Developing Culturally Competent Adoption Services

Managers and administrators will find resources in this section to help them develop culturally compete adoption services, including State and local examples.

Adoption and Foster Care of American Indian Children: Closing the Cultural Divide
Jackson
Social Work Today, 5(5), 2005
View Abstract and document
Highlights the efforts of the Rural Expansion of Adoptive Communities and Homes (REACH) Project to establish permanent homes for American Indian children in need without taking them away from their culture, communities, and families. The program facilitates preadoption and postadoption services in rural communities in Minnesota, North Dakota, and Wisconsin.

All Children, All Families: Promising Practices in Adoption and Foster Care: A Comprehensive Guide to Policies and Practices That Welcome, Affirm, and Support Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Foster and Adoptive Parents (PDF - 3833 KB)
Human Rights Campaign (2007)
Designed to help agencies and organizations assess policies as they relate to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) community and measure their levels of skill and competency in all areas of practice with prospective or current LGBT foster and adoptive parents.

Cultural Competence Continuum
Adoptive and Foster Family Coalition New York
Defines the terminology and helps child welfare agencies assess their levels of competency by discussing the characteristics of five key points along the continuum.

Cultural Stereotypes Die Hard: The Case of Transracial Adoption
Yale University School of Medicine
Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 34(3), 2006
View Abstract
Focuses on the use of Federal statutory attempts to remove race as a controlling factor in child placement decisions.

Engaging African American Communities and Organizations to Support Foster Care and Adoption for Children in the Child Welfare System
National Resource Center for Adoption
The Roundtable, 25(1), 2011
View Abstract
Dicusses how AdoptUSKids addresses the permanency needs of African-American children in the child welfare system. 

The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) Handbook: A Legal Guide to the Custody and Adoption of Native American Children
Jones, Tilden, & Gaines-Stoner (2nd ed.) (2007)
View Abstract
Helps family law practitioners, social workers, and counselors understand the requirements of the law. The handbook includes a table of cases, a selected bibliography, appendices containing the text of the law, lists of Tribal court and ICWA contacts, checklists, and more.

Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) Online Training Course
National Indian Child Welfare Association (2008)
Explains ICWA in easy-to-understand language and recommends effective child welfare practices when working with an ICWA case. A registration fee is required.

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State and local examples

Policy Actions to Reduce Racial Disproportionality and Disparities in Child Welfare: A Scan of Eleven States
Alliance for Racial Equity in Child Welfare (2009)
Identifies States that are devoting efforts to addressing disproportionality and disparities through public policy measures.

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