	Introduction

The Adoption Incentive program (Section 473A of the Social Security Act) provides federal payments to state child welfare agencies that increase adoptions of children who are in need of new permanent families. However, as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2014 ( P.L. 113-76 ), Congress extended states' eligibility to earn adoption incentive payments for an additional year and appropriated $37.9 million to make those payments. 4980 , introduced on June 26, 2014, draws on language in both of those legislative proposals. In addition to extending funding authority for incentive payments through FY2016, Title II of H.R. 4980 would make changes to the incentive structure established in the 2008 law—including by changing the award categories to focus more on permanency for children 9 years of age or older, establishing incentive payments for states that appropriately move children from foster care to legal guardianship, determining improvements in state performance based on the rate (or percentage) of children leaving foster care to adoption or guardianship (rather than the number), and putting additional focus on achieving permanence through adoption or guardianship for older children. Specifically, the bill would 
extend $15 million in annual mandatory funding for Family Connection Grants for one year (FY2014); that grant program was first established and funded in the 2008 law; adjust eligibility criteria for Title IV-E kinship guardianship assistance (which was first established in the 2008 law) to ensure continuous program eligibility for a child who must go to live with a "successor guardian" due to the incapacitation or death of his/her relative guardians; seek to further ensure siblings have the opportunity to live together while in foster care, by specifying that a 2008 requirement for state agencies to identify and give notice to grandparents and other relatives of children entering foster care includes identifying and providing notice to any parent of a sibling of a child entering care (provided that parent has custody of the sibling); and require additional reporting by states to ensure they spend any savings resulting from the expanded federal support for Title IV-E adoption assistance provided for in the 2008 law, and require that no less than 30% of any identified savings be used by the state to provide post-adoption or post-guardianship services and services to ensure safety and well-being of children who might otherwise enter foster care. Legislation to Extend Adoption Incentive Payments

On June 26, 2014, Representative Camp, with Representatives Levin, Reichert, and Doggett, introduced the Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act ( H.R. The bill's introduction was jointly announced by Representatives Camp and Levin, along with Senators Wyden and Hatch, and was described as "bipartisan legislation [that] reflects agreements reached between the House and Senate negotiators." Title II of H.R. 3205 , introduced by Representative Camp, with Representatives Levin, Reichert, and Doggett), which was passed by the House in October 2013, and Title I of the Supporting At-Risk Children Act ( S. 1870 ), which was approved by the Senate Finance Committee in December 2013. Title II of H.R. 4980 would renew discretionary funding authority for the program, renamed as Adoption and Legal Guardianship Incentive Payments, at the current annual level ($43 million) through FY2016. Award Amounts by Category

Under current law, a state's total adoption incentive payment is generally equal to the number of increased adoptions multiplied by the incentive payment amount tied to each category—$4,000 for foster child adoptions, $4,000 for special needs (under age 9) adoptions, and $8,000 for older child adoptions. H.R. Title II of H.R. Subsequent Activities in the Senate

On September 30, 2013, the Senate Finance Committee posted a discussion draft bill to reauthorize Adoption Incentive Payments and make certain other changes to federal child welfare policies. 110-351 ). 105-89 ). There are fewer children in foster care who are "waiting for adoption," and the average time it takes to complete an adoption has declined by roughly one year. Growth in the Number of Adoptions Out of Foster Care

The annual number of adoptions from foster care climbed from less than 30,000 in the mid-1990s, to a peak of some 57,000 in FY2009. Viewed as a rate—that is the number of children adopted during a given fiscal year for every 100 children who were in foster care on the last day of the preceding fiscal year—public child welfare agency adoptions more than doubled since the late 1990s (from a rate of roughly 6 adoptions per 100 children in foster care to 13 per 100). Established by ASFA in 1997 (at Section 473A of the Social Security Act), the Adoption Incentive program has been amended and extended twice: first, by the Adoption Promotion Act of 2003 ( P.L. Specifically, states may earn incentive payments for an increase in the
number of children adopted out of foster care overall; number of children adopted at age 9 or older; number of children adopted with special needs and who are under the age of 9; or rate at which children were adopted from foster care. However, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2014 ( P.L. In addition, no state may receive an award for an increase in the number of special needs adoptions of children under the age of 9, unless that state, in that same year, also shows an increase in of the number of foster child or older child adoptions (compared to what the state achieved in FY2007), or an increase in the state's rate of foster child adoption (compared to the rate it achieved in FY2002, or any higher rate achieved in a prior subsequent year). During the life of the program, all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have earned Adoption Incentive payments in one or more years and more than $423 million has been awarded to all states through FY2012. Awards by Category for Adoptions Finalized in FY2008-FY2012

