Introduction In the United States there are approximately 397,000 children in out-of-home care, and in the last year approximately 640,000 children spent at least one period in out-of-home care. More than 58,000 children living in foster care have had their biological parental rights permanently revoked (Children's Rights, 2014). Due to the growing number of children in foster care and growing concerns about the safety, permanency, and well-being of children and families, the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 was signed into law. On November 19, 1997, President Bill Clinton signed the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997, to improve child safety, promote adoption and other permanent homes for children in need, and support families (Child Welfare League of America). . The Adoption and Safe Families Act also promotes adoption by offering incentives to states. During the 1999-2003 year, payments to states that exceeded the average number of adoptions received $20 million (Child Welfare League of America). ASFA enhanced the current federal child welfare law to require that the child's health and safety be a "paramount" concern in all state efforts to preserve or reunify the child's family and to provide new safeguards that children in foster care are safe. (Shuman, 2004). BackgroundDescriptionThe Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) was a response to growing concerns about “foster care drift”; that is, children experiencing multiple, unstable placements for extended periods, children virtually lost within the child welfare system (Rockhill, 2007). ASFA has become a very important and much needed policy that has contributed to positioning and safety... half of document......008). ConclusionIn conclusion ASFA works for families. The policy helps families with adoption, family assistance and various services for children with special needs. ASFA provides an umbrella for families looking to adopt and have healthy families. The FIA ​​shows three distinct principles that have been examined and information collected. The three principles were family stability, family relationships, and family diversity. The greatest help ASFA gives to families is hope, but it can provide several services to families such as: guaranteed health coverage for adopted children with special needs, commitment to trying to keep families together, and provides substantive and mental health support to parents who do everything to have their children. With all the subsets offered by ASFA it is clear that it supports families and family structure.