Neb. gets $569,917 in adoption bonus

LINCOLN — Finding permanent homes for record numbers of foster children last year has earned Nebraska its largest ever federal adoption incentive bonus.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is awarding the state $569,917 for its success at getting more foster children adopted.

Nebraska completed 572 adoptions of foster children during 2008 — a record high and a 92.6 percent increase since 2003, state officials said.

“That’s good news,” said Kathy Bigsby Moore, executive director of Nebraska Voices for Children. “These numbers are based on improvement. The fact we didn’t do as well previously gives us this bonus.”

Moore said the state has been moving more quickly on getting adoptions completed — a previous weakness for the state.

States get the incentive bonuses when the number of adoptions in a given year exceeds the number of an earlier year that Congress selected as a bench mark.

Changes in federal law last year increased the incentives for states to find adoptive homes for children, especially those who are older or have special needs.

Todd Reckling, children and family services director in the state Department of Health and Human Services, attributed Nebraska’s recent success to efforts by all parties involved with adoptions.

Nebraska has received the bonus for five years straight, after missing out in 2004 and getting only $20,000 in 2003.

Iowa did not qualify for a bonus this year or last year but received nearly four times as much as Nebraska during the first seven years of the incentive program.

Roger Munns, a spokesman for the Iowa Department of Human Services, said his department boosted the number of adoptions rapidly before reaching a comparative plateau. There were 937 adoptions in the fiscal year ending June 30, with 1,055 the year before.

But getting children adopted is only one goal of child welfare, Munns said. Iowa has excelled at getting children adopted quickly once their parents’ rights have been terminated.

Of the Iowa foster children adopted during the first six months of 2009, nearly 57 percent got new permanent families within 24 months after being removed from their biological families.

A 2004 Omaha World-Herald investigation found that Nebraska was slower than neighboring states in getting foster children adopted.

In September 2004, only 15.5 percent of Nebraska foster child adoptions occurred within 24 months of the child being removed. By July this year, 34 percent of foster child adoptions met that timetable. The federal goal is 36.6 percent.

Reckling said Nebraska has invested its incentive awards in improving adoption efforts.

Past awards have paid for such things as additional home studies, recruitment of potential adoptive families, Adoption Day activities and providing children with “life books” in which to record their personal history.

“It’s bonus money, it’s icing on the cake to help us do more adoptions,” he said.

Despite Nebraska’s progress, more than 360 children in foster care are waiting for an adoptive family, officials said.

Contact the writer:

402-473-9583, martha.stoddard@owh.com

« Metro/Region

Share