Adoption
Exploring Child Welfare by Joan Shireman
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Adoption Topics
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Adoption is a legal procedure through which a permanent family is created
for a child. Adoptive parents assume all of the rights and responsibilities
of natural parents. Though there are three parties to every adoption:
the child, the birth parents, and the adoptive parents, adoption should
be child centered, focused on meeting the needs of the child. At its
best, it also meets the needs of adopting parents who have wanted a child,
and the needs of the original parents who feel they have made a sound
plan for the care they could not provide for their child.
Adoption practice is dynamic, and changes as community attitudes toward
adoption change. After a long period in which emphasis was placed on
preserving the original families for children, the federal stance changed
with the passage of the Adoption and Safe Families Act in 1997. Adoption
for children who have not found homes within their extended families
is now mandated when the child has been 15 months of the last 22 in foster
care. This new focus and new interest in adoption has enhanced interest
in the varied facets of adoption, each being examined within child welfare
from the point of view of how it impacts the welfare of the adopted children.
The
resource section on general materials about adoption
presents material about all types of adoption and about all of the parties
to an adoption. Following are links to pages on particular types of adoption--transracial and intercountry adoption,
adoption by single parents and by gay
and lesbian parents, open adoptions,
and adoption of children with special
needs. Two additional resource sections highlight the continuing
nature of the adoption process. These are the section on post
adoption support services and the section on adoption outcomes.
The sections are overlapping, and the reader may well quarrel with the
classifications used. Nevertheless, the exploration should be a rich
experience.
Useful web sites
Adopting.com A site of
particular interest to those interested in adopting a child, with general
information, listings of adoption agencies, adoption facilitators and
attorneys, help to prospective adoptors in presenting themselves to birthparents
via letter or web site, and a photolisting of children awaiting adoption.
Adopting.org. IA site
with material for birth parents, adoptees, and adopting parents. Contains
links to sites set up to help birth parents and adult adoptees search
for and find each other.
Adopt US Kids. A website
that displays pictures and information about waiting children from across
the United States. Provides answers to common questions about adoption.
Professionals can also use this site to findfamilies forwaiting children
and to repond to inquiries from studied families.
Bastard Nation. A site
dedicated to advocacy for adoptee's rights. Contains links to search
sites and to sites with personal materials from adoptees, as well as
policy and advocacy information.
Evan B. Donaldson Adoption
Institute An
easy to use and informative website covering many aspects of adoption.
Contains reports of surveys, conferences, reviews of laws, material
on the costs of various types of adoption, and other hard-to-obtain
information.
National Adoption Center: A
website devoted to finding families for children waiting for adoption.
In January, 2002, the site had pictures and descriptions of 3,379 waiting
children. Also contains information for prospective adoptive parents.
National Adoption Information
Clearinghouse; An information-packed site, with mateerial
for professionals, adoptees, birth relatives, and adoptive parents.
Contains databases, statistics, publications, and state-by- state
material on adoption laws. Many publications can be downloaded.
National Resource Center for Special
Needs Adoptions: Spaulding for Children. Website reflects
the multi-faceted organization, which provides training, information,
and support for foster and adoptive parents, and works to place the
children who wait longest for adoption. Also provides consultation
and training to improve adoption services.
North American Council on Adoptable
Children. The website of an organization founded by adopting
parents, and information of particular use to them, including material
on post-adoption services, adoption subsidies, and materials concerning
the annual conference.
Useful books and articles
General
Bartholet, E. (1999). Nobody's Children: Abuse, Neglect, Foster Drift,
and the Adoption Alternative. Boston, MA, Beacon Press.
Behrman, R. E.(ed) 1993. The Future of Children: Adoption. Los
Altos, CA, David and Lucille Packard Foundation. 3: 62-76.
Brodzinsky D.M. and Schechter, M. (ed) (1990) The Psychology of Adoption. New
York: Oxford University Press
Brooks, D., R. P. Barth, et al. (1999). "Adoption and Race: Implementing
the Multiethnic Placement and the Interethnic Adoption Provisions." Social
Work 44(2): 167-178.
Carp, E. W. (1998). Family Matters: Secrecy and Disclosure in the
History of Adoption. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press.
Christian, C., R. G. McRoy, et al. (1997). "Grief Resolution of
Birth Mothers in Confidential, Time-Limited Mediated, Ongoing Mediated,
and Fully Disclosed Adoptions." Adoption Quarterly 2(3):
35-58.
