Infants who stay in foster care: child characteristics and permanency outcomes of legally free children first placed as infants

Despite growing concern in the United States about the number of children who are entering child welfare care as infants, little empirical attention has been given to the sizable group of these children who are not reunified with their biological families and who then remain in care for long periods. This study examined length of stay and permanency outcomes for 458 legally free children who initially entered out-of-home care as infants. Using a Cox proportional-hazards event history model, the study also explored the effects of race/ethnicity and gender on the likelihood of these children achieving a permanent placement (legalized adoption or guardianship) within a reasonable period of time. African–American children and boys were found to be significantly less likely to achieve permanence than Caucasian children or girls. Across all groups of children in the sample, however, long stays in care were the norm. These findings suggest the need for flexible approaches to permanency, for efforts to better differentiate among infants in care, and for attention to children's long-term developmental needs as well as to strategies that better assure placement stability.     

Responding to child maltreatment: Comparison between the USA and China

A recent study estimated that over one‐fourth of Chinese children have suffered maltreatment (Fang et al., 2015 ). However, the current child welfare policy in China is limited to orphans, abandoned children, and children with disabilities. Also, there is very little comparative research in China on Chinese and other countries’ child welfare systems. The purpose of this study was to analyze applicable US and Chinese child welfare policies, identify gaps in Chinese policy regarding child maltreatment, and make recommendations for a policy agenda for improving child welfare in China based on cultural values and existing policy structures. Results show that China has considerable capacity to make improvements in child protective services, foster care, and adoption policies. Based on the results of this study, several implications are provided to develop China's child maltreatment policy to increase children's outcomes of well‐being, safety, and permanency. Key Practitioner Message: ? To understand the background and system of current Chinese child maltreatment policy; ? To review US child maltreatment policy and its implementation to identify gaps in the Chinese child maltreatment system; ? To provide policy suggestions to develop Chinese child maltreatment policy and provide recommendations for social work education and practice in China.     

Adoption in Korea: current status and future prospects

This article examines the current status of adoption in Korea and discusses the issues that must be addressed for future development. The nature of adoption has changed dramatically in the last 50 years, and continues to change in Korea. If the first half of modern adoption history were about finding and providing permanent homes for war orphans and children abandoned out of destitution, the second half saw increasing demand for adoption to function as a key component of the continuum of child welfare services providing care for children who need protection and care outside their home. However, responding to this change has been a challenge over the years. Based on the analysis of recent trends of the child welfare system and adoption in Korea, this article reveals that there are significant barriers in the path to improving adoption, especially domestic adoption, so that it can be considered a realistic placement option for children who need protection and care in Korea. Suggestions for the future direction of reforming adoption policy and practice are given.     

Long‐term foster care or adoption? The evidence examined

Based on an examination of the research literature, this paper contrasts six variables connected with the outcome of adoption and long‐term fostering. It provides some answers to the question often being asked by policy makers and family placement workers, as well as judges, about the relative merits and limitations of these two forms of substitute parenting for children who cannot return to live with their birth families. Because of the type of child currently adopted or fostered, breakdown rates by themselves are increasingly an unreliable outcome measure. The main defining difference found between these two forms of substitute parenting appears to be the higher levels of emotional security, sense of belonging and general well‐being expressed by those growing up as adopted compared with those fostered long term. However, for reasons outlined in the paper, long‐term fostering still has a definite place for a range of children who require long‐term plans.     

Predictors of outcome for unrelated adoptive placements made during middle childhood

This paper reports on a follow‐up to adolescence of two longitudinal prospective studies of children placed from public care with non‐related adoptive families in the UK. Factors associated with outcome are presented for 99 children (one index child per adoptive family) who were between 5 and 11 years of age at placement. Information concerning the children's backgrounds and care histories was obtained shortly after placement (T1), from social workers. Adopters were interviewed at T1 and again at the end of the first year (T2). A further follow‐up was conducted an average of six years after placement (T3). Outcomes at T3 were classified as either disrupted, which was true for 23%, continuing and ‘positive’ (49%) or continuing but ‘difficult’ (28%). Bivariate analyses revealed a number of attributes, related to both the child and the adoptive parents, which were associated with differential outcomes. Logistic regression produced five predictors of placement disruption: age at placement, behavioural problems, preferential rejection, time in care and the child's degree of attachment to the new mother. Differences were found between ‘positive’ and ‘difficult’ outcomes in continuing placements as well as between continuing and disrupted placements. The analysis suggests that adoption should certainly be considered as an option for children over 5 years of age while recognizing the need for both preparation and post‐placement support. Evidence of differential outcome in continuing placements provides support for efforts to reduce the number of placements and returns home that a child at risk experiences.     

