State of Pennsylvania in Urgent Need of Foster Parents

State of PA Overwhelmed by Opioid Epidemic

This year, the city Department of Human Services (DHS) put out an “urgent” call for more families to foster or adopt children. But we are short by several hundred families. According to data from the Federal Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System, the increase in the number of children who came into foster care as a result of parental drug abuse was far greater than increases for other reasons, such as housing instability. According to DHS reports, more than half of the children placed in Pennsylvania foster care were removed from their family home because of drug use by one or both parents.

This overwhelming burden on the foster-care system is straining the state’s limited resources.

House Bill 2544, the Adoption and Foster Care Tax Credit, is simple, but its reach could impact the lives of more than 16,000 children in Pennsylvania. This first-of-its-kind legislation would provide a $500 foster-care tax credit and a $1,000 adoption tax credit for families who provide permanency to children in the care of Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services.   READ THE REST