Keywords
ASFA, Adoption and Safe Families Act, 15/22 provision, foster care, parental rights
Abstract
This Note first discusses the legal precedents, child development theories, and policies regarding "reasonable efforts" and parental termination that led to the enactment of ASFA. Next, it examines Illinois's and New York's different responses to ASFA. It also introduces the debate over "congregate care" as an alternative for those children who may never be returned to a parent's care, but whom are unlikely to be adopted. Lastly, it argues that the New York system is more workable than the Illinois system given the complexities of the foster care system. This Note concludes by arguing the federal government's rigid time frame for parental termination is overly simplistic because it makes it difficult for decision makers to account for various individual circumstances.
Recommended Citation
Katherine A. Hort,
Is Twenty-two Months Beyond the Best Interest of the Child? ASFA's Guidelines for the Termination of Parental Rights,
28 Fordham Urb. L.J. 1879
(2001).
Available at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/ulj/vol28/iss6/6