Everything for the Children: Orphans Growing Up in Informal Adoptive Families in China

Most orphaned children in China are cared for by their extended families or become state wards under the guardianship of child welfare institutions. Some exceptions are children who are found and cared for by families in the community, without a formalized adoption or foster relationship. In some locations, institutions now accept guardianship for these children and support the informal adoptive family to continue to care for them. This article examines the outcomes for these children as they became young adults by comparing these 12 children raised within the system as they approach or have approached young adulthood (now aged 16–40 years-old). Some of the participants were either informally adopted or lived in institutional care. The results of this study found that the family environment was more conducive to the young people’s wellbeing as they approached or entered adulthood. The participants raised in informal care appeared to be treated similar to the biological children in these families. When the institution formalized the state guardianship responsibility, it also meant the families had state resources for support to protect the children’s rights to economic security, education, health care, and social participation. This practice by the institution supported the addition of informal adoption, as one step closer to permanency than foster care. Future implications include considering this option to help promote the family system assisting these children, families, and the state.     

Inter‐country adoption in Australia: Examining the factors that drive the practice and implications for policy reform

The article presents the findings of an international literature review conducted to examine the factors that drive inter‐country adoption rates within both sending and receiving countries. The authors then consider the implications of these findings for inter‐country adoption policy reform in Australia. The evidence in the literature highlights a distinction between the factors that drive ICA in sending and receiving countries. Factors that drive the practice in sending countries relate to structural forms such as socio‐economic and political conditions. In contrast, it is the growing demand for a child from infertile couples that drives the practice in receiving countries. The article then considers the challenges of domestic policy reform undertaken to increase numbers of inter‐country adoptions in a context of global decline.     

Parents who wait: Acknowledging the support needs and vulnerabilities of approved adopters during their wait to become adoptive parents

There is a significant amount of existing research exploring adoption policies, processes, and the experiences and safeguarding of children. However, although much research has children at the focus, little research has been conducted into the experiences of approved and waiting adopters. Where research has included adopters, focus tends to be on how adopters can aid an adoptive placement and what support they can provide to an adoptive child. In this article, the experiences of approved and waiting adopters are at the centre. This article reports on a digital ethnographic research project, which used unobtrusive methods to conduct a thematic analysis of over 600 posts made by waiting adopters on publically available UK online adoption forums in 2015. Online posts discussed the perceived over‐recruitment of adopters; the decision‐making behind adopters' initial preferences; and the negative emotional effects of the waiting period following approval. This article argues that more consideration needs to be given to the needs of and support for approved adopters whilst they wait for an adoptive child.     

Effects of case characteristics on teamwork in family meetings

Little empirical research has examined the effects of case characteristics on high‐quality teamwork within family meetings in child welfare. We attempted to fill this gap using 497 child welfare cases in a Midwestern state in the United States. We found that overall teamwork was negatively associated with domestic violence, frequent placement moves, and a permanency plan of adoption, whereas teamwork was positively associated with the length of involvement in the child welfare system. We also examined the relationships between the case characteristics and two components of teamwork. The results showed that domestic violence and the length of the involvement were equally significant factors for both team formation and functioning. The permanency plan of adoption was a significant factor for team formation, but not for team functioning. Finally, family voices and frequent team meetings appeared to be stronger factors for improving both team formation and functioning. The results suggest that families in the child welfare system have different experiences in forming and functioning high‐quality family team meetings. Therefore, it is necessary to customize specific processes and strategies to promote teamwork depending on the child and family's characteristics and situations.     

