The effect of paying parents to adopt: Evidence from Minnesota's foster-care system

Arbeitspapier

Aimed at increasing the adoption rate of older children, Minnesota's 2015 Northstar Care Program eliminated the adoption penalty (the decrease in fostering-based financial transfers associated with adoption) for children aged six and older, while maintaining it for children under age six. Using a difference-in-differences estimation strategy that controls for a rich set of covariates, we find that parents responded positively to this change in direct financial payments; the annual adoption rate of older foster children aged six to eleven increased by approximately 7 percentage points (22% at the mean) as a result of the program. We additionally find evidence of strategic adoption behavior as the adoption rate of younger children temporarily increased by 11 percentage points (26% at the mean) in the year prior to the program's implementation.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Working Papers ; No. 2022-01

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth ; Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty: Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs ; State and Local Government: Health; Education; Welfare; Public Pensions
• Subject: Family Policy ; Government Transfers ; Adoption ; Foster Care

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Bishop, Kelly C. ; Mac Donald, Diana E.
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Banco de México
• (where): Ciudad de México
• (when): 2022

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/251298
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET