(AP) -- Child advocates are pushing for help for families adopting older foster children and those with serious behavioral and mental health issues.
Most states focus money on recruiting parents but once a child is adopted, few funds are directed to supporting the new families.
About 50,000 foster children are adopted annually in the U.S, almost double the number in the 1990s. States are pushing adoptions for older foster children who typically would have languished in the system.
But those children often have trauma issues and act out against their adoptive families. States typically cover a portion of costly mental health services and residential care, which can run out quickly.
Some adoptions fail, but states aren't required to track or report the figures.
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