Frozen at $2,000 Since 1986: The Coverage of Non-Recurring Adoption Expenses Has Lost Two-Thirds of Its Purchasing Power Over 40 Years

KEY POINTS

• Coverage of non-recurring adoption expenses can help reduce upfront adoption costs for families – covering expenses like legal fees, court costs, home studies, and necessary transportation, food, and lodging – supporting permanency for children with special needs.
• A family receiving $2,000 in 1986 had almost three times the buying power of a family receiving the same amount in Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25) – yet the maximum amount for non-recurring adoption expenses has remained fixed at $2,000 per child (with up to $1,000 being reimbursed by the federal government) for nearly 40 years, since 1986. 
• From FY19 to FY25, the percentage of children exiting foster care to adoption remained fairly consistent, between 25 and 27 percent. During this time there was also a 33 percent decline in the total number of adoptions which is reflective of an overall drop in the number of children entering foster care – meaning there are fewer children in the system overall, and therefore fewer children exiting foster care through any pathway, including adoption.  
• In FY24, 47,335 children exited foster care to adoption. An estimated 90 percent of those children would qualify as “special needs,” yet many of these families did not access the non-recurring adoption expenses benefit.
• An exploratory analysis suggests that raising the cap from $2,000 to $2,500 might have increased the ceiling for FY24 federal reimbursement costs by about three percent, and raising it to $3,000 might have increased costs by about six percent; both estimates are lower than what the federal government actually reimbursed in several recent fiscal years. 

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