Choosing intercountry adoption: an Australian study of the motivations and attitudes of intending and recent adoptive parents

Humanitarian reasons are often reported as the main motivating force for undertaking intercountry adoption. This article reports on a qualitative interview‐based Australian study in which 32 adoptive parents and prospective adoptive parents talk frankly about their desire to use intercountry adoption as a pathway to parenthood, rather than as an altruistic method of providing a child with a family. The study aimed to investigate motivations of intending and recent adoptive parents for deciding to form a family through intercountry adoption and to contribute to understanding about why intercountry adoption is the preferred option over available alternatives for family formation. The findings from this study raise interesting questions regarding recruitment efforts for children needing families; not only in relation to intercountry adoption, but also in developing recruitment strategies for foster carers for local children needing care.     

Children in permanent foster care in Sweden

The Swedish child welfare system has no permanency planning as we know it from, for example, the United States and Great Britain. Regardless of whether the child is placed in foster care with or without the parents’ consent, the law requires semi-annual reviews and there is no time limit set on reunion. Nevertheless, there are foster children who remain in the foster home throughout the whole of childhood, on terms similar to permanent foster care or adoption. This paper concerns a selection of findings from a research project entitled ‘Is there a difference in being a foster child?’. Foster children aged 10–11 were interviewed three times and the children’s perspective was focused on, complemented by the perspective of their foster parent(s). When interviewed about their relationship to their natural family as well as to the foster family, and about having a sense of family belonging and expectations for the future, 11 of the 22 children perceived their stay in the foster home as permanent and regarded themselves as belonging only to the foster family, although all of the children had contact with their birth parents. The study concerns the children’s views as well as those of the foster parents. The perception of permanency in the absence of a legal option of permanency is discussed.     

Nonresidential fathers with children in foster care: A descriptive study in the United States

This study used the data from 64 nonresidential fathers who had their children placed in foster care to describe their characteristics. The survey included questions about demographic background and personal challenges, the father's involvement with his child in foster care, the father's relationship with the mother, barriers to the father's involvement, and the relationship with child welfare agencies and workers. The average age of the participants was about 39 years, and the majority of them were African American. About 70% of the fathers reported low levels of education. Almost 69% of fathers reported frequent face‐to‐face contact with their children. On average, the participants were arrested 2.6 times, and it ranged from 0 to 34. More research is necessary to learn more about these fathers, develop programs to help them become a viable source for permanency option, and become more involved in their children's lives.     

Achieving permanency for youth in foster care: assessing and strengthening emotional security

For some youth in foster care, the closest family or family‐like relationships are with the foster parents with whom they have lived for extended periods of time. Nonetheless, child welfare agencies often do not explore these relationships and the potential they may hold for youth for legal permanence through adoption or guardianship. Recognizing that social workers often lack resources to help them initiate permanency conversations, Casey Family Services, a direct service child welfare agency in the USA, developed a tool that social workers can use to explore youth's sense of emotional security with their foster parents and foster parents' sense of claiming and attachment with youth in their care. The research literature that suggests that emotional security is a critical component of successful permanence provided the foundation for the development of the Belonging and Emotional Security Tool (BEST). When used with youth and foster parents, the BEST was found to advance meaningful permanency conversations. The authors provide case examples of its use and discuss future directions for using the BEST and broadening its application.     

Relative foster care: An emerging trend in foster care placement policy and practice

Abstract

Increases in the foster child population, at a time when terminations in foster care placement have decreased along with a decline in the number of non‐related foster parents, has resulted in an increasing use of relative foster care placement. Relative care as an emerging trend in foster care placement, is not without controversy. Its merits, however, should be assessed in terms of its benefits to the children in care, the fiscal and organizational costs, and the problems it creates for the child welfare system. This paper reviews what is known about the characteristics of relative caregivers and the children in their care. Federal and state policies that affect the use of relatives as an alternative placement resource for children are described. The available data regarding the length of time in placement, number of placements, physical, mental health and educational and permanency outcomes for children placed with relatives are discussed. Implications for practice are drawn and areas for further research are suggested.     

After Safety,What is the Goal of Child Welfare Services: Permanency,Family Continuity or Social Benefit?

