Biden admin looks to expand data collection on Indian Child Welfare Act cases
In an effort to better understand how Native American children are faring in foster care, the Biden administration’s health department is proposing a rule that would require state child welfare systems to gather more data about child removal cases that are subject to the Indian Child Welfare Act.
The proposed rule change, announced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families on Thursday, would require states and tribal agencies that administer certain federal funds to submit more specific information about ICWA cases to the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis Reporting System, or AFCARS. That reporting is the primary way federal agencies and child welfare researchers track state-level trends in out-of-home placements related to child abuse and neglect.
That national system has historically struggled to record how American Indian and Alaska Native children are faring in foster care when the federal Indian Child Welfare Act applies to their case.
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