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Home > Glossary - O
Glossary - O
Many child welfare terms are subject to interpretation. The Glossary identifies commonly held definitions for terms that can be found on the Child Welfare Information Gateway website. It defines common acronyms and includes links to information on major Federal legislation and related child welfare terms. The Glossary will be updated as new terminology emerges in the field, as new legislation is enacted, and as child welfare terms take on new meaning.
ombudsperson
An advocate or spokesperson for a group who are served by an organization to ensure that the organization's obligations, ethical duties, and rules are being followed; investigates possible illegal, unethical activities or harmful, unforeseen consequences of that organization's actions; and facilitates negotiations or actions for satisfactory solutions.
open adoption/openness
An adoption that involves initial and/or ongoing contact between birth and adoptive families, ranging from sending letters through the agency or intermediary (sometimes called semi-open adoption), to exchanging names and/or scheduling visits. The goals of openness in adoption are to minimize the child's loss of relationships, to maintain and celebrate the adopted child's connection with all of the important people in the child's life, and to allow the adopted child to resolve losses with truth, rather than the fantasy that adopted children often create when no information or contact with their birth family is available.
orphan
A child is considered an orphan for any of several reasons: the death or disappearance of, abandonment or desertion by, separation from, or loss of both parents; or if a surviving parent or unwed mother is unable to care for the child properly, as specified by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for intercountry adoption.
orphanage
Institution that houses children who are orphaned, abandoned, or whose parents are unable to care for them. Orphanages are rarely used in the United States, although they are frequently used abroad.
orphan-first/orphan-first country
In intercountry adoption the orphan-first determination was created in an effort to help prevent prospective adoptive parents from traveling overseas to complete a non-Hague adoption, only to find out they would have to return to the U.S. without the child because the Form I-604 investigation revealed the child was not technically considered to be an orphan. In an orphan-first country, a child's orphan status is determined prior to the final adjudication of the Form I-600. Currently, Vietnam is the only orphan-first country.
other planned permanent living arrangement (OPPLA)
A permanency option in which the child welfare agency maintains care and custody responsibilities for and supervision of the child, and places the child in a setting in which the child is expected to remain until adulthood. This might be with foster parents or relative caregivers who have made a commitment to care for the child permanently, or in a long-term care facility (for children with developmental disabilities who require long-term residential care, for example). This term was created when the Adoption and Safe Families Act struck the term "long-term foster care" from statute. OPPLA (or APPLA) is selected only when reunification, adoption, legal guardianship, and relative placements have been determined to be inappropriate.
outcome
The anticipated or actual effect of program activities and outputs. An outcome constitutes changes or improvements in the target populations being served or the target systems being affected. The Child and Family Services Reviews incorporate the following seven outcomes in evaluating State child welfare programs: (1) Children are, first and foremost, protected from abuse and neglect; (2) children are safely maintained in their homes whenever possible; (3) children have permanency and stability in their living situations; (4) the continuity of family relationships and connections is preserved for children; (5) families have enhanced capacity to provide for their children's needs; (6) children receive appropriate services to meet their educational needs; and (7) children receive adequate services to meet their physical and mental health needs.
out-of-home care
An array of services, including family foster care, kinship care, and residential group care, for children who have been placed in the custody of the State and who must reside temporarily away from their families.
outreach
Activities to bring services or information to people in their homes or usual environments.
overrepresentation
Inclusion of a disproportionate number of observations in a target population relative to the general population. In child welfare, the term usually refers to the disproportionate number of children of color in the child welfare system. Also see racial disproporationality.
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