Child welfare services have multiple goals, including child protection, family continuity, and achievement of legal permanency so children can end their involvement with child welfare services and have a lifetime family. These goals are not all achievable to the same extent in all cases. American child welfare policy has, in the last few years, become more definitive about the priority of child protection above family preservation. Now, situations which involve safety risks that are too great do not require any efforts at reunifying children to their biological homes. Less clear in American child welfare policy and practice is the value to be placed on other factors – particularly when a child cannot return home and will need an alternative adoptive family. Practitioners often emphasize family continuity – that is, the opportunity to maintain contact with the biological parent and extended family members – as a key decision making consideration. Yet, family continuity does not necessarily predict a successful transition to adulthood that is healthy for children or provides social benefits to the community. This paper explores the rationale for expanding child welfare decision making criteria by adding longer-term outcomes and the likelihood that children will eventually generate social benefits.     

Birth parents’ perceptions of professional practice in child care and adoption proceedings: implications for practice

This paper explores non‐relinquishing birth parents’ experiences of contested child care and adoption proceedings. It highlights the perceptions and voices of birth parents which are rarely prioritized in dominant discourses of professional practice in this area. The paper reviews previous related research and also discusses a small‐scale empirical study which elicited the perspectives of three birth parents whose children had been made subject to care proceedings and placed for adoption in England. Drawing on previous research and this study, the paper makes range of practice recommendations for sensitive professional practice with birth parents during contested child care and adoption proceedings.     

Names and naming in adoption: Birth heritage and family‐making

In this article, we consider the significance and practices of names and naming in adoption to develop understanding of the issue amongst scholars, policymakers, adoption practitioners, and adoption communities. Research on the topic of names and adoption is scarce and focused mostly on international and domestic adoptions in the United States. We draw on the research literature to critically explore names and naming in adoption through two recurrent and related themes. The first is “birth heritage,” where names, forenames especially, are shown to be important in the approach taken by adopters to their child's birth family and cultural identity. The second theme is “family‐making,” where namesaking and homogeneity of surname emerge, amongst others, as strategies to create, sustain, and display “family.” In gathering together for the first time an otherwise scattered, disparate body of research, our article showcases names and naming as illuminating distillations of key contemporary challenges experienced by families formed through adoption. We conclude our article by considering emergent gaps in existing knowledge and understanding about names, naming, and adoption that might usefully be addressed, to inform professional advice and familial decisions about names, and enhance outcomes for adoptees and their families.     

Pathways to adoption for minority ethnic children in England – reasons for entry to care

There have been concerns about the over‐representation of minority ethnic children in care in England for many years. This paper reports on the reasons why a sample of 120 minority ethnic children with adoption recommendations entered care. The study found no evidence that children were being removed unfairly or in a discriminatory way. However, there were significant differences by ethnic group in the characteristics of children and their mothers, in reasons for entry and in age at referral. These differences needed to be better understood, and interventions targeted at improving the circumstances and stresses within families that lead to abuse, neglect or relinquishment are also needed. Simply focusing on reducing the number of minority ethnic children in care will not in itself produce better outcomes for children.     

Beyond attachment theory and therapy: Towards sensitive and evidence-based interventions with foster and adoptive families in distress

Elements of attachment theory have been embraced by practitioners endeavouring to assist foster and adopted children and their parents. Attachment theory articulates the potential risks of experiencing multiple caregivers; emphasizes the importance of close social relationships to development; and recognizes that substitute parents may not always have close relationships with children who have experienced adversities before joining them. Attachment theory offers concerned parents what they believe to be a scientific explanation about their lack of the close, satisfying parent–child relationship they desire. Yet the scientific base of attachment theory is limited both in terms of its ability to predict future behaviours, and especially with regard to its use as the underpinning theory for therapeutic intervention with children experiencing conduct problems. There is a critical need to review the role of attachment theory in child and family services and to consider its place among other explanations for children's disturbing behaviour. An important step towards pursuing alternative approaches is for researchers and practitioners to understand the reasons the attachment paradigm appeals to so many adoptive and foster parents, given the apparent widespread prevalence of attachment‐based interventions. Such understanding might assist in the development of adoption‐sensitive uses of appropriate evidence‐based treatment approaches.