S 600119th CongressIn Committee

Supporting Adopted Children and Families Act

Introduced: Feb 13, 2025

Standard Summary

Comprehensive overview in 1-2 paragraphs

This bill, the Supporting Adopted Children and Families Act, would strengthen and expand federal support for adoption-related services. It does three main things: (1) explicitly adds pre- and post-adoption support services to the services intended to promote and support adoptions, with a focus on the well-being of adopted children and their families; (2) creates a new federal grant program to fund statewide post-adoption and post-legal guardianship mental health services, including training, respite care, direct services for children and families, and data collection; and (3) expands data collection and reporting on adoption disruption and dissolution, including establishing an advisory committee to improve data and policy. The changes would begin to take effect in late 2025 and would apply to certain payments under the Social Security Act (Title IV-B and IV-E) with some tribal and state flexibility for implementation.

Key Points

1Expanded purpose for adoption services
2- The bill amends the Social Security Act to explicitly include “the well-being of adopted children and their adoptive families” and to promote efforts to prevent adoptions from entering the foster care system through pre- and post-adoption support.
3Broadening the scope of pre- and post-adoption services
4- Pre-adoption services: training, counseling, educational resources for adoptive parents; addressing behavioral, emotional, developmental, attachment, loss, trauma, and cultural issues; resources about the child’s background and potential needs; mentoring and peer groups; and informational resources and libraries.
5- Post-adoption services: ongoing support for families; respite care; direct services and counseling for adopted children (including issues like attachment, identity, grief, trauma); specialized treatment options; peer groups for children; crisis and family preservation services.
6Funding and state requirements
7- States receiving savings from certain provisions must spend a significant portion on pre- and post-adoption support services, use the rest for other eligible services, and report annually on funded services.
8New federal grant program for mental health services
9- Establishes a post-adoption and post-legal guardianship mental health grant program (via a new subsection of the grant authority) with $20 million reserved for each fiscal year 2026–2029.
10- Eligible entities include States, designated public/private organizations, and federally recognized tribes/urban Indian organizations.
11- Grants can fund statewide or tribal programs, data collection and analysis, training for professionals, resources for adoptive families, respite care, and research on best practices.
12- Preference given to entities with proven success in improving adoption/guardianship competency among professionals and those partnering with a State mental health agency.
13- At least 85% of funds must be used for direct services, with at least 5% for data/monitoring activities.
14Data collection on adoption disruption and dissolution
15- Creates new data collection requirements under section 479(e) to gather information on adoptions that disrupt or are dissolved, including reasons, age of the child, length of placement, country of birth for international adoptions, and agencies involved.
16- Data will be used to improve research, identify effective prevention services, and develop training and policy.
17- An advisory committee (with representation from state agencies, advocacy groups, judiciary, etc.) will study data collection gaps and report recommendations within 12 months of formation.
18Reporting and evaluation
19- The act requires evaluation of grant-funded activities and a congressional report on the findings and overall effectiveness of the program.
20- The annual reporting for the Social Security Act program would include national and state-by-state data on disruptions and dissolutions, drawn from the new data collection.
21Effective date and implementation
22- Most amendments would take effect October 1, 2025, with implementation contingent on state plan changes. Some delays are allowed if state legislation is required, and tribal implementations have flexibility in timing.

Impact Areas

Primary group/area affected- Adoptive families and adopted children (focus on well-being, mental health, and prevention of disruption).- Adoption professionals, foster care workers, mental health providers, and educators involved with adopted children.Secondary group/area affected- State and local child welfare agencies administering Title IV-B and IV-E programs.- Private and public adoption agencies, and organizations serving foster/adopted youth.Additional impacts- Data, research, and policy development: enhanced data collection on adoption disruptions/dissolutions to inform evidence-based practices.- Tribes and tribal organizations: defined pathways and timeframes for tribal entities to participate in the new programs.- Fiscal: potential federal and state cost implications for expanding services and funding new grant programs; states must allocate savings to these new supports.Adopted child: someone under 21 who was adopted from foster care or via a private placement, or from another country.Adoption and legal guardianship competency: knowledge and skills related to adoption/guardianship, including emotional, cultural, and advocacy aspects needed to support families.Post-adoption mental health services: a range of supports for families and adopted children, including counseling, peer groups, specialized treatments, and crisis services.Disruptions and dissolutions: cases where an adoption arrangement ends or a child ends up back in state custody.

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