Last week we noted that the Children’s Bureau released the latest history of the Adoption and Legal Guardianship Incentives Payment Program—Earnings History by State. The table also shows the state awards for FY 2019. A few days later, the Bureau published the individual categories of awards for each state.
The individual categories of awards that make up each state’s overall incentive include total adoption award amounts, total guardianship award, pre-adolescent (ages 9-13) adoption and guardianship awards, and the older child (ages 14+) adoption and guardianship awards.
FY 2019 ended on September 30, 2019, and the awards of $75 million in appropriated funds are provided to states based on their ability to increase adoptions and some legal guardianships of children in foster care. Since the incentive funds were established as part of ASFA’s enactment in 1997, the annual number of children leaving foster care for adoption has risen from roughly 28,000 at the end of the last century to more than 63,000 in 2018.
