[1] One of ASFA's lead sponsors, Republican Senator John H. Chafee of Rhode Island, said, "We will not continue the current system of always putting the needs and rights of the biological parents first.

[2] First Lady of the United States Hillary Clinton originally voiced interest in the issue of orphaned children in an article she wrote in 1995.

[3] She then held public events to bring the issue exposure,[2][3] and met with U.S. Department of Health and Human Services officials and private foundation executives over policy questions and recommendations.

[2] Dave Camp, Republican representatives for Michigan's 4th district at the time, introduced the ASFA to the House Committee on Ways and Means on February 27, 1997.

Throughout the process of drafting the ASFA, Congress in both the Senate and the house emphasized the need for speedy legislative reform for the foster care system.

[4] Twelve years after the Implementation of ASFA, the Urban Institute's Center for Social Policy did a study reviewing the effectiveness of AFSA.

[9] In a report published in 2018 by the "Memphis Law Review", Texas Tech University law professor DeLeith Gossett said “The act's financial incentives have disrupted families permanently by the speedy termination of parental rights, without the accompanying move from foster care to adoptive homes" and said "The programs that the Adoption and Safe Families Act govern thwart its very purpose as children continue to languish in foster care waiting for permanent adoptive homes, often until they age out of the system into negative life outcomes."