Under the incentive structure used to make awards for adoptions finalized in FY2008-FY2012, states were eligible to receive $212 million and received a total of $202 million in Adoption Incentive payments. Many states report spending incentive funds on adoption-related purposes, including post-adoption support services (e.g., support for adoptive parent mentors or adoptive family support groups, respite care, casework and supports for adoptive families of children at risk of re-entering foster care); recruitment of adoptive homes (e.g., support for online adoption exchange or photo-listing, development of promotional materials, child-specific recruitment efforts); and training or conferences to improve adoption casework. At least one state reported using these incentive funds for foster care maintenance payments.
Under the Adoption Incentive program (Section 473A of the Social Security Act), states earn federal incentive payments when they increase adoptions of children who are in need of new permanent families. All 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico have earned a part of the $424 million in Adoption Incentive funds that have been awarded since the program was established as part of the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 (ASFA, P.L. 105-89). Discretionary funding authorized for this program has been extended twice since it was established, most recently in 2008 (P.L. 110-351).
Although funding authority for the Adoption Incentive program expired on September 30, 2013, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2014 (P.L. 113-76) permits states to continue to receive the Adoption Incentive payments and appropriates $37.9 million for them. In addition, Title II of the Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act (H.R. 4980), which was introduced on June 26, 2014, would extend current annual discretionary funding authority ($43 million) for Adoption Incentive payments through FY2016. Beyond this, Title II of H.R. 4980 would add incentive payments for states that make improvements in appropriately moving children from foster care to legal guardianship and would determine awards based on the percentage (or rate) of children leaving foster care to adoption and/or guardianship, instead of the absolute number of children leaving. In similar statements issued on June 26, 2014, by the House Committee on Ways and Means and the Senate Committee on Finance, Representatives Camp and Levin, along with Senators Wyden and Hatch, announced H.R. 4980 as "bipartisan legislation [that] reflects agreements reached between House and Senate negotiators" on legislation previously approved in the House and in the Senate Finance Committee. Specifically, Title II of H.R. 4980 draws on H.R. 3205, passed by the House in October 2013, and provisions included in Title I of S. 1870, approved by the Senate Finance Committee in December 2013.
Congress has long shown interest in improving the chances of adoption for children who cannot return to their parents and who might otherwise spend their childhoods in temporary foster homes before "aging out" of foster care. Since ASFA's enactment in 1997, the annual number of children leaving foster care for adoption has risen from roughly 30,000 to more than 50,000 and the average length of time it took states to complete the adoption of a child from foster care declined by close to one year (from about four years to less than three). Over the same time period, and in significant measure due to the greater number of children leaving foster care for adoption and at a faster pace, the overall number of children who remain in foster care declined by 29%—from a peak of 567,000 in FY1999 to 400,000 in FY2012. Despite these successes, however, the number of children "waiting for adoption" (102,000 on the last day of FY2012) remains about double the number of children who are adopted during a given year. Adoptions of older children remain far less common than adoptions of younger children, and some 23,000 youth aged out of foster care in FY2012, compared to just 19,000 in FY1999.
Under the current award structure, a state's adoption incentive payment equals the specified incentive amount for a given category of adoptions multiplied by the number of adoptions in the category that is above the number completed by the state in FY2007. The specified incentive amount is $4,000 for foster child adoptions, $8,000 for older child (9 years or more) adoptions, and—provided a state is eligible for an incentive in another award category—$4,000 for special needs (under age 9) adoptions. Additionally, if sufficient appropriations are available in the fiscal year, a state may also earn incentive payments for improving the rate (or percentage) of foster child adoptions. In the five years (FY2008-FY2012) that this incentive structure has been in place, states received combined incentive payments of nearly $202 million, including $95 million for increases in the number of foster child adoptions, $57 million for increases in older child adoptions, and $48 million for increases in special needs (under age 9) adoptions. They also received about $2 million for increases in the rate of foster child adoptions. (This amount was significantly less than the nearly $12 million states were eligible to receive based on improved adoption rates. However, that full amount was not paid because nearly all appropriations provided were needed to make incentive payments for increased numbers of adoptions.)
States are permitted to use Adoption Incentive payments to support a broad range of child welfare services to children and families. Many states report spending incentive funds on adoption-related child welfare purposes, including post-adoption support services, recruitment of adoptive homes, and training or conferences to improve adoption casework. A smaller number of states report using these funds for adoption assistance payments, improved adoption homes studies, child protection casework, foster care maintenance payments, or other child welfare purposes.
In addition to amending and extending Adoption Incentive payments, Title II of H.R. 4980 would extend funding for Family Connection Grants (Section 427 of the Social Security Act) for one year, add new reporting and spending requirements for states with regard to certain federal funds they receive under the adoption assistance component of the Title IV-E program, and make possible continued federal Title IV-E guardianship assistance eligibility for children already receiving that assistance who are subsequently placed with a "successor guardian." Additionally, the bill would make changes to federal foster care requirements intended to further facilitate placement of siblings together while in foster care.