PROSPECTIVE ADOPTIVE PARENTS LIVING ABROAD AND NON-US CITIZENS
American citizens living abroad may adopt domestically or internationally. There are several agencies that specialize in working with US citizens living abroad who wish to adopt. It is critical that prospective adoptive parents living abroad research the adoption process and find an agency sensitive to their needs. These families should know that the US Department of State has advised US citizens living abroad who wish to adopt to follow the “adoption laws and procedures” of the country where they reside. This requirement pertains to families adopting US or foreign-born children, according to the National Council for Adoption.13
State laws govern the citizenship and residency requirements of adoptive parents. Most states allow lawful permanent residents to adopt an American child. Permanent residents of the United States must be very careful when adopting a foreign-born child, because there are legal restrictions on non-citizens adopting internationally. The US Department of State stipulates that either the non-citizen must be married to a citizen to adopt internationally or must meet certain criteria to be able to legally bring a non-US citizen child into the United States.14 US citizens living abroad, non-US citizens wishing to adopt American-born children and foreigners wishing to adopt a US-born child should work with an agency that can meet their needs and consult an immigration attorney knowledgeable about adoption.
PROSPECTIVE ADOPTIVE PARENTS OF COLOR
There is a disproportionate number of African-American children in the US foster care system. In 2011, while representing only 14 percent of the total population, 27.5 percent of children in out-of-home care were African-American. There also is a slightly disproportionate rate of Native American children in foster care nationally and, according to Alicia Summers and associates for the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, in five states Latino/Hispanic children are overrepresented in the child welfare system.15
Researchers and child welfare professionals have a number of theories about why certain groups are disproportionately represented in the child welfare system. Some believe that racial discrimination influences the number of African-American children removed from the home. Others believe Caucasian-dominated agencies may not make adequate efforts to work with communities of color to address higher reported and substantiated rates of maltreatment. Additionally, staff may not be “culturally competent”—that is, they may not be educated about culturally specific parenting practices or problems in communities different from their own, leading to biases in how they handle cases and work with families. A Caucasian child protection services professional may have difficulty obtaining treatment and other services for a Latino family due to language barriers or being unfamiliar with the local community and services offered.
Others argue that disproportionality has more to do with corollary factors that increase the rates of child maltreatment in communities. They argue that higher rates of abuse and neglect do not occur in these communities because parents are of a certain race or ethnicity, but because of the prevalence of factors that have been linked to higher rates of child maltreatment such as poverty combined with substance abuse. Families living in poverty may have less access to preventive services that can help keep families together and quality therapeutic services to address addiction, domestic violence or mental illness.
The reasons for disproportionality are complex and continue to be studied. A number of organizations are working toward addressing the problem through staff training, advocating for preventive services and other measures.
Not only are there more African-American children in the system, but older children of color also are more difficult to place. Reasons include a smaller pool of prospective adoptive parents of color and greater hesitation among Caucasian prospective adoptive parents to adopt older children of color, possibly because they don’t want the child to be a minority in a largely Caucasian community, prejudice, racism or concerns they hold about adopting transracially.
Increasing the number of prospective adoptive parents of color may improve permanency for children of color who statistically experience longer stays in foster care. In recognition of this fact, many states have developed adoptive parent recruitment and support programs geared specifically toward certain racial and ethnic groups. There also are a number of adoption agencies that specialize in recruiting and working with prospective adoptive parents of color.
Adopting Within the United States
UNDERSTANDING THE AMERICAN PUBLIC CHILD WELFARE SYSTEM
“Over the last five years, opinions of foster care adoption improved to be as good, if not better, than those of private domestic infant adoption or international adoption,” according to The Dave Thomas Foundation.1
The number of older children being adopted through the American child welfare system may be increasing in recent decades due in part to a greater awareness among prospective adoptive parents of the need for permanent homes for waiting children; a decrease in the number of infants being placed for adoption and a greater willingness by kinship and family caregivers to legally adopt children in their care. Should you decide to adopt an older child domestically, learn all you can about the American child welfare system, because you will interact with many parts of the system as you go through the adoption process. You will have many choices to make along the way, including what kind of agency to work with, what type of adoption you would like to pursue and the characteristics of the child you would like to adopt.
The American child welfare system emerged from concerns about the lack of protections afforded abused and neglected children. Interestingly, the first child welfare agencies in the United States served both abused children and animals. Over the centuries and in modern times the US child welfare system has grown in complexity.2
The three pillars of the American child welfare system are safety, permanency and well-being. Local and state child welfare organizations are responsible for investigating allegations of abuse and neglect, removing children from the home when they cannot safely stay there, developing case plans for families and finding permanent homes for children when parental rights are terminated. While most child protection work is carried out by public agencies, an increasing number of private agencies are becoming involved in child abuse and neglect prevention and treatment services. Private agencies licensed by the state also commonly deliver foster care and adoption services. Although child protective services largely fall under the jurisdiction of the states (states decide how to administer services and enact child welfare laws and policies), federal legislation has significantly impacted local agencies. States must comply with federal child welfare laws and regulations to receive federal funding for services and programs.3
Public child welfare agencies have come under intense scrutiny by the media. Underfunded in many counties and states, some agencies struggle to provide the best child protection and permanency services possible. Notorious for being overworked and underpaid, many public agency caseworkers and supervisors quickly become discouraged and burn out. The good news is that millions of federal dollars have been invested in child welfare system changes, capacity building and professional development for the child welfare workforce over the past two decades.4 Public funds help support the development of programs by county and state agencies to enhance recruitment and retention of quality