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Is the Adoption and Safe Families Act Influencing Child Welfare Outcomes for Families With Substance Abuse Issues?
Child Maltreatment (2007)
  • Anna Rockhill, Portland State University
  • Beth L. Green, Portland State University
  • Carrie Furrer
Abstract

The Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) was designed to promote more timely permanent placements for children in the child welfare system. To date, however, available data have said little about whether ASFA is meeting its intended goals. This study looks at the impact of ASFA on parents struggling with substance abuse issues. The authors compared child welfare outcomes, pre- and post-ASFA, for children of more than 1,900 substance-abusing women with some treatment involvement. After the implementation of ASFA, children in this study spent less time in foster care, were placed in permanent settings more quickly, and were more likely to be adopted than remain in long-term foster care. The proportion of children who were reunified with their parent or parents stayed the same. These outcomes were apparent even controlling for case and family characteristics. Results are discussed in terms of the influence of ASFA on service delivery systems.

Keywords
  • Social service -- Research -- Methodology,
  • Social Work with families,
  • Adoption -- Case studies
Publication Date
February, 2007
Publisher Statement
Copyright (2007) Sage *At the time of publication, Beth L. Green was affiliated with NPC Research
Citation Information
Anna Rockhill, Beth L. Green and Carrie Furrer. "Is the Adoption and Safe Families Act Influencing Child Welfare Outcomes for Families With Substance Abuse Issues?" Child Maltreatment Vol. 12 Iss. 1 (2007)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/carrie_furrer/9/