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Home > Postadoption Services: A Bulletin for Professionals > What Postadoptive Services Do Families Need?
Postadoption Services
Bulletin for Professionals
Author(s): Child Welfare Information Gateway
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| Year Published: 2005 |
4. What Postadoptive Services Do Families Need?
In the absence of an evidence-based model for postadoption services, programs frequently turn to adoption professionals and to adoptive parents themselves to determine adoptive families' needs. In surveys and focus groups, adoptive families have consistently reported that they need a range of adoption-competent services. Families report that these services need to be individualized by type, level, and intensity, depending on the family composition, the children's ages and any unique needs, and whether those needs can be met by existing services. Families often make extensive use of services from other public and private sources within their communities before seeking a specialized postadoption services program (Barth, Gibbs, & Siebenaler, 2001; Festinger, 2001).
The services families most frequently request fall into four major categories: (1) educational and informational services, (2) clinical services, (3) material services, and (4) support networks (Barth, Gibbs, & Siebenaler, 2001; Freundlich & Wright, 2003; Barth, & Miller, 2000). The intensity of services varies along a continuum beginning with preventive support services and extending through highly intensive mental health intervention, when appropriate and necessary.
Educational and Informational Services
- Information and Referral. Adoptive families consistently identify a critical need for information about the services and resources available to them. Information and referral services can be provided directly through case managers or 24-hour telephone lines or through resource directories, lending libraries, websites, newsletters, and workshops (Christian, 2002; Festinger, 2001).
- Parenting Education. Adoptive families frequently express a need for reality-based training that will truly prepare parents to deal with the attachment, emotional, behavioral, and developmental issues their adopted children are experiencing. When needed, such training can be made available through literature, seminars, workshops, support groups, websites, and other online services.
- Background Information. Adoptive families have a critical need for complete information about their children's social, medical, and genetic histories in order to better understand and cope with their behavioral, emotional, trust, and attachment issues (Brooks, Allen, & Barth, 2002). (For more information on this topic, see the Information Gateway publication Providing Background Information to Adoptive Parents: A Bulletin for Professionals.)
Clinical Services
- Mental Health Services. In addition to needing adoption-competent mental health services for their children, adoptive parents report needing assistance with children's attachment and trust issues; guidance in responding to their children's emotional, behavioral, and developmental issues; and assistance in dealing with the impact of adoption on their biological children.
- Adoption-Competent Community Services. Adoptive families often express concern that the community professionals with whom they and their children come into contact (therapists, school personnel, attorneys, mental health and medical providers) are not sensitive to the unique issues that arise in adoptive families, including those related to the children's loss, grief, trust, and attachment. Some postadoption service programs are beginning to provide adoption-specific training for community service providers (Christian, 2002).
Material Services
- Financial Assistance (Adoption Assistance or Adoption Subsidies). Families often use Federal- or State-funded financial assistance (subsidies) to purchase community services such as tutoring, respite care, babysitting, and even therapy (when they wish to choose the therapist for their child) (Barth, Gibbs, & Siebenaler, 2001; Festinger, 2001). (For more information on adoption subsidies, read the Information Gateway publication Adoption Assistance for Children Adopted From Foster Care: A Factsheet for Families. Also, professionals can view information about State-specific adoption assistance programs through the database on the Information Gateway website at http://www.childwelfare.gov/adoption/adopt_assistance/.)
Support Networks
- Peer Support Services for Adoptive Parents. Being with other adoptive families (for example, in parent support groups) reinforces for adoptive families that their adoptive
family experience is normal although different from that of nonadoptive families. Peer support also provides a sense of acceptance and of freedom to express one's frustrations without a fear of being judged (Chamberlain & Horne, 2003). Peer
support groups also are relatively inexpensive services for agencies to provide or sponsor (Avery, 2004).
- Peer Support Services for Children. For many adopted children and youth, a peer support group is their first opportunity to interact with other children who were
adopted and to see that their experiences and feelings related to adoption are normal. Groups provide a safe environment where children and youth can talk about their birth and adoptive families and share their fears and concerns (Barth, Gibbs, & Siebenaler, 2001; Festinger, 2001; Smith & Howard, 1999; Casey Family Services, 2003b). There are also many online groups and forums for all types of adoptive parents.
- Respite Care and Babysitting. All parents need periodic breaks from their children in order to renew their own relationships. This may be especially true for parents of children who require frequent attention due to particular medical or emotional needs. However, the needs of some adopted children can make it difficult to locate appropriate, affordable babysitters and respite providers willing to provide care for them. Many adoptive parents report needing financial assistance for respite care and babysitting.
- Advocacy. Many adoptive parents report needing support in dealing with schools, children's individualized education plans, and other community services. During the process of providing advocacy and support, advocates also can teach advocacy skills to the parents, enabling them eventually to advocate for their children on their own (Gibbs, Siebenaler, & Barth, 2002; Festinger, 2001; Barth & Miller, 2000; Kramer & Houston, 1998).
Surveyed families consistently emphasize the importance of postadoption service programs that are flexible and allow them to access the services they need when they need them. Researchers suggest those services should be nonjudgmental, family centered, consumer driven, and tailored to meet the needs of the individual families who are seeking services (Gibbs, Siebenaler, Harris, & Barth, 2002; Festinger, 2001).
This material may be freely reproduced and distributed. However, when doing so, please credit Child Welfare Information Gateway.
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