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Discusses the requirements set by States for conducting background checks of prospective foster and adoptive parents and other out-of-home caregivers, as well as any adults residing in the prospective caregivers' households. These checks, including State and Federal criminal records and child abuse and neglect central registries, are part of the process of assessing the suitability of these caregivers to provide a safe home for children placed in their care. The circumstances that will disqualify an applicant also are discussed. An overview of Federal requirements also is provided. Summaries of laws for all States and U.S. territories are included.

Explores how professionals can help youth in foster care consider the full range of legal and relational permanency options available to them as well as understand the feelings that may underlie a young person’s reluctance to pursue permanency.

Outlines affordable housing and homelessness services and how child welfare professionals can collaborate with those systems to help families. Although directed primarily at child welfare professionals, the information in this bulletin also may help housing and homelessness services providers understand the unique needs and concerns of child welfare-involved youth and families and how their programs can help." Grantee spotlight" boxes throughout the document feature examples of programs focused on child welfare and housing collaboration that were funded by the Children's Bureau within the Administration for Children and Families of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as part of the Partnerships to Demonstrate the Effectiveness of Supportive Housing for Families in the Child Welfare System (SHF) and Youth At-Risk of Homelessness (YARH) grant clusters.

Provides guidance to adopted persons and birth families on the search process and information access as well as resources for further help in conducting a successful search. This factsheet is designed to address the concerns of both adopted persons who are searching for birth parents or other birth relatives and birth parents (both mothers and fathers) who want to locate a child who was adopted. While not a complete "how to" guide to searching, this factsheet provides information on the different types of searches and issues that might arise during searching.Brinda orientación a las personas adoptadas y las familias biológicas sobre el proceso de búsqueda y el acceso a la información, así como recursos para obtener más ayuda para realizar una búsqueda exitosa. Esta hoja informativa está diseñada para abordar las preocupaciones tanto de las personas adoptadas que buscan a sus padres biológicos u otros parientes biológicos como de los padres biológicos (tanto madres como padres) que desean localizar a un niño o una niña que fue adoptado(a). Si bien no es una guía completa sobre cómo realizar búsquedas, esta hoja informativa proporciona información sobre los diferentes tipos de búsquedas y los problemas que pueden surgir durante la búsqueda.