Major New Study Finds High Success Rate
for Adoptions from Foster Care
New York, Nov. 14, 2004–
A major new study released today by the Evan
B. Donaldson Adoption Institute reports that
the vast majority of adoptions from foster
care are remaining intact over time, notwithstanding
concerns by many professionals that the failure
rate of such adoptions would rise as a result
of huge increases in their numbers during
the last decade.
The Adoption Institute report, entitled "What's
Working for Children: A Policy Study of Adoption
Stability and Termination," offers generally
good news for the growing number of children
being adopted from foster care nationwide–
and for the families in which these boys and
girls are finding permanent homes. The study
was funded by the David and Lucile Packard
Foundation.
The 71-page report also raises
questions about the effectiveness of state
data-collection systems on adoption disruption
(termination before legal finalization) and
dissolution (termination after legal finalization).
And it offers recommendations for improving
policies and practices in order to lower the
number of terminations, increase the prospects
of success for the 129,000 children currently
waiting in foster care for permanent homes,
and improve the daily lives of the adoptive
families that remain intact but nevertheless
encounter challenges.
"Our research will surprise
few of the tens of thousands of adoptive families
formed each year with children from foster
care, because they know how successful they
are," said Adam Pertman, Executive Director
of the Adoption Institute. "But this
should provide a reality check for people
used to hearing mainly bad news about "the
system" and, hopefully, our findings
will also serve as impetus for making improvements
that will help all the parents and children
involved."
Among the principal findings
in the Adoption Institute's report are:
-
More complete information
is needed. An array of problems, including
a lack of uniformity in definitions and
inadequate data collection, prevents a
thorough understanding of the reality
on the ground or of the impact of various
risk factors.
-
Nontradtional parents are
effective. Families headed by single,
foster, older, lower-income and less educated
parents (as well as by kin) have better
stability rates than the average, therefore
provide important opportunities from placement
of children from foster care. P
-
Post-adoption services are
vital. In addition to careful matching
and preparation before a placement, providing
assistance of various kinds after the
child is in an adoptive home is critically
important in helping to promote stability.
Among the Adoptions Institute's
recommendations are:
-
Improving family matching,
preparation and education. Careful family
evaluations should be systematically conducted,
along with the use of specific tools and
protocols, to enhance the matching process
and enhance the prospects for success.
-
Develop comprehensive disclosure
policies. Many terminations (and problems
in the intact families) occur because
parents receive inadequate information;
states should therefore routinely provide
better, more comprehensive information,
including portable health records.
-
Provide consistent, reliable
support. Post-adoption services are critically
important, both to lessen the possibility
of termination and to enhance the functioning
of intact adoptions; mental-health services
and temporary residential care should
be available.
The adoption institute studied
the relevant social science research over
the last 20 years, and conducted a survey
of 15 states' information-collection
capabilities, yielding important findings
about data collection, termination rates and
risk factors. States reporting disruption
information in our study all had low rates,
ranging up to 8.4%, for adoptive placements
in 1999; dissolution rates were similarly
low, from 0.4% to 5.4% for 1998 adoptions
and for children entering care in 2000. Other
research examined by the institute showed
comparable or even better results.
BACKGROUND: Increasingly over
the past 25 years, as a result of professional
consensus that children benefit more from
adoption than from long-term, temporary foster
care, public policy has promoted the placement
of boys and girls with permanent adoptive
families. This development
ment has resulted in massive increases in
adoptions from foster care : 50,000 children
were adoptive in 2001– a 36% jump from
37,000 in 1998 and a 78% rise from 28,000
in 1996. Many professionals feared the number
of terminations, consequently, also would
increase.
The Evan B. Donaldson Adoption
Institute, an independent nonprofit, is one
of the pre-eminent research, policy and education
organizations in its field. Its objective
is to improve the lives of everyone touched
by adoption– especially children-by
providing reliable, research-based information
that will lead to more ethical and effective
policies, practices and laws.
To obtain a copy of the study's
executive summary or the complete report,
visit the website at www.adoptioninstitute.org or call 212-925-0382.
This article was a media advisory:
Embargoed for Release on Sunday, November
14, 2004. The article was written to define
the results of the study by the Evan B. Donaldson
Adoption Institute.
