§5111. Congressional findings and declaration of purpose

(a) Findings

Congress finds that-

(1) the number of children in substitute care increased by nearly 50 percent between 1985 and 1990, as our Nation's foster care population included more than 400,000 children at the end of June, 1990;

(2) increasingly children entering foster care have complex problems which require intensive services;

(3) an increasing number of infants are born to mothers who did not receive prenatal care, are born addicted to alcohol and other drugs, and exposed to infection with the etiologic agent for the human immunodeficiency virus, are medically fragile, and technology dependent;

(4) the welfare of thousands of children in institutions and foster homes and disabled infants with life-threatening conditions may be in serious jeopardy and some such children are in need of placement in permanent, adoptive homes;

(5) many thousands of children remain in institutions or foster homes solely because of local and other barriers to their placement in permanent, adoptive homes;

(6) the majority of such children are of school age, members of sibling groups or disabled;

(7) currently one-half of children free for adoption and awaiting placement are minorities;

(8) adoption may be the best alternative for assuring the healthy development of such children;

(9) there are qualified persons seeking to adopt such children who are unable to do so because of barriers to their placement; and

(10) in order both to enhance the stability and love of the child's home environment and to avoid wasteful expenditures of public funds, such children should not have medically indicated treatment withheld from them nor be maintained in foster care or institutions when adoption is appropriate and families can be found for such children.

(b) Purpose

It is the purpose of this subchapter to facilitate the elimination of barriers to adoption and to provide permanent and loving home environments for children who would benefit from adoption, particularly children with special needs, including disabled infants with life-threatening conditions, by-

(1) promoting model adoption legislation and procedures in the States and territories of the United States in order to eliminate jurisdictional and legal obstacles to adoption; and

(2) providing a mechanism for the Department of Health and Human Services to-

(A) promote quality standards for adoption services, pre-placement, post-placement, and post-legal adoption counseling, and standards to protect the rights of children in need of adoption;

(B) maintain a national adoption information exchange system to bring together children who would benefit from adoption and qualified prospective adoptive parents who are seeking such children, and conduct national recruitment efforts in order to reach prospective parents for children awaiting adoption; and

(C) demonstrate expeditious ways to free children for adoption for whom it has been determined that adoption is the appropriate plan.

( Pub. L. 95–266, title II, §201, Apr. 24, 1978, 92 Stat. 208 ; Pub. L. 98–457, title II, §201, Oct. 9, 1984, 98 Stat. 1755 ; Pub. L. 102–295, title IV, §401, May 28, 1992, 106 Stat. 211 .)

Amendments

1992-Pub. L. 102–295 amended section generally, designating existing provisions as subsecs. (a) and (b), inserting findings relating to the number of children in substitute care, foster care children with complex problems which require intensive services, infants born without prenatal care, addicted to alcohol or other drugs, or exposed to infection with the etiologic agent for human immunodeficiency virus, and percentage of children awaiting adoption who are minorities, inserting as purposes of this subchapter to provide a mechanism to recruit prospective parents for children awaiting adoption and to demonstrate expeditious ways to free children for adoption, and striking out as a purpose to provide a mechanism to coordinate with Federal departments and agencies to provide national adoption and foster care information data-gathering and analysis system.

1984-Pub. L. 98–457, §201(a), (b)(1), in provisions before par. (1), inserted "the welfare of thousands of children in institutions and foster homes and disabled infants with life-threatening conditions may be in serious jeopardy and that some such children are in need of placement in permanent, adoptive homes, that" and substituted "should not have medically indicated treatment withheld from them, nor be maintained in foster care" for "should not be maintained in foster care" and "children with special needs, including disabled infants with life-threatening conditions, by" for "children with special needs by".

Par. (2). Pub. L. 98–457, §201(b)(2), amended par. (2) generally. Prior to amendment, par. (2) read as follows: "providing a mechanism for the Department of Health and Human Services to (A) promote quality standards for adoption services (including pre-placement, post-placement, and post-adoption counseling and standards to protect the rights of children in need of adoption), and (B) provide for a national adoption and foster care information data gathering and analysis system and a national adoption information exchange system to bring together children who would benefit by adoption and qualified prospective adoptive parents who are seeking such children."