Expediting Permanency
for Abandoned Infants
Updated - 2007
The phenomenon of infant abandonment has received increased
national attention in the United States over the past several
years. As part of an effort to expedite permanency for children,
the national Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 (ASFA)
released states from an obligation to provide reasonable efforts
to preserve or reunify a family in cases of abandonment. At
least 43 states have adopted ASFA’s recommendation not
to require reasonable efforts in the case of infant abandonment.
Additionally, ASFA requires a filing for termination of parental
rights within 60 days of a judicial finding of abandonment.
However, state laws vary considerably in their definition
and handling of abandonment. Further, systemic, practice and
court barriers often delay the timely achievement of permanency
for infants, even after they have been determined abandoned.
In the past two years, about three-quarters of the states
have enacted “infant abandonment” laws that provide
“safe havens” where parents can relinquish their
newborns with anonymity and without risk of prosecution. Regardless
of how or why a child is abandoned, s/he will likely end up
in foster care and, too often, linger there far beyond ASFA’s
12-month timeframe for permanency.
The AIA Resource Center convened a national group of experts
to explore current laws and practice related to expediting
permanency for “abandoned infants.” As a result,
the Center produced Expediting Permanency for Abandoned Infants:
Guidelines for State Policies and Procedures, which
- Reviews state laws regarding abandoned infants,
- Suggests legal and practice standards regarding “abandonment,"
- Defines permanency and suggests ways to incorporate this
definition into state law and practice, and
- Identifies best practices in expediting permanency for
infants who are abandoned or at risk of abandonment.
For a PDF version of this document, Click
Here. To order a hard copy of the monograph, Click
Here.
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