Initial Validation of the Open Adoption Scale: Measuring the Influence of Adoption Myths on Attitudes Toward Open Adoption

All adoptions, including those facilitated by public agencies, should be evaluated for openness. Although there are no national figures related to openness in public welfare, there are indications that it is not considered in all cases. Adoption myths may be one of the reasons that adoption workers do not always assess a family's ability to maintain a more open adoption arrangement. The following study is the initial validation of a multidimensional psychometric instrument developed to measure myths as they relate to open adoption. Based on a sample of 547 university students, the results indicate very good reliability and acceptable factorial and construct validity. The instrument was designed as a training and research tool to inform child welfare personnel and policy makers of the influence of adoption-related myths on child welfare adoption practice.     

Child Welfare Social Workers and Open Adoption Myths

Open adoption can have positive effects on the psychological well-being of adopted children. This study's purpose was to explore child welfare social workers' open adoption attitudes and their agreement with open adoption myths in predicting the relationship with their levels of openness toward open adoption. This study showed that open adoption attitudes, open adoption myths, and area of practice have an association with the levels of openness toward open adoption in a group of child welfare social workers. This information could be beneficial to policy makers and professionals who may be interested in increasing the facilitation of open adoption.     

Ethical Adoption Practice

Abstract

Dr. Paul Denhalter completed his doctoral candidacy research on adoptive family attachment and entitlement. Nineteen parents were interviewed about what elements of adoptive family life contributed to a sense of entitlement. The act of care giving increased entitlement; negative comments from others about adoption tended to decrease it. In his social work practice, Dr. Denhalter counseled adoptive and birth families and advocated education, counseling and support for successful open adoption relationships. His positive perspective on adoption included his father's adoption at age five. Dr. Denhalter was critical of the current trends in adoption that have pathologized adoption for political purposes. He emphasized the results of the Search Institute's study that had positive conclusions about adopted children as well as a blueprint for successful adoptive families to follow.     

Support for Openness in Adoption Placements-What can we learn from New Zealand?

SUMMARY: The placement for adoption of older children and those with special needs brings into focus the practice of open adoption whereby there is some form of continuing contact, including face to face contact, between birth and adoptive families. This in turn raises issues about the support needed to maintain such links. The paper discusses the progress made in New Zealand towards open adoption. The views of social workers, birth and adoptive families on face to face contact are reported and arguments for and against post-adoption support for open adoption are examined.     

The Changing Environment of Adoption Practice: Focus on Intercountry Adoption to the United States

This article reviews the history of domestic and international adoption, examines international agreements and U.S. statutes that govern intercountry adoption, and assesses the current landscape of adoption agency practice, with major emphasis on the United States. The article focuses specifically on environmental factors that have driven change in both practice and policy concerning international adoption. The theoretical lens of population ecology offers a helpful perspective on the demographic and cultural trends that have transformed adoption and adoption agencies, particularly as they shifted toward international placements beginning in the mid-twentieth century.     

Adoption and Family Therapy

The aim of this article is to sensitise family therapists to adoption. A major assertion of the paper is that adoptive families are different from biological families. The family therapy context is a natural framework for examining these issues, as adoption affects and alters both birth and adoptive families, and adoption‐related problems occur within the context of the extended family system. The differences between intra‐racial (socially‐motivated) and inter‐racial adoptions are discussed, as well as the differences between closed and open adoptions. The study of families affected by adoption provides a model for other family forms, such as stepfamilies, foster families and families who form through new birth technologies.     

International Adoption: Counseling and the Adoption Triad

Despite a 60-plus–year history of international adoption (IA) placements, the body of research exploring counseling and psychological interventions for those affected by IA is still in its infancy. This critical review of the state of the literature addresses research, theory, and practice relevant to the international adoption triad (adoptive parents, birth parents, and adoptees). We highlight the lack of empirical attention to the clinical needs of birth parents, the tendency to overlook the clinical needs of adoptive parents both pre- and post-adoption, early childhood vulnerability in international adoptees, and adolescent identity challenges and the attendant clinical issues.     

Adoption Research: An Assessment of Empirical Contributions to the Advancement of Adoption Practice

This article examines the current state of adoption research as it applies to each member of the adoption triad. It includes a review of the research that has focused on birth mothers and fathers in both domestic and international adoptions; adopted children, adolescents, and adults; and adoptive parents. The paper also examines the areas of research in which a paucity of studies currently exist, and suggests that although major contributions to clinical practice and policy have been made, the dialogue should continue to seek to study issues such as international adoption and the adoption of children in foster care.     

Adoption Competent Clinical Practice: Defining Its Meaning and Development

The need for adoption competent mental health services has been well documented. However, the term “adoption-competent” has lacked a standardized, broadly accepted definition. This article reports findings from two related studies. The first examines how adoption competencies are demonstrated in practice by clinicians participating in an evidence-informed adoption competency training program. The second is an online survey designed to determine whether members of adoption kinship networks agree with a definition of an adoption competent mental health professional developed by experts. Both studies contribute to our understanding of what constitutes “adoption competent” clinical practice.     

