---
kind: "section"
citation: "42 U.S.C. § 679"
title: "42"
title_heading: "The Public Health and Welfare"
number: "679"
heading: "Collection of data relating to adoption and foster care"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/42/679"
units:
  - "Chapter 7 — Social Security"
  - "Subchapter IV — Grants to States for Aid and Services to Needy Families with Children and for Child-Welfare Services"
  - "Part E — Federal Payments for Foster Care, Prevention, and Permanency"
---

# §679. Collection of data relating to adoption and foster care

- (a) **Advisory Committee on Adoption and Foster Care Information—**
  - (1) Not later than 90 days after October 21, 1986, the [Secretary](/usc/42/1301.md?p=a-6) shall establish an [Advisory Committee](/usc/42/17061.md?p=2) on Adoption and Foster Care Information (in this section referred to as the “[Advisory Committee](/usc/42/17061.md?p=2)”) to study the various methods of establishing, administering, and financing a system for the collection of data with respect to adoption and foster care in the [United States](/usc/42/1301.md?p=a-2).
  - (2) The study required by [paragraph (1)](#a-1) shall—
    - (A) identify the types of data necessary to—
      - (i) assess (on a continuing basis) the incidence, characteristics, and status of adoption and foster care in the [United States](/usc/42/1301.md?p=a-2), and
      - (ii) develop appropriate national policies with respect to adoption and foster care;
    - (B) evaluate the feasibility and appropriateness of collecting data with respect to privately arranged adoptions and adoptions arranged through private [agencies](/usc/42/1397n–12.md?p=1) without assistance from public [child](/usc/42/675.md?p=8-A) welfare [agencies](/usc/42/1397n–12.md?p=1);
    - (C) assess the validity of various methods of collecting data with respect to adoption and foster care; and
    - (D) evaluate the financial and administrative impact of implementing each such method.
  - (3) Not later than October 1, 1987, the [Advisory Committee](/usc/42/17061.md?p=2) shall submit to the [Secretary](/usc/42/1301.md?p=a-6) and the Congress a report setting forth the results of the study required by [paragraph (1)](#a-1) and evaluating and making recommendations with respect to the various methods of establishing, administering, and financing a system for the collection of data with respect to adoption and foster care in the [United States](/usc/42/1301.md?p=a-2).
  - (4)
    - (A) Subject to [subparagraph (B)](#a-4-B), the membership and organization of the [Advisory Committee](/usc/42/17061.md?p=2) shall be determined by the [Secretary](/usc/42/1301.md?p=a-6).
    - (B) The membership of the [Advisory Committee](/usc/42/17061.md?p=2) shall include representatives of—
      - (i) private, [nonprofit](/usc/42/300s–3.md?p=3) organizations with an interest in [child](/usc/42/675.md?p=8-A) welfare ([including](/usc/42/1301.md?p=b) organizations that provide foster care and adoption services),
      - (ii) organizations representing [State](/usc/42/619.md?p=5) and local governmental [agencies](/usc/42/1397n–12.md?p=1) with responsibility for foster care and adoption services,
      - (iii) organizations representing [State](/usc/42/619.md?p=5) and local governmental [agencies](/usc/42/1397n–12.md?p=1) with responsibility for the collection of health and [social](/usc/42/1397j.md?p=20) statistics,
      - (iv) organizations representing [State](/usc/42/619.md?p=5) and local judicial bodies with jurisdiction over family law,
      - (v) Federal [agencies](/usc/42/1397n–12.md?p=1) responsible for the collection of health and [social](/usc/42/1397j.md?p=20) statistics, and
      - (vi) organizations and [agencies](/usc/42/1397n–12.md?p=1) involved with privately arranged or international adoptions.
  - (5) After the date of the submission of the report required by [paragraph (3)](#a-3), the [Advisory Committee](/usc/42/17061.md?p=2) shall cease to exist.
- (b) **Report to Congress; regulations—**
  - (1)
    - (A) Not later than July 1, 1988, the [Secretary](/usc/42/1301.md?p=a-6) shall submit to the Congress a report that—
      - (i) proposes a method of establishing, administering, and financing a system for the collection of data relating to adoption and foster care in the [United States](/usc/42/1301.md?p=a-2),
      - (ii) evaluates the feasibility and appropriateness of collecting data with respect to privately arranged adoptions and adoptions arranged through private [agencies](/usc/42/1397n–12.md?p=1) without assistance from public [child](/usc/42/675.md?p=8-A) welfare [agencies](/usc/42/1397n–12.md?p=1), and
      - (iii) evaluates the impact of the system proposed under [clause (i)](#b-1-A-i) on the [agencies](/usc/42/1397n–12.md?p=1) with responsibility for implementing it.
    - (B) The report required by [subparagraph (A)](#b-1-A) shall—
      - (i) specify any changes in law that will be necessary to implement the system proposed under [subparagraph (A)(i)](#b-1-A-i), and
      - (ii) describe the type of system that will be implemented under [paragraph (2)](#b-2) in the absence of such changes.
  - (2) Not later than December 31, 1988, the [Secretary](/usc/42/1301.md?p=a-6) shall promulgate final regulations providing for the implementation of—
    - (A) the system proposed under [paragraph (1)(A)(i)](#b-1-A-i), or
    - (B) if the changes in law specified pursuant to [paragraph (1)(B)(i)](#b-1-B-i) have not been enacted, the system described in [paragraph (1)(B)(ii)](#b-1-B-ii).

