Compendium Abandoned Infants

The purposes of Public Law 100-505, the Abandoned Infants Assistance Act of 1998 as amended, are to provide funds for the development, implementation and operation of demonstration projects designed to prevent the abandonment of infants and young children, including the provision of services to members of the natural family for any condition that increases the probability of abandonment; to identify and address the needs of abandoned infants and young children; to carry out residential care programs for abandoned infants and young children who are unable to reside with their families or are to be placed in foster care; to recruit, train and retain foster families for abandoned infants and young children; to carry out programs of respite care for families and foster families of abandoned infants and young children; to recruit and train health and social services personnel to work with families, foster families and residential care programs for abandoned infants and young children; to prevent the abandonment of infants and young children; and to care for abandoned infants and young children through model programs, providing health, educational and social services at a single site in a geographic area where a significant number of abandoned infants and young children reside. The legislation also allows for the provision of technical assistance training programs to support the planning, development and operation of the service demonstration projects. The reauthorized legislation (Section 101 (h) of P.L. 100-505, as amended) mandates that the Secretary shall give priority to applicants located in States that have developed and implemented procedures for expedited termination of parental rights and placement for adoption of infants determined to be abandoned under State law.

This section of the Compendium describes the 15 Abandoned Infants Program Service Demonstration Projects initially funded in FY 2001 under the following priority areas:

2001C.1: Support for Previous Comprehensive Service Demonstration Projects
2001C.3: Family Support Services for Grandparents and Other Relatives Providing Care for Children and Substance Abusing and HIV-Positive Women
2001C.4: Recreational Services for Children Affected by HIV/AIDS

Mission Inn Services is an Abandoned Infants Assistance Demonstration Project in a four-county area of West Michigan. The goal of Mission Inn is to promote safe, secure, permanent, nurturing families for infants and young children who are at risk of abandonment or who have been abandoned. Mission Inn accomplishes this through a program that coordinates health, educational, and social services for such infants and children, as well as their caregivers. The Mission Inn Project will provide home-based, wraparound services to families in the geographic area to identify and achieve a variety of family-identified, family-centered goals related to providing a safe, permanent, nurturing environment that fosters developmental growth in children.

The Epiphany Center Day Treatment Program is part of Mount St. Joseph-St. Elizabeth, a multi-service agency that has a 149-year history of providing services to San Francisco's troubled families. The primary goal of the Epiphany STAR (Services to Accelerate Reunification) Project is to prevent the abandonment of infants who have been born into families impacted by substance abuse and/or HIV-related issues.

The overall aim of Project Stable Home (PSH) at Children's Institute International (CII) is to reduce out-of-home placements of young children and to improve the quality and stability of their living conditions. PSH's services are specifically designed to assist pregnant women and families of young children who are vulnerable to abandonment as a result of parental substance abuse, HIV status, mental illness, poverty, or other risk factors. The program proposes to provide expanded services for HIV-infected mothers and/or children through a newly formed partnership with Caring for