Lifton, B. J. (1994) Journey of the Adopted Self: A Quest for Wholeness. New
York: Basic Books
Kirk, H.D. (1964) Shared Fate. New York: The Free Press
Meezan, W., S. Katz, et al. (1978). Adoptions without Agencies: A
Study of Independent Adoptions. New York, Child Welfare League
of America.
Meezan, W. and J. Shireman (1985). Care and Commitment; Foster Parent
Adoption Decisions. Albany, NY, State University of New York Press.
Pertman, A., (2000) Adoption Nation: How the Adoption Revolution
is Transforming America. New York: Basic Books
Princeton Survey Research Associates (1997). Benchmark Survey: Attitudes
of the public toward adoption. Chicago, IL, Evan B. Donaldson Adoption
Institute
Reitz, M. and K. W. Watson (1992). Adoption and the Family System.
New York, The Guilford Press.
Sachdev, P. (1992). "Adoption Reunion and After: A Study of the
Search Process and Experience of Adoptees." Child Welfare 71(1):
53-68.
Sorosky, A., A. Baran, et al. (1978). The Adoption Triangle. San
Antonio, TX, Corona Publishing Co.
Stein, L. and J. Hoopes (1985). Identity Formation in the Adopted
Adolescent. New York, Child Welfare League of America.
Triseliotis, J., J. Shireman, et al. (1997). Adoption: Theory, Policy
and Practice. London, Cassell.
Post adoption support services
Bourguignon, J. P. and K. W. Watson (1987). After Adoption: A Manual
for Professionals Working with Adoptive Families. Springfield,
Illinois, Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.
Outcomes
Barth, R.P, and M. Berry (1988). Adoption and Disruption: Rates, Risks,
and Responses. Hawthorne, N. Y., Aldine de Gruyter.
Benson, P. L., A. Sharma,
et al. (1994). Growing Up Adopted: A Portrait
of Adolescents and their Families. Minneapolis, Search Institute.
Christian, C., R. G. McRoy, et al. (1997). "Grief Resolution of
Birth Mothers in Confidential, Time-Limited Mediated, Ongoing Mediated,
and Fully Disclosed Adoptions." Adoption Quarterly 2(3):
35-58.
Festinger, T. (1986). Necessary Risk: A Study of Adoptions and Disrupted
Adoptive Placements. New York, Child Welfare League of America,
Inc.
Haugaard, J. J., A. Schustack, et al. (1998). "Searching for Birth
Parents by Adult Adoptees." Adoption Quarterly 1(3): 77-83.
Lifton, B. J. (1994) Journey of the Adopted Self: A Quest for Wholeness. New
York: Basic Books
McRoy, R. G. and L. Zurcher (1983). Transracial and Inracial Adoptees--The
Adolescent Years. Springfield, IL, Charles C. Thomas.
Nelson, K. A. (1985). On the Frontier of Adoption: A Study of Special-Needs
Adoptive Families. New York, Child Welfare League of America, Inc.
Partridge, S., H. Hornby, et al. (1986). Legacies of Loss, Visions
of Gain: An Inside Look at Adoption Disruption. Portland, ME, University
of Southern Maine, Human Services Development Institute.
Rosenthall, J. A. and V. K. Groze (1992). Special-Needs Adoption;
A Follow-up Study of Intact Families. New York, Praeger.
Sachdev, P. (1992). "Adoption Reunion and After: A Study of the
Search Process and Experience of Adoptees." Child Welfare 71(1):
53-68.
Sharma, A. (1997). Growing Up Adopted: The Search Institute Study,
Updated. Minneapolis, Search Institute.
Shireman, J. (1988). Growing up Adopted: An Examination of Major
Issues. Portland, OR, Regional Research Institute, Portland State
University.
Simon, R. and H. Altstein (1992). Adoption, Race, and Identity: From
Infancy through Adolescence. New York, Praeger.
Triseliotis, J.
and j. Russell (1984). Hard to Place: The Outcome
of Adoption and Residential Care. London, Gowe
Vroegh, K. (1997). "Transracial Adoption: How it is Seventeen Years
Later." American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 67(4): 568-575.
Zastrow, C. (1977). Outcome of Black Children/White Parents Adoptions. San
Francisco, CA, R&E Research Associates.
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