Adoption Assistance Act

P. L. 96-272 covers a variety of areas impacting on children in foster care, children to be adopted, and special needs children. Among other things, it required States to make adoption assistance payments, which take into account the circumstances of the adopting parents and the child, to parents who adopt a child who is AFDC-eligible and is a child with special needs. While this Act addresses many important adoption and other adoption-related issues, knowledge of the specifics of the Act has little practical every day use for adopting persons.