Child Welfare and LGBTQ Advocacy Groups Condemn HHS Delay

Leaders of the Every Child Deserves a Family Campaign are condemning the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) planned two-year delay in collecting critical foster care and adoption data as required by a 2016 rule. The delay will be officially published by HHS on Thursday March 15, 2018. 

"We believe that states and the federal government can benefit from collecting and analyzing data on health, behavioral or mental health conditions; prior adoptions; sibling placements; environment at removal and child and family circumstances at removal; foster family home type and other living arrangements; and location of living arrangements,” said Schylar Baber, Executive Director of Voice for Adoption. “By collecting data on these key areas, we can determine if certain states are succeeding in ensuring safety, permanency, and well-being for children and how their successes can be replicated in other communities. Although we know that data collection has significant costs, the costs of not knowing what is happening in our child welfare systems is far greater." 

Read the full statement here.