HR 7 Summary

• Recognizes that approximately 443,000 children are in foster care nationwide, with approximately 6,400 children in Alabama in custody of the Department of Human Resources.

• Notes that 71,000 foster children nationally have had parental rights terminated but remain unadopted, and that children wait an average of three years after parental rights termination before being adopted.

• Acknowledges that older children, children with special needs, and sibling groups face the greatest difficulty in finding adoptive families, with older children waiting twice as long for permanent homes compared to children under age 14.

• Calls upon family courts to examine their role in expediting adoption timelines for children with terminated parental rights who are with safe, loving families willing to adopt them.

• Resolves that improving adoption rates and shortening timelines for children with adoption plans, those aging out of foster care, and young people with special needs is vital to the State of Alabama.