Some states have banned adoption by gay people, though there is no proven difference in parenting skills between gay and heterosexual parents.

Judge Cindy Lederman concluded, "(R)eports and studies find that there are no differences in the parenting of homosexuals or the adjustment of their children.... (T)he issue is so far beyond dispute that it would be irrational to hold otherwise; the best interests of children are not preserved by prohibiting homosexual adoption." Sadly, the state government is appealing. In this case's background is the anti-gay industry's fight with the professional world -- from the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry to the Child Welfare League of America. Judges need to rule based on the scientific consensus that children raised by gay parents are at least as well adjusted as other kids. Despite that consensus, Mississippi bars gay couples from adopting, Utah bans cohabitating couples from adopting, and Arkansas bars cohabitating couples from fostering or adopting.

DECEMBER 1, 2008, Remove State Bans on Gay Adoption, by Deb Price, The Detroit News, http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage [posted 1/22/2009]

Relatives as foster parents have emerged in recent years as safe and nurturing placements. The federal government is being called on to support them by funding guardianship for relatives.

For many years, child welfare agencies largely overlooked relatives as resources for the foster care of children who had been abused or neglected. In the 1980s, however, as the need for foster care outstripped the supply of traditional foster families, child welfare agencies began to turn to relatives to fill the gap. Currently, more than 124,000 foster children, or one-quarter of all children in foster care in the United States, are placed with relative foster parents... Initially, relative foster care was seen primarily as an emergency response to provide care for children entering foster care. Over time, however, practitioners began to observe, and research confirmed, that many children placed with relatives fared better than children placed with non-related foster families. In many states, a preference for placement with relatives has been codified in law and practice. Research and experience have shown that children who must enter foster care generally benefit from placement with relatives. Although federal law authorizes that children may leave foster care through reunification, adoption or legal guardianship, federal financial assistance is dedicated only to support foster and adoptive families, not legal guardians. With federally-supported guardianship, thousands of foster children could leave care to lead normal lives with their relatives without the involvement of government agencies.

MARCH 2007, Time for Reform: Support Relatives in Providing Foster Care and Permanent Families for Children, The Pew Charitable Trusts and Generations United, http://kidsarewaiting.org/reports/files/timeforreform.pdf. [posted 4/24/2008]

An empirical study finds that children on the margin of foster care placement have better outcomes when they remain with their families.

An MIT Sloan School of Management professor has for the first time used the analytic tools of applied economics to show that children faced with two options - being allowed to stay at home or being placed into foster care - have generally better life outcomes when they remain with their families. "While much has been written about the trade-off between family preservation and child protection, little empirical work has been able to support a greater emphasis on either one," said Joseph Doyle Jr., assistant professor of applied economics at Sloan. "My research suggests that children on the margin of foster care placement have better employment, delinquency, and teen motherhood outcomes when they remain at home." Doyle, the Jon D. Gruber Career Development Assistant Professor of Applied Economics, said his study is the first to empirically demonstrate causal effects between placement decisions and long-term outcomes. "The child welfare system directly impacts millions of children at risk of poor life outcomes each year, yet much of the previous evidence on the effect of foster care on outcomes looked at correlations, not causal effects," he said. "But if you find that 28 percent of homeless people were once in foster care, it doesn't mean they are homeless because of foster care." Our research generally supports the current direction toward family preservation," said Doyle. "Future research should consider an even wider set of childhood outcomes."

JULY 3, 2007 Kids Gain More From Family than Foster Care, MIT News, http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/sloan-fostercare-study-0703.html.
Full report: MARCH 2007, Child Protection and Child Outcomes: Measuring the Effects of Foster Care, by Joseph J. Doyle, Jr., MIT Sloan School of Management & NBER, http://www.mit.edu/~jjdoyle/doyle_fosterlt_march07_aer.pdf. [posted 4/17/2008]

States are being encouraged to look at all the options for providing Medicaid to youth aging out of foster care till they are 21.

A new report finds that the cost of providing health care coverage to former foster youth is affordable. Under federal law, Title IV-E foster children are categorically eligible for Medicaid up to age 18; thereafter, states may offer continued coverage. The Foster Care Independence Act of 1999 and the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 have provided unique opportunities for states to extend Medicaid coverage for youth who have aged out of foster care. The report, "Medicaid Access for Youth Aging Out of Foster Care," finds that since 1999, 17 states have enacted the "Chafee option" to extend Medicaid to former foster youth up to age 21 and five more are planning to do so. The study finds that the cost of providing such care is only $110 to $350 per month. States may be able to use the newly enacted Deficit Reduction Act benefits flexibility option to create a program for these youth. Since enactment of the DRA, four states have enacted benefit flexibility options for various populations of their Medicaid programs. States could consider using this new flexibility to design a benefit package for youth who have aged out of foster care.

