Using Subsidies to Promote the Adoption of Children from Foster Care

Mary Hansen (mhansen@american.edu)
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Mary Hansen: Department of Economics, American University

No 2005-15, Working Papers from American University, Department of Economics

Abstract: Since 1980 the federal government has implemented a variety of programs to promote the adoption of children from foster care. A key part of these programs has been the use of subsidies to lower the cost of adopting and parenting children from foster care. Although subsidies are a key part of federal policy there has been relatively little empirical research on the effect of subsidies on adoption rates. This paper uses data from the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis System to estimate the impact of subsidy rates on adoption rates. Subsidies to families that adopt children from foster care have a positive and statistically significant effect on adoption rates. A one percent increase in average subsidies increases adoption rates by as much as 0.20 percent.

Keywords: Adoption; foster care; subsidies; child welfare policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J12 J18 K3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 46 pages
Date: 2005-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-law
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https://doi.org/10.17606/c6mc-1072 First version, 2005 (application/pdf)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:amu:wpaper:1505

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