoptive families for hard-to-place foster children. |
Closed – Implemented
HHS continues to maintain its position that there is no need to create a public strategy paper (i.e., widely available action plan) and does not intend to develop such a document. However, according to agency officials, HHS continues to make progress in implementing a three-pronged strategy--namely, through discretionary grant activities; assisting the Secretariat of ICPC to enhance technology, implementation, and management of ICPC; and supporting technical assistance and training through its resource centers--to facilitate the injurisdictional adoption of foster children. In particular, DHHS will award a grant for the development and implementation of a national adoption internet photolisting service by September 30, 2000, to the National Adoption Center. Plans are for the site to debut in 2002. In addition, among activities to be conducted under a FY1999 3-year discretionary grant, the Secretariat of the ICPC will work on technology enhancements for both the national and state-to-state efforts.
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