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25 States to Receive Adoption Bonuses

WASHINGTON - Twenty-five states and Puerto Rico will receive $14.9 million in bonuses for boosting the number of adoptions from foster care last year, the government announced Friday.

Every time a waiting child finds a loving, permanent home, it helps not only the child, but the family and the nation, said Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson.

In the states receiving bonuses, a total of 3,703 more children were adopted in 2002 than in 2001, marking each state's highest adoption levels in five years, according to HHS, which administers the program under the 1997 Adoption and Safe Families Act.

Adoption dropped in some states. All told, nearly 51,000 children nationwide were adopted from foster care last year, about the same as in 2001.

Each qualifying state will get a bonus of $4,000 per child adopted over its previous high during the five-year period. They also may receive a bonus of $2,000 for each additional child with special needs who is adopted.

Florida is set to receive the largest bonus at $3,520,000, followed by New Jersey, which will get $1,932,000.

In July, the government launched the AdoptUSKids Web site, which profiles 3,700 children in foster care and offers information on how to adopt them. A national advertising campaign by HHS promoting adoption from foster care is set to launch next spring, with actor Bruce Willis as its spokesman.

President Bush's 2004 budget includes a proposal to extend the incentives program with the goal of increasing the number of adoptions of children age 9 and older, who are less likely to be adopted from foster care.

This information is from the Associated Press.