MARCH 2007, Study Provides Guide on Medicaid Coverage for Youth Aging Out of Foster Care, Policy & Practice, 65:1, p. 8.
Full Report: 2007, Medicaid Access for Youth Aging Out of Foster Care, The American Public Human Services Association, Funded by the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative and APHSA, in conjunction with the National Association of State Medicaid Directors and the National Association of Public Child Welfare Administrators, http://www.aphsa.org/Home/Doc/Medicaid-Access-for-Youth-Aging-Out-of-Foster-Care-Rpt.pdf. [posted 4/17/2008]

Opening up a child welfare tracking system to placement providers has helped keep the system up to date.

Child welfare agencies are responsible for some of the most vulnerable members of our society. Children in care are often shuffled between natural parents, foster parents, relatives and group homes. Often, this makes it difficult to determine the exact location of each child at any given moment. Being able to accurately track the whereabouts of these children can help keep them safe. SACWIS (Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information System) aims to record the movement of children among parents, providers, agencies and relatives, but this is only useful if caseworkers enter the data as location changes occur. The reality is that they cannot. Most caseworkers are over-stretched providing services to children and their families. This situation can be improved by recognizing that certain parties in this process, in addition to the caseworker, are naturally motivated to keep up-to-date child location information: the placement providers. Whenever a child enters or leaves a placement provider's facility, that provider can immediately record the placement information in the SACWIS. The updated location information is immediately available to caseworkers, their supervisors and executive management. Our location information is usually no more than a few hours old. We believe that this approach is part of an emerging trend that blurs the boundaries between public and private stakeholders in the human service space.

MARCH 2007, Knowledge Is Power: The Ability to Accurately Track Children In Care Can Help Keep Them Safe, by Anthea Seymour (Director of information systems at the District of Columbia's Child and Family Services Agency), Policy & Practice, 65:1, p. 23. [posted 4/17/2008]

Foster care is considered a disability issue by many because of the high prevalence of disabilities among foster children. Between 20 and 60 percent of children entering foster care have developmental disabilities or delays.

Youth with disabilities who are also in the foster care system are one of the most vulnerable populations in the United States, yet little attention is focused on the unique challenges they face as they negotiate their way through multiple systems to adulthood. The National Council on Disability (NCD) has decided to delve into the confusing and confounding world faced by these youth, draw attention to their situations, and start a dialogue about how federal, state, and local policies and practices can be more supportive of these young people. There is an enormous overlap of youth with disabilities and young people in the foster care system. Indeed, many advocates for these youth assert that foster care is a disability issue because the prevalence of disabilities among these youth is so high. Yet many individuals and systems associated with youth in the foster care system know little about the disability world and even less about ways to help youth with disabilities become self-sufficient and self-determined adults. The many systems that interface with these vulnerable youth, including family courts, child welfare, juvenile justice, health and mental health, and education, are disjointed, disconnected, and sometimes even at odds with one other. This situation is somewhat a result of the inherent complexities involved in these enormous systems, but blame can also be placed on the lack of a collaborative attitude owing to weak federal and state encouragement. But despite the challenges of obtaining accurate information about youth with disabilities in foster care, certain information about this population has been collected. For example, one study has determined that between 20 and 60 percent of children entering foster care have developmental disabilities or delays, compared with about 10 percent of the general population. These include cerebral palsy, developmental delays, learning disabilities, mental and emotional health issues, and speech, hearing, and vision impairments. Foster care alumni studies have also found patterns. The Northwest Foster Care Alumni Study (Pecora et al., 2003) found that more than half of alumni studied had mental health problems, compared with 22 percent of the general population. Of those studied, 25 percent experienced post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), compared with 4 percent of the general population, and 20 percent experienced major depression, compared with about 10 percent of the general population. Other commonly diagnosed mental disorders among these foster care alumni included social phobia, at 17 percent, panic syndrome, at 15 percent, and generalized anxiety disorder, at 12 percent. Regarding physical disabilities, one California study found that 8 percent of foster youth studied had some type of physical impairment, compared with between 1 and 2 percent of the general youth population. Needless to say, disabilities are extremely prevalent among youth who receive foster care, which is what makes these young people's situations and issues enormously worthy of exploration.

FEBRUARY 26, 2008, Youth with Disabilities in the Foster Care System: Barriers to Success and Proposed Policy Solutions, National Council on Disability, Washington, DC, http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/2008/pdf/FosterCareSystem_Report.pdf. [posted 4/3/2008]