U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services |
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Improving the health, safety, and well-being of America |
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| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, July 23, 2002 |
Contact: | ACF Press Office (202) 401-9215 |
The Web site -- www.adoptuskids.org -- features photographs and biographies of children in the foster care system across the country who are available for adoption. A public-private partnership, AdoptUSKids will link potential families with children they might not have been aware of otherwise.
"This site is an example of using technology for a very compassionate purpose -- linking families with waiting children," Secretary Thompson said. "This administration is committed to helping our nation's children in the foster care system be adopted into loving, caring homes. This new Web site is one important way we are achieving that goal."
The AdoptUSKids Web site will maintain a data base of approved adoptive families, raise public awareness, recruit families for waiting children, provide information and referral services to prospective adopters and approved families and provide training and technical assistance to states and adoption exchanges. HHS' Administration for Children and Families (ACF) helped fund the development of the site.
Since the passage of the Adoption and Safe Families Act in 1997, HHS has worked to make adoption easier and faster for those wishing to adopt. The act was designed both to remove barriers to adoption and to provide incentives to the states for increasing the number of children adopted each year. The result has been a 79 percent increase from fiscal year 1997 to fiscal year 2000 in the number of adoptions of children from the foster care system.
"We are proud to launch the Adopt US Kids site," said Wade F. Horn, Ph.D., HHS assistant secretary for children and families. " Not only does it show what can be done when the government collaborates with its partners, but even more importantly, it also offers hope that many more foster kids will get loving, permanent homes."
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