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Home > Foster Parent Adoption: A Bulletin for Professionals > Practice Issues With Children and Parents
Foster Parent Adoption
Bulletin for Professionals
4. Practice Issues With Children and Parents Even though foster parents have the advantage of knowing and having cared for the children they plan to adopt, they still need careful preparation and support. Research indicates that foster parents need and want more preparation and information than they customarily receive in making this important transition (Howard & Smith, 2003). Practice issues with families moving from foster care to adoption include assessment, preparation for adoption, facilitating an ongoing connection between the child and birth family (when it is in the child's best interests), and working with families who choose not to adopt. As with all adoption practice, policies vary greatly among States and agencies. Assessment Assessing the family's interest and ability to adopt is a crucial step. Workers should not assume that foster parents will choose to adopt, even if they have cared for a child for an extended period or have expressed interest in the past. Instead of asking parents, particularly those who are ambivalent, if they will adopt, another approach is to help them explore the benefits of adoption, while still addressing their concerns. In reviewing the concerns, the worker can explore the seriousness of each concern and determine what information or resources might reduce the parents' anxiety. This exercise may help parents realistically examine their fears and consider if they should proceed. If the worker helps the foster parents explore their feelings, fears, and hopes openly and honestly over time, the odds increase that the foster parents will commit to adopting or will be active in helping the child move to another permanent family (Howard, 2002). However, a foster parent should never be pushed to adopt a child. A resource for foster families considering adoption is the Child Welfare Information Gateway factsheet Foster Parents Considering Adoption. Foster parent interest in adoption may stem from their sincere desire to become the adoptive parents. It may also stem from strong feelings toward the child and discomfort with the idea of others raising the child, despite their own misgivings about adoption. It is important to help foster parents consider factors that may make it difficult for them to meet the child's needs now and in the future, due to the nature of adoption. Indicators that the foster parents are good candidates to adopt include evidence of:
Many agencies have specific assessment processes for determining whether adoption by a particular family is in the best interests of the child and for helping families come to a decision about their suitability for adoption. Those same processes are still relevant in cases of foster parent adoption. While the foster family may already have a completed home study, including background checks, the family should complete any remaining parts of the assessment specific to adoption. Agencies that have implemented a dual home study process that covers both foster care and adoption requirements initially will be able to process foster parent adoptions more expediently. Preparation for Adoption Once the parents (and the child, if old enough) have committed to the adoption, the worker should help the family make the transition from fostering to adoption. Even though foster parents and children benefit from knowing each other, adoption is an adjustment for all parties. As with assessment, many agencies have standard procedures for helping families and children prepare for adoption. While some of the procedures may be unnecessary since the child has already been living in the home, there are other preparations that the worker can facilitate. For the family, these preparations may include:
For the child, preparation may include:
A resource for workers and families is the Child Welfare Information Gateway factsheet Helping Your Foster Child Transition to Your Adopted Child. Facilitating Ongoing Connection With the Birth Family Children adopted by their foster parents often have deep emotional attachments to members of their original families, including siblings who may be placed elsewhere. Even children who were not well cared for in their birth families may experience profound loss at separation, which may deepen when they are adopted and learn they will never return home. Foster parents are likely to have had contact or even relationships with their children's birth families. Workers and adopting parents, often with the help of therapists, need to assess what level of ongoing connection is in the child's best interests and how to develop a postadoption connection agreement that works well for everyone. Some States use mediation or family group decision-making to help develop such agreements. Postadoption connection does not necessarily mean contact, although it may. A range of possible connections are described in the Child Welfare Information Gateway bulletin Openness in Adoption. In addition, the Child Welfare Information Gateway publication Postadoption Contact Agreements Between Birth and Adoptive Families explores postadoption connections. Families Who Do Not Adopt Some parents may evaluate their situations and realistically conclude that adopting a particular child is not right for them. If that is the decision foster parents make, and additional information and support do not allay their concerns, it is important to honor their decision and involve them in helping the child understand and transition to a new family. Specifically, the foster parents can help with:
What if the family is willing to adopt the child, but the worker has reservations? Despite good intentions, many initial foster placements are made quickly, without adequate time to assess the fit between family strengths and child needs. While the emotional connection between the child and family is one important consideration, workers must consider whether a foster parent adoption is the best long-term option for the child. Older foster parents of young children, parents who have limited support systems, parents who are harshly critical of a child or the child's birth family, and parents who exhibit limited ability to meet a child's needs are examples of situations workers need to assess with special care.
This material may be freely reproduced and distributed. However, when doing so, please credit Child Welfare Information Gateway. |
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