Adoption Incentives Bill Passes in House, Heads to Senate for Final Vote

From CQ Politics, Sept. 17, 2008

The House passed a compromise bill Wednesday to renew and expand incentives for adoption, with the Senate expected to clear the legislation within days.

The bill, which passed by voice vote, combines elements of proposals from both chambers, including a bill by Sen. Charles E. Grassley , R-Iowa, that the Senate Finance Committee approved last week and a bill the House passed in June.

The measure would double the amount states receive for the completion of certain adoptions. If a state boosts adoptions of special-needs children above its previous high point, it would thereafter receive $4,000 per adoption, up from $2,000; for increasing adoptions of children over age 9, in the same way, a state would receive $8,000 per child, up from $4,000.

The bill also would establish “Family Connection Grants” to spur placement of foster children with blood relatives such as grandparents, or aunts and uncles. Relatives who adopt those children would receive the same federal payments as non-relatives who adopt a child out of foster care.

The bill also would make older foster children eligible to receive support benefits until age 21, expand programs to bring foster children to and from school, and extend all program benefits to Indian tribes as well as states .

Adoption advocates say the bill is the most comprehensive overhaul of the adoptions incentives program since its inception in 1997. The current incentives expire Sept. 30, so Congress is rushing to send this legislation to President Bush, who is expected to sign it.

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