child care - Digital Library Collections

THE STATE OF AMERICA'S CHILDREN YEARBOOK 1998
courage the adoption of children with special
needs-the Adoption Opportunities Act of 1978.
Other legislation was enacted in the 1970s to
protect the rights of particular groups of children.
Most notably, Congress passed the Juvenile Justice
and Delinquency Prevention Act, the Indian Child
Welfare Act, the Developmentally Disabled Assistance
and Bill of Rights Act, and the Education for
All Handicapped Children Act. The 1974 enactment
of the Title XX Social Services Program
sparked hope of new services to prevent child
abuse and neglect, but these hopes diminished in
1981 when Title XX funding was reduced and the
program was made into a block grant. Today, funding
for Title XX is at its lowest level since the
program's inception.
Building upon these earlier measures, the
Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act in
1980 attempted to restructure the federal government's
role in protecting children and to encourage
similar state efforts. The act's comprehensive approach
to reform emphasized the need to (I) keep
children from being unnecessarily placed in foster
care, as well as the need to get them out; (2) link
basic protections for cmldren and parents to state
funding; (3) provide help in finding permanent
homes for children free for adoption; and (4) monitor
state progress in protecting children. Although
implementation was mndered by efforts in the
early 1980s to repeal or weaken the act, it stimulated
the development of prevention and reunification
services in some states and dramatically increased
the adoption chances of children with
special needs. The number of children who found
permanent adoptive homes with federal assistance
grew from an average of 165 a month in 1981 to
more than 112,000 a month by 1997.
Later federal legislative reforms prompted further
state action. States undertook iilltiatives to
help older youths in foster care prepare to live
independently, promoted new methods of service
delivery for children with serious emotional disturbances,
and worked with communities to expand
services that help families prevent or defuse problems.
In addition, some states and commumties,
often with foundation leadership and support, developed
programs to promote adoption, permanency
planning, specialized foster homes, famliy
preservation, famiJy support, and, more recently,
community partnerships for protecting children.
Courts also have made state policies and practices
more responsive to children's needs. In the
• In 1996, 3.1 million children were reported abused or neglected,
and the reports were substantiated for at least 969,000.
• Eighty percent of the child welfare cases served in 1994 involved
allegations of abuse or neglect, compared with 45 percent in 1977.
• An estimated 40 to 80 percent of the families who become child
protective service cases have problems with alcohol or drugs.
• Approximately 502,000 children were in foster care at the end of
1996-about 25 percent more than in 1990.
• In 1996, 2.14 million children lived in households headed by a
relative with no parent present. A majority of these children-1.43
million-lived with grandparents.
64 CHI L D R EN' S D E FEN S E FUN D