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 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.
Adoption Disruption - The Elephant in the Room
Hansen (2015)
RainbowKids Adoption and Child Welfare Advocacy
Provides an adoption social worker's testimony about their experience working with a family who has experienced adoption disruption.
Intervention and Program Catalog
Quality Improvement Center for Adoption & Guardianship Support and Preservation (2017)
Identifies evidence-based or evidence-informed programs and practices that can be used to address both the pre- and postpermanency needs of children in foster care.
Keeping the Promise: The Case for Adoption Support and Preservation
Smith (2014)
The Donaldson Adoption Institute
View Abstract and Document
Shares findings from a study that investigated the long-term stability of domestic adoptions from foster care through the collection of data from eight States that have information on postadoption stability and through a new analysis of national Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System data.
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.
Responding to Rehoming: Protecting Children & Strengthening Adoptive Families
Center for Adoption Support and Education, Child Welfare League of America, Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute, Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, The Donaldson Adoption Institute, North American Council on Adoptable Children, & Voice for Adoption (2015)
View Abstract and Download
Focuses on the need for greater protections for adopted children nationwide, through improved policies to prepare families for adoption and increased and coordinated investments in support services after adoption. An appendix includes a chart that details the home study process, parental preparation, and postplacement services under child welfare adoption, Hague international adoptions, and non-Hague adoptions.
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.
Supporting Children and Families When Adoption Dissolution Occurs
Bergeron & Pennington (2013)
National Council for Adoption
Adoption Advocate, 62
Focuses on adoption dissolution and includes observations on how dissolution and re-adoption occur, as well as offers suggestions reflecting practices that may be helpful to the parties involved.