She cited the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 as the achievement she initiated and shepherded that provide her with the greatest satisfaction. Beginning with an article she wrote on orphaned children in 1995, through a series of public events on the issue, policy meetings with Health and Human Service officials, private foundation leaders, the drafting of policy recommendations, and eventually lobbying with legislators led to its passage.

Regrettably, the GAO report cited inconclusive evidence and therefore improved outcomes could not be attributed exclusively to ASFA reforms. The research cites lack of reliable data because of different methodologies and sources for data collection over the past five years, and improvements in the data that is now being collected.

Nonetheless, the GAO report reveals two trends in improved outcomes for children in care: the number of adoptions post-ASFA and promising practices to surmount traditional barriers in moving children into permanent placement. Additionally, the states visited by the GAO acknowledged that ASFA plays an important role in their new focus on permanence for children within the first 18 months that they enter foster care.

Adoptions have increased 57% since passage of the Adoption and Safe Families Act. In the year prior to ASFA, 31,000 children were adopted. In fiscal year 2000, more than 45,500 children were adopted. Many states had instituted reforms to increase expediting children into permanent placements even before the federal statute. In fact, in the five years between 1995 and 2000, adoptions increased 89%, averaging an 8-12% increase per year. In 1999 during the period that all states were beginning to implement ASFA reforms, the number of adoptions increased 29%.