APPLA

Key House and Senate Committees have agreed on legislation that would renew federal adoption incentives, require states to count failed adoptions, and prohibit states from using long-term foster care as a viable form of permanency for most teens.

The House Ways and Means Committee leadership has introduced a bill that could open the way for another effort to reauthorize the adoption incentives and alter federal support for youth in foster care.

During the perpetual polar vortex of congressional cooperation that marked 2013, it looked like both chambers and parties had come to some consensus on a few legislative changes to adoption, foster care, and child support enforcement.

2013 is in the books, readers. All that’s left to do is watch the ball drop, sip champagne and sing a song. In no particular order, here’s a look at some of the most notable developments in child welfare and juvenile justice this year: Foster Youth Uninterrupted The year began with President Barack Obama signing the Uninterrupted Scholars Act, which permits caseworkers to access academic records of foster youth without the permission of a birth parent or court official.

The Supporting At-Risk Youth Act, a child welfare bill passed by the Senate Finance Committee, leads with reauthorization of the federal incentive payments to states based on adoptions from foster care.

Both houses of Congress are moving on legislation that would overhaul the federal Adoption Incentives Grant Program. Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.), the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, submitted the Promoting the Adoption and Legal Guardianship for Children in Foster Care Act late last week.  

A bill introduced yesterday would forbid child welfare systems from setting long-term foster care as an option for foster youths under the age of 16, limit the use of group homes and residential care for children under 13, and extend the age ceiling for foster youth college grants to 26.

Earlier this week, Youth Services Insider shared a few of the ideas contained in “Our Voice, Their Future,” a set of recommendations for child welfare reform authored by adoptees and former foster youths.

Last week, Chronicle blogger Sean Hughes recounted his uplifting experience on a weekend retreat with members of the California Youth Connection, an organization that fuels state reform of youth services through youth-led advocacy.