title: Adoption and safe families act state statutes regarding parents with mental illnesses: a review and targeted intervention.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This paper describes an intervention targeting states that list a parental mental illness/disability as an "aggravated circumstance" under the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 (ASFA), resulting in reasonable efforts not required to reunify a family.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This paper delineates the results from our review of ASFA state statutes, the development of a model ASFA statute, and strategies to educate legislators and the public about the impact of discrimination that parents with mental illnesses encounter because of ASFA legislation with the intent of modifying state ASFA legislation.
  
  
  METHODS
  The following sources were used for this educational initiative: a literature review and a review of ASFA state statutes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Adoption of the model ASFA state statute is simply a first step in an effort to end the discrimination that parents with psychiatric disabilities face; additional efforts are also noted.
authors.affiliation: University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA. katykap@mail.med.upenn.edu
authors.forename: Katy
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kaplan
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kottsieper
authors.forename: Jeniece
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Scott
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Salzer
authors.forename: Phyllis
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Solomon
mesh_terms: D000300:Adoption / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D016241:Child of Impaired Parents / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000523:psychology; D005195:Family Relations; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D011287:Prejudice; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D014481:United States