STATE OF WISCONSIN
Department of Health and Family Services
Division of Children and Family Services

 The attached Act creates a number of changes related to adoption services in Wisconsin.

• Any county social/human services department may accept guardianship of a child from a Wisconsin court after the termination of parental rights to complete an adoption by the foster parent or treatment foster parent.
  
  
• Wisconsin residents who adopt a child abroad may readopt that child in a Wisconsin court without regard to whether this re-adoption is required under federal law to permit the child to enter this country.
  
  
• Clarification is provided about the need for a recommendation from the Department of Health and Family Services for an adoption. The Department's recommendation is no longer required for relative adoptions under s.48.835, Wis. Stat.
  
  
• Funding for the State Adoption Center is increased.

In addition to Act 443, resource materials are attached for county agencies interested in completing adoptions by foster parents. Those items include: a copy of Department Standards for Home Assessments in a Special Needs Adoption, copies of pamphlets for prospective adoptive parents about Adoption Assistance and a copy of Wisconsin Administrative Code HSS 50, which describes eligibility for Adoption Assistance. Detailed procedures on requesting Department approval of an application for Adoption Assistance are being developed. Additional copies of the enclosed publications can be ordered from:

DCFS Publications Unit
1 West Wilson Street, Room 518 
P. O. Box 8916 
Madison WI 53708-8916

Thank you for your efforts to meet the needs of children and adoptive families.