From Removal to Incarceration: How the Modern Child Welfare System and Its Unintended Consequences Catalyzed the Foster Care-to-Prison Pipeline
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GOETZ
FROM REMOVAL TO INCARCERATION: HOW THE
MODERN CHILD WELFARE SYSTEM AND ITS
UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES CATALYZED THE FOSTER
CARE-TO-PRISON PIPELINE
SYDNEY L. GOETZ*
I. INTRODUCTION
The Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) was enacted in
1997 in response to bipartisan concern for the present and future state
of the American child welfare system.' The number of children being
placed in foster care2 in the 1980s3 was jarring to President Bill Clinton
and members of Congress. The resulting consternation inspired Presi-
dent Clinton and members of Congress to construct a system that would
depress that ever-rising statistic, as well as expedite the process of reu-
nification or permanent removal through adoption.4 While the goals of
the ASFA were honorable, the reality sustained by this legislation is
fraught with instability and has resulted in trauma experienced by fam-
ilies nationwide.' The ASFA and its implementation in the states has
©2020 Sydney L. Goetz
* JD Candidate 2021, University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. The author
would like to thank Professor Leigh Goodmark for her guidance, support, and wisdom over the
past two years. The author would also like to thank the editors of the Journal ofRace, Religion,
Gender and Class for their hard work, diligence, and commitment. Last but not least, the author
would like to thank her mother, Amy Goetz, for her encouragement, listening ear, reminders to
celebrate victories big and small, and for being an exceptional model for abiding bravery, una-
pologetic ambition, and radical empathy.
1 KAREN SPAR & MATTHEW SHUMAN, CONG. RSCH. SERV., RL30759, CHILD WELFARE:
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ADOPTION AND SAFE FAMILIES ACT 1 (2004) [hereinafter CRS
REPORT].
2 Foster care is a temporary alternative living environment for children who are removed from
their caregivers' homes because their caregivers have been deemed unable to provide them
with a safe and nurturing environment. Christopher A. Swann & Michelle Sheran Sylvester,
The Foster Care Crisis: What Caused Caseloads to Grow?, 43 DEMOGRAPHY 309, 311 (2006).
This removal and placement is the result of reports of neglect or abuse, parental physical or
mental incapacity, criminality, or homelessness, or the child's own personal or emotional prob-
lems. Id.
3 KARL ENSIGN, U.S. DEP'T. HEALTH & HUM. SERV. ASSISTANT SECRETARY PLAN. &
EVALUATION, FOSTER CARE SUMMARY: 1991 1 (1991). By the end of 1986, there were 273,500
children in foster care in the United States. Id. This number increased by just under 40,000
children by the close of 1988. Id.
4 CRS REPORT, supra note 1. President Clinton instructed the Department of Health and Hu-
man Services to develop a set of recommendations for doubling the amount of adoptions of
children in foster care by 2002. CRS REPORT, supra note 1.
5 See infra Part III.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/margin20&div=15&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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