2017 Adoption and Legal Guardianship Incentive Awards Announced

HHS officials announced a record $64.7 million in 2018 Adoption and Legal Guardianship Incentive awards to 49 states based on FY2017 adoption and guardianship rates. Twenty states earned more than $1million. The top five awards went to California $8.6, Arizona $6.6, Oklahoma $5.6, Texas $4.5, and Indiana $4.1 (all numbers are in million.) Only Washington and the District of Columbia failed to earn a bonus

The updated table, displaying the full history of incentive payments made to states by earning year from FY 1998 – FY 2017, has been posted on the Children’s Bureau website. The table may be found here.

The table only includes the first 2017 award payments totaling $25.1 million. The amount is approximately 40% of a states total award. HHS anticipates that it will pay the remaining balance of FY 2017 earnings during the first quarter of FY 2019.