President Clinton signed the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) of 1997, Public Law 105-89 105th Cong., 1st sess. on November 19, 1997. The Act was the most significant piece of legislation dealing with child welfare in almost twenty years. It was passed in response to growing concerns that child welfare systems across the country were not providing for the safety, permanency, and well-being of affected children in an adequate and timely fashion. The ambitious new law aimed to reaffirm the focus on child safety in case decision making and to ensure that children did not languish and grow up in foster care but instead were connected with permanent families.Twelve years after the law was enacted, the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) in partnership with the Urban Institute has led an effort to reflect on what has been learned about the intended and unintended consequences of ASFA and the degree to which its goals have been realized. Together we have co-sponsored a series of papers on the effects of the ASFA law and its implementation written from the distinctive perspectives of researchers, policymakers, advocates, and parents and youth with first-hand experience of the child welfare system. The papers in this series examine the consequences of ASFA for children and families and for the child welfare systems that intervene in their lives.The work of analyzing legislation as far-ranging as ASFA inevitably will be partial. For every topic that we singled out for closer scrutiny, many more possibilities had to be passed over. If deciding on topics proved more challenging than anticipated, the process also produced more papers than originally planned because of the varied subjects and viewpoints deemed essential to any assessment of ASFA.The series begins with a framework paper, co-authored by Olivia Golden and Jennifer Macomber. The framework provides an overview that summarizes the key features of the ASFA legislation, the major debates and controversies surrounding its interpretation and implementation, and the available data on its results. Five perspective papers follow, which capture the personal experiences and reflection of their authors: Parents-