Resources

• Who May Adopt, Be Adopted, or Place a Child for Adoption?
  In order for an adoption to take place, a person available to be adopted must be placed in the home of a person or persons eligible to adopt. All States have laws that specify which persons are eligible as adopting parents and which persons can be adopted. In addition, all States have laws that designate which persons or entities have the authority to make adoptive placements. This document from the Child Welfare Information Gateway summarizes State adoption statutes.

• How Many Children Were Adopted in 2000 and 2001?
  This report presents the results of the first national study in more than a decade to attempt to estimate the total number of children adopted in each of the States for 2000 and 2001, as well as the composition and trends of all U.S. adoptions. A brief history of adoption data collection, a description of the strengths and limitations of potential adoption data sources, and a review of how the information was collected also are included.

• Age of Children at Adoption and Time from Termination of Parental Rights to Adoption
  This research brief from American University discusses the history of adoption in the United States and provides administrative data from the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System from 1996 to 2003 on the age of children when they are adopted and the time between the termination of parental rights to adoption.

• Foster Care Adoption in the United States: A State-by-State Analysis of Barriers & Promising Approaches
  This Urban Institute analysis is the first to identify common barriers to finding adoptive families for children in foster care, as well as promising practices to overcome them. More than 90% of states report difficulty identifying adoptive families for children in foster care, especially families for older children, those with special needs, and Hispanic and African-American children. 88% of states are working to improve their child welfare case management systems, including reorganizing staff, creating specialized adoption divisions and positions, and providing additional training on adoption.

• Foster Care Adoption in the United States: An Analysis of Interest in Adoption and a Review of State Recruitment Strategies
  This report from the Urban Institute provides a national look at the state of adoption recruitment by describing: levels of interest in adoption, who takes steps toward adopting, and how interest might be channeled toward foster care adoption.

• Parent Recruitment and Training: A Crucial, Neglected Child Welfare Strategy
  This report from the National Council for Adoption discusses state allocation of available federal child welfare funds to parent recruitment and training.

• What's Working for Children: A Policy Study of Adoption Stability and Termination
  This report from the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute offers generally good news for the growing number of children being adopted from foster care nationwide - and for the families in which these boys and girls are finding permanent homes. The Institute's study finds that the vast majority of adoptions from foster care are remaining intact over time, notwithstanding concerns by many professionals that the failure rate of such adoptions would rise as a result of huge increases in their numbers during the last decade. It also raises questions about the effectiveness of state data-collection systems on adoption terminations and offers recommendations to improve policies and practices.

• Field-Initiated Research on Successful Adolescent Adoptions
  The Center for Child and Family Studies in the College of Social Work at the University of South Carolina with collaboration from the South Carolina Department of Social Services conducted this research study, which focused on families who “successfully” adopted children as adolescents. It was designed to expand knowledge on adolescent, family, and systems factors associated with successful adoptive placements for adolescents. It includes a variety of recommendations to improve practice in the adoption field.

• Growth in the Adoption Population
  This paper explores the possible impact of federal policy changes on the future size of the adoption population--that is, children adopted from foster care. It presents results from a simulation model that uses data from Chapin Hall's Multistate Foster Care Data Archive to project the size of the adoption population and the number of children in foster care for the next 20 years. It finds that, most likely between 2004 and 2006, the number of children receiving adoption assistance will grow such that it exceeds the number of children in foster care. Further, the adoption population will continue to be larger than the foster care population well into the future, unless there are unusually dramatic changes in the number of foster care admissions. As a consequence, federal and state adoption assistance payments will approach total outlays for foster care board and maintenance within the next 10 to 15 years, depending on admissions to foster care over that period. (March 2002)

• Adoption Dynamics: The Impact of the Adoption and Safe Families Act
  This paper explores the possible impact of recent federal policy changes on the future size of the adoption population — that is, children adopted from foster care. Results are presented from a simulation model that uses data from Chapin Hall's Multistate Foster Care Data Archive to project the size of the adoption population and the number of children in foster care for the next 20 years. In particular, the sensitivity of the projected size of the adoption population to changes in adoption rates and the number of children entering foster care in the future is examined. The analysis shows that in the next few years, most likely between 2004 and 2006, the number of children receiving adoption assistance will exceed the number of children in foster care. Further, the adoption population will continue to be larger than the foster care population well into the future, unless there are unusually dramatic changes in the number of foster care admissions. (August 2002)

• Adoption Dynamics: Comparative Results for Subpopulations
  Using data from the Multistate Foster Care Data Archive, this study examines whether, as the pace of adoptions accelerated during the 1990s, certain demographic subpopulations experienced more change than others. The interest in subgroups reflects a desire to better understand differences that define the experiences of children within the foster care system. The analysis finds that (1) all subgroups reflected an increased likelihood of adoption per unit time; (2) children from urban areas, African-American children, and children living in kinship homes experienced the greatest increases in the likelihood of adoption; and (3) African-American children from urban areas living in kinship homes showed the most significant change of all, although these children continue to move more slowly to adoption than other children. (November 2002)

• Nation's Child Welfare System Doubles Number of Adoptions from Foster Care
  According to a recent analysis of national data, 33 states and the District of Columbia doubled the number of adoptions from foster care during the five years since the passage of the Adoption and Safe Families Act in 1997. The report examines five years of adoption performance for all 50 states and the District of Columbia, exploring the impact of aligning the right outcomes with federal financial incentives and importance of collaboration in getting the work done.

• The Critical Need for Adoption Subsidies
  This report from Children's Rights summarizes the findings of a survey they conducted in collaboration with the North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC) and the National Foster Parent Association (NFPA) of 242 adoptive and prospective adoptive parents in 6 states. The survey indicates that adoption subsidies play a critical role in ensuring that abused and neglected children are adopted from foster care.

• The Value of Adoption
  This study from American University finds that the human services cost of adoption is about half the cost of long-term foster care for children whose birth parents' rights have been terminated. Because adoption is an effective intervention for improving a variety of outcomes for those exposed to adverse childhood experiences, the total savings to government in areas such as special education and criminal justice is of the same magnitude as the child welfare savings. The private benefit to adopted children in terms of additional income earned over their working lives is similarly large. In all, a dollar spent on the adoption of a child from foster care yields about three dollars in benefits.

Resources From the States

• Handbooks for Adoptive Parents
  Some states have handbooks that assist prospective adoptive parents in negotiating the adoption process. Here are some public agency handbooks that are available on-line.

• Massachusetts: Social Worker Information from MARE
  Information and resources, including "The Social Worker's Guide to MARE Programs and Services," from the Massachusetts Adoption Resource Exchange, Inc.

PowerPoint Presentations

• Presentations from Adoption Connections Training Institute: OneWorld Neighborhood
  Third Annual International Conference on Post-Adoption Services, held in Cambridge, Massachusetts February 19-21, 2007.
  • Foster Adoption and Infant Adoption: Changes in Practice, by Gerald P. Mallon, Executive Director NRCFCPPP