The term disruption is used to describe an adoption process that ends after the child is placed in an adoptive home and before the adoption is legally finalized, which results in the child's return to (or entry into) foster care or placement with new adoptive parents. The term dissolution is used to describe an adoption that ends after it is legally finalized and results in the child's return to (or entry into) foster care or placement with new adoptive parents.
Finding families for children who have experienced an adoption dissolution or disruption may be particularly challenging. The section below provides resources to help children and families with this experience as well as resources for caseworkers to prevent and/or manage adoption disruptions or dissolutions. Postplacement services may be helpful in preventing disruptions or dissolutions.
Discontinuity and Disruption in Adoptions and Guardianships
Adoption Disruption
Considering Adoption
Discusses the differences between disrupted and dissolved adoptions and what can be done prior to prevent an adoption becoming disrupted/dissolved.
Adoption Disruption and Dissolution
North American Council on Adoptable Children
Offers ways to prevent an adoption disruption/dissolution; what types of supports are to be considered when adoption disruption/dissolution does occur; and how it impacts all parties involved with the adoption process, including the child, family, and workforce.
Plan, Prepare, and Support to Prevent Disruptions
Riggs (2017)
North American Council on Adoptable Children
Reviews some of the issues around adoption disruption and how it can be prevented through placement matching, which requires preparation of children and families. The beginning of the article describes how to prepare children to live with a permanent family, while the next section discusses how to prepare families for adoption.
Predictors of Adoption Disruption and Dissolution: A Literature Review
Lanham (2022)
National Council for Adoption
Discusses the current evidence that pertains to adoption disruptions and dissolutions and the role played in a disruption by the child, adoptive parent(s), and/or adoption professionals.
Predictors of Adoption and Guardianship Dissolution: The Role of Race, Age, and Gender Among Children in Foster Care
Sattler & Font (2021)
Child Maltreatment, 26(2)
Presents findings from a study that investigated the rate of guardianship and adoption dissolutions in the State of Texas and the associations between child characteristics and risk factors with dissolution.
Risk & Protective Factors for Discontinuity in Public Adoption and Guardianship: A Review of the Literature (PDF - 4,510 KB)
National Quality Improvement Center for Adoption & Guardianship Support and Preservation (2017)
Synthesizes current research in order to analyze child, family, and agency risk factors that contribute to discontinuity in adoption.