Foreign Children Adapt Well to Adoption
An analysis of more than 50 years of international data found that children adopted from other countries are only slightly more likely than nonadopted children to have behavioral problems such as aggressiveness and anxiety. They actually have fewer problems than children adopted within their own countries. The study disputes the notion that children adopted from other countries tend to be damaged emotionally because of the hardships they had to endure.
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Listening to Parents: Overcoming Barriers to the Adoption of Children from Foster Care
This report identifies a major reason why so many children have not found homes: The vast majority of potential parents who are recruited – well over 90% -- do not ultimately wind up adopting a child, not because they don‘t want to, but apparently because they decide not to deal with a system they perceive as too frustrating, bureaucratic and just plain unfriendly.
The study lays out detailed recommendations for changing the system and improving children’s prospects of finding permanent, loving families. An executive summary (5 pages) and the full report are both available at the site as pdf files.
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The Law of Unintended Consequences Strikes Again
Federal adoption law produces an increase in the number of children who are legally orphans but not adopted. Children who have been legally severed from their parents, but for whom adoptive parents have not been found number 117,395 since the Adoption and Safe Families Act was passed in 1997. They continue to live in foster care or group homes, but unlike foster children, they are denied all contact with their former families.
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The Adoptive Families Web Site
Adoptive Families, a national adoption magazine, presents everything you need to know about adoption on this site. It has check lists, links to articles, adoption attorney and adoption agency lists, and more.
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National Adoption Day is Saturday, November 20.
Now in its fifth year, this special day is a collective national effort to raise awareness about the 129,000 children in foster care waiting to find permanent, loving families. The site has an event planning section, information on adoption, and requests that those communities planning a special event on Saturday tell the site what you’re doing.
How did National Adoption Day happen?
Read this interview with Judge Michael Nash, a Los Angeles Superior Court Judge, and a member of the NCJFCJ Board of Trustees, about the first Adoption Saturday in 1998 and how it came about.
What’s Working for Children: A Policy Study of Adoption Stability and Termination
This new report offers generally good news for the growing number of children being adopted from foster care nationwide. The study finds that the vast majority of adoptions from foster care are remaining intact over time. It raises questions about the effectiveness of state data collection systems on adoption terminations and offers recommendations to improve policies and practices.
Among the principal findings:
- Terminations Seldom Occur. Concerns that policies promoting adoption would lead to increased terminations generally appear unfounded.
- Data Collection is Inadequate. An array of problems prevent a thorough understanding of the reality on the ground (of disruption and dissolution rates) or of the impact of various risk factors.
- Nontraditional Parents are Effective – Families headed by single, foster, older, lower-income and less-educated parents (as well as by kin) have better stability rates than the average, and therefore provide important opportunities for recruitment and placement from foster care.
- Post Adoption Services are Vital – In addition to careful matching and preparation before a placement, providing assistance of various kinds after the child is in a home is vitally important in helping minimize disruption and promote adoption stability.
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Budget Cuts Affect High-risk Kids and Their Adoptive Parents
In the state of Colorado adoptive parents are being asked to raise special-needs children with less support. So far Denver has revised support payments to about one-fifth of 1,600 adopted children, saving about $40,000 a year. This policy is being challenged in court by a couple who adopted a special needs child whose support has been cut from $1,000/month to $425/month. Counties around the state face similar problems.
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Code of Ethics of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys
In response to a question from a reader I found this site and document this week and will share my find with you. The American Academy of Adoption Attorneys (AAAA) is an organization of approximately 300 members throughout the United States and Canada who are expert in the complexities of adoption law and regulations.
. In response to a question from a reader I found this site and document this week and will share my find with you .
Membership is by invitation. Members all have acted as counsel in at least 50 adoption proceedings, including interstate placements, and must maintain their practice according to the high standards of ethics, competence and professionalism.
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Tax Information for Adoptive Parents
I subscribe to a CWLA bulletin, WeR4Kdz, and this is its latest e-bulletin. It recommends to those who prepare information packets for prospective adopters and those who have completed adoptions, that this IRS publication be included. To obtain a copy of Tax Benefits for Adoption, go to this Internet address: www.irs.gov/publications/p968/index.html. If you’d like to know more about WeR4Kdz, you can view this and past issues at: www.cwla.org/wer4kdz.
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The Trend Toward Mixed Race Families
The Christian Science Monitor reports on a significant rise in mixed-race families due to interracial marriages and multiracial adoptions. Data from the 2000 Census show that more than 1 in 6 adopted kids is of a different race from their parents and about 1 in 15 marriages in the US is interracial, up from 1 in 23 in 1990.