    Such regulations shall provide for the full implementation of the system not later than October 1, 1991.

- (c) **Data collection system—** Any data collection system developed and implemented under this section shall—
  - (1) avoid unnecessary diversion of resources from [agencies](/usc/42/1397n–12.md?p=1) responsible for adoption and foster care;
  - (2) assure that any data that is collected is reliable and consistent over time and among jurisdictions through the use of uniform definitions and methodologies;
  - (3) provide comprehensive national information with respect to—
    - (A) the demographic characteristics of adoptive and foster children and their biological and adoptive or foster [parents](/usc/42/675.md?p=2),
    - (B) the status of the foster care population ([including](/usc/42/1301.md?p=b) the number of children in foster care, length of placement, type of placement, availability for adoption, and goals for ending or continuing foster care),
    - (C) the number and characteristics of—
      - (i) children placed in or removed from foster care,
      - (ii) children adopted or with respect to whom adoptions have been terminated, and
      - (iii) children placed in foster care outside the [State](/usc/42/619.md?p=5) which has placement and care responsibility,
    - (D) the extent and nature of assistance provided by Federal, [State](/usc/42/619.md?p=5), and local adoption and foster care programs and the characteristics of the children with respect to whom such assistance is provided;[^1] and
    - (E) the annual number of children in foster care who are identified as [sex trafficking victims](/usc/42/675.md?p=9)—
      - (i) who were such victims before entering foster care; and
      - (ii) who were such victims while in foster care; and
  - (4) utilize appropriate requirements and incentives to ensure that the system functions reliably throughout the [United States](/usc/42/1301.md?p=a-2).
- (d) **Data collection on adoption and legal guardianship disruption and dissolution—** To promote improved knowledge on how best to ensure strong, permanent families for children, the [Secretary](/usc/42/1301.md?p=a-6) shall promulgate regulations providing for the collection and analysis of information regarding children who enter into foster care under the supervision of a [State](/usc/42/619.md?p=5) after prior finalization of an adoption or [legal guardianship](/usc/42/675.md?p=7). The regulations shall require each [State](/usc/42/619.md?p=5) with a [State](/usc/42/619.md?p=5) plan approved under this part to collect and report as part of such data collection system the number of children who enter foster care under supervision of the [State](/usc/42/619.md?p=5) after finalization of an adoption or [legal guardianship](/usc/42/675.md?p=7) and may include information concerning the length of the prior adoption or [guardianship](/usc/42/1397j.md?p=11), the age of the [child](/usc/42/675.md?p=8-A) at the time of the prior adoption or [guardianship](/usc/42/1397j.md?p=11), the age at which the [child](/usc/42/675.md?p=8-A) subsequently entered foster care under supervision of the [State](/usc/42/619.md?p=5), the type of [agency](/usc/42/1397n–12.md?p=1) involved in making the prior adoptive or [guardianship](/usc/42/1397j.md?p=11) placement, and any other factors determined necessary to better understand factors associated with the [child](/usc/42/675.md?p=8-A)’s post-adoption or post-[guardianship](/usc/42/1397j.md?p=11) entry to foster care.

## Footnotes

[^1]: So in original. The semicolon probably should be a comma.

## Source credit

(Aug. 14, 1935, ch. 531, title IV, § 479, as added Pub. L. 99–509, title IX, § 9443, Oct. 21, 1986, 100 Stat. 2073; amended Pub. L. 103–432, title II, § 209(c), Oct. 31, 1994, 108 Stat. 4459; Pub. L. 113–183, title I, § 103, title II, § 208, Sept. 29, 2014, 128 Stat. 1922, 1940.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Amendments

2014—Subsec. (c)(3)(E). Pub. L. 113–183, § 103, added subpar. (E).

Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 113–183, § 208, added subsec. (d).

1994—Subsec. (c)(3)(C)(iii). Pub. L. 103–432 added cl. (iii).

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Effective Date of 1994 Amendment

Amendment by Pub. L. 103–432 effective with respect to fiscal years beginning on or after Oct. 1, 1995, see section 209(d) of Pub. L. 103–432, set out as a note under section 675 of this title.

### Termination of Advisory Committees

Advisory committees established after Jan. 5, 1973, to terminate not later than the expiration of the 2-year period beginning on the date of their establishment, unless, in the case of a committee established by the President or an officer of the Federal Government, such committee is renewed by appropriate action prior to the expiration of such 2-year period, or in the case of a committee established by the Congress, its duration is otherwise provided by law. See section 1013 of Title 5, Government Organization and Employees.