The process for placing children in foster care would be modernized and streamlined under legislation introduced by U.S. Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) last week to help relieve the country’s overwhelmed adoption system.
Under current processes, foster care approval systems are paper-based and vary from state to state. The Modernizing the Interstate Placement of Children in Foster Care Act would support updating a standardized interstate system called the National Electronic Interstate Compact Enterprise (NEICE).
“Thousands of children in my state have lost loving parents to opiate addiction, and I fear if we do nothing, we’ll lose thousands in the next generation, too,” Young said. “Modernizing the outdated interstate child placement process is one of a number of proposals that are urgently needed. It will help alleviate the strain on the foster care system. It will more quickly get children placed into loving homes where a set routine and stability will help them cope. Tragedy compounded by extended stints in various foster arrangements has proven detrimental to a child’s future.”
U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who introduced the bill with Young, added that Iowa is not a member of the NEICE system. As a result, there would be delays in paperwork needed for the adoption of a child in Red Oak, Iowa, by a family across the state line in Omaha, Nebraska, for example.
“Throughout the country, caseworkers often avoid exploring out of state placements because of the long delays in processing the paperwork,” Grassley said. “Our bill gives incentives to states to join the NEICE system and streamline the paperwork to make foster care placements and eventual adoption happen faster. The more we can do to give children safe, stable homes, the better. The increased displacement of kids due to parental substance abuse, including opioid abuse, makes this cause especially important.”
The bill, which drew bipartisan support, including from U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), has been lauded by child welfare advocates and groups.
Cynthia Booth, the executive director of Child Advocates of Indianapolis, said the bill emphasizes what is best for children in the foster care program. “Delays to a permanent home are frustrating for a child, especially when those delays are caused by the outdated processing of paperwork,” she said.
John Sciamanna, the vice president of public policy for Child Welfare League of America, also voiced his organization’s support for the bill. “Research now shows that we can use 21st century internet and digital technology to speed up adoptions. With more than 112,000 waiting to be adopted, that is in everybody’s interest,” he said.
Other groups supporting the bill include the American Public Human Services Association, Child Welfare League of America, Children’s Home Society of America, Consortium for Children, and the National Association of Counties, among others.