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Adoption LawSite
This is intended as a single online resource where prospective adoptive parents, biological parents, adoption and child welfare lawyers, juvenile and family court judges and child advocates can use to locate child welfare and adoption law information. The site is a free service of the National Center for Adoption Law and Policy.
This is . The site is a free service of the National Center for Adoption Law and Policy.
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Research Finds Open Adoptions Work
The Minnesota/Texas Adoption Research Project has followed 190 adoptive families and nearly as many birth parents for more than 15 years. About one third of the adoptions were confidential. In one third an adoption agency played intermediary and passed on medical information, letters or photographs. The final third had open adoptions.
The research found that parents in open adoptions were the least likely to fear the birth mother would try to get the child back. They were more likely to be open about having adopted and showed more empathy toward the birth parents. The children were curious about their birth families whether they knew them or not, but they were not confused about who their “real parents” were.
The research describes a web of relationships that develop between adoptive parents, birth parents, and birth grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and step-relatives. Some of the kids in the study said, “It’s just that you have more people who love you.”
The most successful adoptions shared a special quality-- The adults put the needs of the children first
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Online Adoption
(If you have a problem with a domain name site popping up where Adoptuskids should be, do a search and get to the site that way.)
About 3,000 children awaiting adoption have their photos and descriptions posted at the site of this new internet adoption site. AdoptUSkids is funded by HHS and run by the National Adoption Center in Philadelphia , which developed the site and is managing it.. Most of the children on this site are school-age and have handicaps. Many of them are racial or ethnic minorities. All of them are awaiting adoption through public agencies.
About 3,000 children awaiting adoption have their photos and descriptions posted at the site of this new internet adoption site. and run by the National Adoption Center in Philadelphia , which developed the site and is managing it.. Most of the children on this site . Many of them are . All of them are awaiting adoption through public agencies.
The website offers other services too. Potential parents can take online courses to prepare to adopt. A section for social workers will speed replies to parents interested in children.
| A Cautionary Word About Adoption Websites The adoption website above is a reputable one. Anyone navigating through adoption web sites should use caution and deal only with reputable agencies that safeguard both the potential parents and the children. Some cautions: - The site should be operated by an agency licensed in its state or working exclusively with licensed agencies. You can check on licensing by going to www.calib.com/naic to link to specific states.
- No credible internet placement services ask for money up front or claims it can bypass the “home study” visits needs to assure that your home will be a good one for children.
- Get copies of the internet agency’s brochure and financial report.
- You’ll need the child’s full family, medical, psychological and school history. You have the right to meet with his or her doctors and therapists. Any hesitancy about this should send up a red flag.
- You’ll need ample time with the child before you’re expected to make a decision on adoption. Any undue pressure warrants suspicion.
(Source: “Online adoption,” Reno Gazette-Journal, August 5, 2002 ) |
American Academy of Pediatrics Policy Statement on Adoption by Same-Sex Parents
In a policy statement released this week the American Academy of Pediatrics lands firmly on behalf of the children of same-sex parents. In the policy statement the AAP says "Children deserve to know that their relationships with both of their parents are stable and legally recognized. This applies to all children, whether their parents are of the same or opposite sex."
The AAP position in brief: Children who are born to or adopted by 1 member of a same-sex couple deserve the security of 2 legally recognized parents. Therefore, The American Academy of Pedriatrics supports legislative and legal efforts to provide the possibility of adoption of the child by the second parent or coparent in these families.
If you’d like to read the complete statement, it’s short – two pages long -- and comes with a list of references.
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NAIC: National Adoption Information Clearinghouse - Billed as a comprehensive resource on all aspects of adoption for parents, professionals, adoptees, and birth relatives. Topics at this site include Wrongful Adoption and Agency Liability, Adoption Guide to the Internet 1999. Visit NAIC
New federal law gives foreign adopted children instant citizenship
A new federal law gives foreign children adopted by U.S. parents automatic U.S. citizenship on the date they immigrate to the United States. In the past adoptive parents had to formally apply for citizenship for their adopted children and wait for a decision from INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service). Delays often left these children subject to deportation. The Child Citizenship Act created 70-75,000 instant new American citizens on February 27, the date the new federal law became effective. Information about the new law includes a Backgrounder with questions and answers and a Fact Sheet on "How to Get a Citizenship Certificate." More informationabout CCA application forms and procedures online.
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