New Law will Help Hundreds of Thousands of Children and Youth in Foster Care!

On October 7, 2008, President Bush signed into law the Fostering Connection to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act (H.R. 6893/P.L. 110-351). This act will help hundreds of thousands of children and youth in foster care by promoting permanent families for them through relative guardianship and adoption and improving education and health care. Additionally, the bill will extend federal support for youth to age 21 and increase their opportunities for success when they finally leave care. The Fostering Connections Act also will offer many American Indian children important federal protections and support for the first time. 

By providing children in foster care with what they need to thrive, we help to ensure that society will not pay the greater cost later on when these youth are forced to leave foster care at age 18 without an education, connections to their families and communities, or the support they need to succeed as adults. This bill is an important step forward to improving the lives of our nation's children and offering these most vulnerable children meaningful family connections.

Learn more about the act

General Information about the Fostering Connections Act:

• Fostering Connection to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act summary
• Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act detailed summary
• Written Statement on the Hearing on the Implementation of Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act
• Judicial Guide to Implementing the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act

Kinship/Guardianship:

• Fostering Connections Kinship Toolkit
• New Help for Children Raised by Grandparents and Other Relatives: Questions and Answers About the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008
• Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act helps kinship families
• Sample State Legislation on the Kinship Guardianship Assistance Option
• New Federal Program Instruction: Children Already With Guardians Eligible for KinGAP Assistance

Older Youth:

• Frequently Asked Questions on the Provisions Designed to Impact Youth and Young Adults
• Sample State Legislation to Extend Foster Care, Adoption and Guardianship Protections, Services and Payments to Young Adults Age 18 and Older

Family Connection Grants:

NEW: HHS plans to announce new Family Connection Grant opportunity next month. According to the HHS Grant Forecast, the Administration for Children, Youth and Families (ACYF) is planning to issue a new funding announcement next month that will offer state, local, or tribal child welfare agencies, and private nonprofit organizations that have experience in working with foster children or children in kinship care arrangements the opportunity to apply for Family Connection Grants.  According to the forecast, the funding opportunity (HHS-2011-ACF-ACYF-CF-0181) will be titled, “Family Connection Grants: Using Family Group Decision-making to Build Protective Factors for Children and Families.”  Based on the title, it appears that these grants will be limited to projects focusing on Family Group Decision-making.  There will be an estimated $3.3 million available through this opportunity with maximum grants of $550,000 each.  For more information or to sign up for email alerts with changes to this announcement, please click here to see the HHS forecast details. To learn more about existing grantees, click here.

• Questions and Answers about Family Connection Grants
• Help Children Being Raised by Grandparents and Other Relatives and Their Relative Caregivers by Expanding and Establishing Kinship Navigator Programs

Licensing Homes of Grandparents and Other Relative Caregivers

• Relative Foster Care Licensing Waivers in the States: Policies and Possibilities

History of the Fostering Connections Act:

• Side-by-side comparison of H.R. 6893 and the two original proposals
• Broad support for the bill from across the country
• Press release

CDF serves as the Lead Partner for the Kinship/Guardianship Network for the Fostering Connections Resource Center, which provides information, training and tools related to furthering the implementation of the Fostering Connections law.  The Resource Center connects those implementing or advocating for the improvements in the act with the latest information and the best experts and advocates working on these issues.