ADOPTION ASSISTANCE AND CHILD WELFARE ACT

Adoption  Assistance  and  Child  Welfare  Act.A  1980  federal  statute  whose  purpose  was  to

force  states  to  use  reasonable  efforts  (1)  to  avoid  removing  children  from  their  homes,  (2)  to

reunite  families  when  children  had  been  removed  because  of  abuse  or  neglect,  and  (3)  when

reunification  failed,  to  terminate  parental  rights  and  place  the  children  in  permanent  homes.42

USCA §§ 620 et seq.; §§ 670 et seq. • The Act provided  funds for foster-care placement, Child

Protective  Services,  family  preservation  and  reunification,  and  foster-care  reform  to  states

complying with the Act. Its aim was to prevent the unnecessary removal of children from homes

and  to  hasten  the  return  of  children  in  foster  care  to  their  families.  It  has  now  been  essentially

overruled  in  philosophy  by  the  1997  enactment  of  the  Adoption  and  Safe  Families  Act.  See

ADOPTION AND SAFE FAMILIES ACT. [Blacks Law 8th]