The growing population of children in foster care that began in the mid-1980s continued through the early 1990s due to rising rates of family poverty, teen pregnancy, substance abuse disorders, and the AIDS epidemic. Child welfare caseloads increased and more children seemed to linger in foster care. Mounting concerns about improving children’s safety, coupled with the Clinton administration’s strong interest in protecting well-being, ushered in a new era in the Children’s Bureau. Increased collaboration and achieving timely permanency for the nation’s waiting children became strong focuses for the Bureau and the administration, yielding the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997.