Adoption: Overview

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard P. Barth
Keyword(s):  
Foster Care ◽  
Foster Children ◽  
Single Parents ◽  
Parental Rights ◽  
Open Adoption ◽  
Policy Changes ◽  
International Adoptions ◽  
Termination Of Parental Rights ◽  
Children In Foster Care ◽  
Foster Care Adoption

Adoption of children from foster care and international adoptions have accelerated since 1987. Federal policy changes have markedly increased the termination of parental rights and adoption of children in foster care. Adoption by relatives and single parents has also grown markedly. Open adoption is increasingly normative. Adoption outcomes are generally positive although there is substantial call for post-adoption support for children adopted from foster care. These services are emerging but their efficacy is still untested. More work is needed on post-adoption services because there are now more former foster children in post-adoption status than there are children in foster care.

Foster Care for Child Maltreatment: Impact on Delinquent Behavior

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 75 (3) ◽  
pp. 562-568
Author(s):  
Desmond K. Runyan ◽  
Carolyn L. Gould
Keyword(s):  
Foster Care ◽  
Child Maltreatment ◽  
Foster Children ◽  
Maternal Education ◽  
Child Victims ◽  
Foster Home ◽  
Historical Cohort ◽  
Children In Foster Care ◽  
Cohort Differences ◽  
The Impact

Previous reports of child maltreatment Sequelae have not systematically examined the effects of societal intervention. A historical cohort study has been undertaken to examine the impact of one intervention, foster care, on the subsequent development of juvenile delinquency among child victims. One hundred fourteen foster children, aged 11 to 18 years, in foster care for three or more years, and who were in foster care as a result of maltreatment were studied. A comparison cohort was composed of 106 victims of maltreatment who were left in their family home; these children were similar to the children in foster care with regard to age, race, sex, and year of diagnosis. Cohort differences in maternal education, type of abuse, history of prior maltreatment, sex, and race were controlled in the analysis. Foster children committed 0.050 crimes per person-year after age 11 years; home care children committed 0.059 crimes per person-year after age 11 years (P > .2). Foster children were more likely to have committed criminal assault. Among foster children, increased number of foster home placements correlated with increased number of delinquency convictions. Overall, there appears to be no support for the idea that foster care is responsible for a significant portion of later problems encountered by victims of maltreatment.

Conclusion

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine E. Rymph
Keyword(s):  
Foster Care ◽  
Child Welfare ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Parental Rights ◽  
Birth Mothers ◽  
Termination Of Parental Rights ◽  
Foster Mothers

The conclusion briefly summarizes some of the developments in foster care in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, including the rise of the permanency movement, the passage of the 1980 Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act, and the 1997 Adoption and Safe Families Act, each of which shaped the development of foster care, particularly in the areas of subsidized adoption and easier paths to Termination of Parental Rights (TPR). The conclusion also argues that society’s reluctance to adequately support low income birth mothers and low paid foster mothers is part of a broader ambivalence about careworkers in general.

Predictors of Adoption and Guardianship Dissolution: The Role of Race, Age, and Gender Among Children in Foster Care

2020 ◽  
pp. 107755952095217
Author(s):  
Kierra M. P. Sattler ◽  
Sarah A. Font
Keyword(s):  
Foster Care ◽  
Foster Children ◽  
Cognitive Disability ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Foster Care System ◽  
Children In Foster Care ◽  
Disability Status ◽  
Entry Cohort ◽  
And Gender

Adoption and guardianship are meant to provide permanency to foster children when reunification is not a viable option. Unfortunately, sometimes adoption and guardianship placements dissolve resulting in children returning to care. Currently, there is limited research on the prevalence and predictors of adoption and guardianship dissolutions. This study investigated rates of guardianship and adoption dissolution using a complete entry cohort from a large state foster care system and the associations between child characteristics and risk factors with dissolution. Drawing on a complete entry cohort of foster children in Texas that exited to either adoption or guardianship placements, results demonstrated that over 2% of adoptive placements and 7% of guardianship placements were dissolved. Compared with White and Hispanic children, Black children had a higher risk of guardianship, but not adoption, dissolution. Older age was associated with a higher risk of adoption dissolution, and females had a higher risk of guardianship dissolution than males. Behavior problems, cognitive disability status, and mental health issues were all associated with a higher risk of dissolution. These findings have important implications for caseworkers and policymakers on permanency for children in adoptive or guardianship placements.

scholarly journals IS FOSTER CARE THE SAFE PLACE WE BELIEVE IT TO BE? IF NOT, WHY NOT?

2021 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 499-515
Author(s):  
Rankwe Reuben Masha ◽  
Petro Botha
Keyword(s):  
Foster Care ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Foster Children ◽  
Foster Parents ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Foster Care System ◽  
Safe Place ◽  
Children In Foster Care ◽  
Abuse And Neglect

Foster care is an important part of the child protection system; however, it seems that some foster children are not protected – they are abused and neglected. The aims of this article are to confirm on a small scale whether children in foster care are indeed being abused and neglected and to develop an understanding of factors contributing to the abuse and neglect of these foster children. A qualitative research approach was applied. Findings confirmed the occurrence of abuse and/or neglect and provided information on factors relating to foster parents and the foster care system itself contributing to this phenomenon.

scholarly journals The Cumulative Prevalence of Termination of Parental Rights for U.S. Children, 2000–2016

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Wildeman ◽  
Frank R. Edwards ◽  
Sara Wakefield
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Native American ◽  
Foster Care ◽  
Life Tables ◽  
Parental Rights ◽  
African American Children ◽  
Termination Of Parental Rights ◽  
Synthetic Cohort ◽  
American Children ◽  
Cumulative Prevalence

Recent research has used synthetic cohort life tables to show that having a Child Protective Services investigation, experiencing confirmed maltreatment, and being placed in foster care are more common for American children than would be expected based on daily or annual rates for these events. In this article, we extend this literature by using synthetic cohort life tables and data from the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System to generate the first cumulative prevalence estimates of termination of parental rights. The results provide support for four conclusions. First, according to the 2016 estimate, 1 in 100 U.S. children will experience the termination of parental rights by age 18. Second, the risk of experiencing this event is highest in the first few years of life. Third, risks are highest for Native American and African American children. Nearly 3.0% of Native American children and around 1.5% of African American children will ever experience this event. Finally, there is dramatic variation across states in the risk of experiencing this event and in racial/ethnic inequality in this risk. Taken together, these findings suggest that parental rights termination, which involves the permanent loss of access to children for parents, is far more common than often thought.

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