Rethinking Support for Adoptive Parents

Mary Eschelbach Hansen, American University

Abstract

Since 1980, the U.S. government has offered subsidies to encourage surrogate parents to adopt children who are in foster care and cannot be reunited with their birth parents. Despite some success, the subsidy program has not attracted enough parents to meet the needs of the children. The critical problem is that the subsidy program does not adequately recognize the difficulty of assessing the child’s future needs; therefore, the subsidy does not adequately reduce the substantial financial risk associated with caring for a child adopted from foster care. A supplementary insurance program could attract new adoptive families and could also improve outcomes for children.