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Date: Friday, October 17, 1997
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:  ACF Press Office  (202) 401-9215

HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala today announced the award of 40 demonstration grants for programs aimed at increasing adoptions and reducing the number of children in public foster care. The grants total $7.9 million.

"This is part of President Clinton's "Adoption 2002" initiative, which is a commitment to at least double the number of children who are adopted or permanently placed from the public foster care system by the year 2002," Shalala said. "These grants allow us to fund promising practices."

The 40 projects were selected from among 115 applications under the Adoption Opportunities Program, which works to eliminate barriers to adoption and provide permanent homes for children who would benefit from adoption.

Among the activities funded are projects to increase the number of minority children adopted, examine new kinship care strategies, and establish and test the effectiveness of new collaborations among community organizations. Among the recipients are state child welfare agencies, parent associations, and public and private gateway.html child welfare groups.

Typically, children in the public foster care system wait more than three years to be placed in permanent homes. Each year, state child welfare agencies secure homes for fewer than one-third of the children whose goal is adoption or an alternate permanent placement.

The grantees are:

• Kansas Dept of Social Services, Topeka, Kan.
• New York State Dept of Social Services, Albany, N.Y. (2 grants)
• Supreme Court of Louisiana, New Orleans, La.
• Administrative Offices of the Courts, Little Rock, Ark.
• Administration Offices of the Courts, Frankfort, Ky.
• Rhode Island Family Court, Providence, R.I.
• Adoption Center of Delaware Valley, Philadelphia, Pa.
• South Carolina Dept of Social Services, Columbia, S.C. (2 grants)
• Howard County Dept of Social Services, Columbia, Md.
• Urban League of Rhode Island, Inc., Providence, R.I.
• Milwaukee County, Milwaukee, Wis.
• Cherokee Nation, Tahlqush, Okla.
• Reid House Christian Services, Charleston, S.C.
• Lifelink/Bensonville Home Society, Bensonville, Ill.
• Bethany Christian Services, Grand Rapids, Mich.
• The Village, Inc., Topeka, Kan.
• The Salvation Army, Syracuse, N.Y.
• Colorado Dept of Human Services, Denver, Colo.
• Children's Friend and Service, Providence, R.I.
• Another Choice for Black Children, Inc., Sanford, N.C.
• Virginia Department of Social Services, Richmond, Va.
• DePelchin Children's Center, Houston, Texas (2 grants)
• Iowa Department of Human Services, Des Moines, Iowa
• St. Christopher-Ottilie, Brooklyn, N.Y.
• Michigan Family Independence Center, Lansing, Mich.
• Lutheran Social Services of N.E., Inc., Worcester, Mass.
• PATH, St. Paul, Minn.
• Northeast Ohio Adoption Services, Warren, Ohio
• NYS Citizens Goal for Children, Ithaca, N.Y.
• Institute for Black Parenting, Inglewood, Calif.
• Coordinators/2, Inc., Richmond, Va.
• County of Los Angeles, Los Angeles, Calif.
• National Adoption Center, Philadelphia, Pa.
• State Office for Services to Children & Families, Salem, Ore.
• LA County Dept of Children & Family Services, Los Angeles, Calif.
• Belleaire Jewish Children's Bureau, Shaker Heights, Ohio
• Allegheny County Dept of Human Services, Pittsburgh, Pa.