Criminal Background Barriers to Foster Home Licensing for Kin Caregivers 

This webinar with ABA Center on Children and the Law and Generations United examines how child welfare agencies follow the requirements in the long-standing federal Adam Walsh law. This law sensibly bars individuals who have been convicted of violent felonies from ever becoming licensed or approved as foster parents. But, most jurisdictions go well beyond federal requirements and prevent individuals from becoming foster parents for minor, non-violent crimes. These policies bar loving kin (and non-kin) from serving as foster parents to children who need loving homes.
The new federal rule allowing jurisdictions to implement separate, commonsense foster care licensing standards for kin strongly encourages jurisdictions to consider limiting their standards to Adam Walsh safety requirements. Child welfare agencies around the country now have a unique opportunity to examine their own policies and procedures around Adam Walsh. With renewed attention to unnecessary barriers that don’t contribute to children’s safety, more children can live with loving kin in equitably supported homes. Leave the webinar with resources and ideas of what you can do to address these barriers in your community.