• Am I/Are we open to adopting a sibling group?
• Can I/we parent a child with special needs?
• Am I/Are we open to ongoing contact between the child and his/her biological family members?
You will encounter the term “special needs adoption” during your adoption journey. “Special needs adoption” is a designation ascribed to children who are “hard to place” by states. The definition of which children qualify for “special needs adoption” assistance varies by state but may include children over a certain age, children who are part of a sibling group, male children of color, children who are ill or disabled or children who have several mental health or behavioral challenges. States receive federal funding to increase the number of special needs adoptions in that state. Funds may be used to provide additional subsidies and services for adoptive parents. Many foster children and adoption professionals are uncomfortable with the term “special needs adoption” because it can stigmatize older children who truly do not have any special needs but simply have been in the system for a long time.
Since African-American children in foster care wait longest for permanent families, states often designate older African-American children in foster care as “special needs adoption” cases. Because African-American prospective adoptive parents are more likely than prospective parents of other races to adopt African-American children from foster care, there are special recruitment efforts in some states to increase the number of prospective African-American adoptive parents.
Transracial or transcultural adoption may not be the best choice for every family and thus should be carefully considered. Prospective adoptive parents must think about whether they will be able to help a child from a different culture or background connect with their cultural heritage. They also must think about the degree of openness and acceptance of their extended family, the people where they live and whether their child will face serious challenges fitting in or even experience negativity because of his or her race or culture. One couple who adopted a child from the foster system decided transracial adoption was not best for their family:
We were open to white or Hispanic children. I received some anger on an adoption forum when I revealed that we were open to Hispanic children but not African-American. Older child adoption is complicated and difficult. Each family needs to evaluate their strengths and challenges to determine the children they are best suited to parent. Due to prejudices in our small town and extended families, we didn’t feel we would be the best choice for an African-American child. (We were worried) the child would face serious challenges fitting in or facing prejudice.
Families that do decide to adopt a child from a different racial or cultural background must be prepared to handle cultural issues in adoption. Although the prevalence of multicultural and multiracial families has increased over the past twenty years, some families still face prejudices. Children of transracial adoption or interracial unions may still deal with identity issues or wonder where they fit in. Most agencies, especially those that handle international adoption, require parent training on cultural issues in adoption. Parents can also prepare for cultural issues by reading books and articles, speaking to other adoptive families or joining transracial adoption discussion forums. (Read more about multiracial/multicultural adoptive families in chapter 8.)
According to data from the Federal Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS 2012):
• Fifty percent of children in foster care were reunited with their families.
• The average age of children in foster care was nine years old.
• The average age of children waiting in foster care to be adopted was 7.8.
• There were slightly more boys in the system than girls.
• Twenty-two percent of children in foster care were adopted.
• The average amount of time children waited to be adopted from foster care was 34.4 months.10
Despite the increase in older child adoption, too many older children languish in the foster care system for a number of years or age out of the system by the age of eighteen or twenty-one with few or no family or kinship connections. In 2012, 23,000 young adults aged out of the system without being adopted.11 Young adults who age out of the system without permanent family connections are less likely to graduate from high school, attend college, find a secure job or have stable relationships. They are more likely to become homeless, have children at a young age or become involved in criminal activity.
Some prospective adoptive parents may believe older teens are too old to be adopted. They fear older teens will not be able to adapt to a new family or will have ingrained and intractable behavior problems that cannot be addressed. While some older teens will have significant difficulties adapting to a permanent family after so many years “on their own,” for most it is not too late to benefit from having a stable, loving family for a lifetime.
Some teens who have been in foster care for many years also believe they are too old for adoption or that adoption will not make their lives any better. For The Urban Institute, Kate Chambers and colleagues explored some concerns and beliefs teens in foster care have about adoption, including:
• Adoption is only for young children.
• I will lose contact with my friends and biological family.
• I will have to follow too many rules in an adoptive home.
• Independent living will be easier and I’ll be free to do what I want.12
Many older teens in foster care miss out on the opportunity to be placed in a permanent adoptive home because they hold assumptions, many of which could be inaccurate, about what adoption will mean for them. Fortunately, agencies are doing more to convince older teens in foster care that adoption is still an option. Child-centered adoption practices, now being used by many agencies, prioritize the needs and concerns of older children in care. Older teens are asked what type of family would be best for them and the process of matching teens with prospective adoptive families is done with much careful thought and consideration.
CHOOSING AN AGENCY
After deciding to adopt a child from the US foster care system, you will need to choose an agency. First you must decide if you want to work with your public child welfare agency or with a private agency. Public child welfare agencies have the authority to investigate allegations of abuse and neglect, remove children from homes where they are at risk and place children in foster care. They also complete home studies and work with foster and non-foster parents interested in adopting children in care. Private adoption agencies generally are nonprofit (although there are some for-profit agencies out there—avoid them) and do not carry the same child protection responsibilities as public agencies; they do, however, conduct home studies and match prospective adoptive parents with waiting children.
Adoption agencies and organizations must be accredited by the state. To meet higher standards, some obtain voluntary accreditations such as those offered by the Council on Accreditation.
Virginia Volante-Appel, a Denver-based adoption professional with over thirty years of experience, advises prospective adoptive parents to choose an agency carefully. She writes, “Look at accredited agencies that have a good track record, find out what others’ experiences have been with that agency, visit your county and find out about fost-adopt; just learn as much as you can.”
Some of the benefits and disadvantages to working with public versus private agencies are:
In one study conducted by Ramona W. Denby et al, prospective adoptive parents who were comfortable with their agencies and trusted the information that they received from the agencies about waiting children experienced greater stability in their adoptive placements.14 Visit, or communicate by phone, with staff members from several prospective agencies.