The Changing Face of Public Adoption Practice

ABSTRACT

A study analyzing the workload of California's public adoption workers revealed how much adoption practice in the public sector has changed in recent years. Using focused discussion groups, this study found that compared to practice of an earlier time, (1) children available for placement come from more problematic families and are more difficult to place; (2) some decisions traditionally with the domain of adoptions are now being made by other social workers; and (3) increased oversight by the judicial system has had several unanticipated consequences, including adoption work taking on a “paralegal” quality and judges making traditional casework decisions.     

The United States as a Sending Country for Intercountry Adoption: Birth Parents’ Rights Versus the 1993 Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption

This article reviews the relatively new and emerging issue of children from the United States being placed in intercountry adoption. It specifically explores current practices of intercountry adoption involving the United States as a country of origin within the framework of the 1993 Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption. Data from several receiving countries are explored to identify commonalities and concerns related to the practice of placing U.S. children with foreign families and the role of the birth parents in this process. The authors conclude with recommendations for future research and improved practice.     

Evaluation of the Infant Adoption Awareness Trainings: Transforming Training Knowledge to Adoption Practice

Mixed methods were used to evaluate the effectiveness of the infant adoption awareness trainings. Quantitative data were collected through a pre-test/post-test design (n = 2797) that measured trainees’ level of knowledge gained from the trainings. Qualitative data were collected through a follow-up survey (n = 304) and telephone interviews (n = 82) with trainees to assess whether the learning that occurred at the trainings has been applied to adoption-related practices. Findings suggest that trainees felt more comfortable discussing adoption as an option and were better prepared to use correct adoption terminology. Implications for practice, policy advocacy, and future research are discussed.     

Open Adoptions of Children From Foster Care in New South Wales Australia: Adoption Process and Post-Adoption Contact

In Australia, adoptions from care are infrequent and mostly conducted in New South Wales (NSW) despite being legislated in other states. This qualitative study explored the experiences of the adoption process and post-adoption contact of eight foster parents adopting children in their care through the public welfare agency in NSW. The interviews were analyzed following a structured approach, by means of thematic networks. The study revealed that adoption processes and maintenance of birth family relationships depend on a number of factors (e.g., the behavior of the professionals, adoptive and birth parents, children's reactions, policy and practice contexts). However, the adoptive parents' experience of the adoption process was largely determined by the system, and in most cases this appeared to subsequently influence post-adoption connection in the families. The findings and the adoptive parents' recommendations are likely to apply beyond specific geographical jurisdictions. In addition, the reported complexities regarding connections through open adoptions at times resemble those tensions faced by children living in other family types such as those referred to in the foster care literature. Further research on some of these commonalities may expand in some countries the debate regarding adoption as an inherently contestable practice.     

Factors Influencing African American Adoptive Parents' Attitudes Toward Open Adoption

Abstract

This study explores the attitudes toward open adoption among 83 African American families adopting children through two private California agencies. Independent t-tests compared families who would and would not consider some level of open adoption. Findings reveal that the majority of families were quite hesitant about open adoptions, based primarily on the fear that birth parents would want the child back. Those with attitudes that are more positive were more likely to be in two-parent families and to have had personal experience with informal adoption.     

Adoption Preparation

ABSTRACT

A sizable proportion of special needs adoptions result in a disruption/dissolution or a displacement. Researchers emphasize the importance of comprehensive preparation to support adoption adjustment. This article examines the differential receipt of preparatory services based upon child and family characteristics and the child's risk history. Analyses of three types of preparatory services identified through factor analysis, including general, biological, and behavioral information/services, confirm differential preparation of adoptive families. However, three variables were predictive of receipt of all types of preparation, including type of adoption, kinship status, and pre-adoptive risk history. Implications for practice and research are presented.     

Coming to Terms with Adoption

Abstract

This article focuses on the development of personal identity of adopted individuals from adolescence into adulthood. For adopted persons, identity development involves exploration of alternative futures as well as coming to terms with the facts of one's adoption. Integration of adoption into one's overall sense of identity is discussed, as is evidence about adopted persons' construction of identity from the perspective of first-person accounts, reports from clinicians, and research on identity and adoption. A conceptual scheme regarding adoptive identity development is outlined, and implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Intercountry Adoption

Abstract

In recent years, the practice of intercountry adoption is increasingly being debated within the context of human rights. Intercountry adoption raises many ethical and legal issues which are addressed in two international treaties: the Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1989, and the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, adopted by the Hague Conference on Private International Law in 1993. This paper compares the international standards provided by these instruments and the way they are being interpreted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the official monitoring body of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. It also discusses some of the measures undertaken by a number of countries in different regions of the world.     

Adoption by Lesbians and Gay Men in Europe: Challenges and Barriers on the Journey to Adoption

No psychological research has been done investigating the experiences of adoption by sexual minorities living in Europe. This qualitative study is the first cross-national research within the European context giving the floor to LG (lesbian and gay) adoptive parents in order to explore the main challenges they encountered in the transition to adoptive parenthood. Sixty-two LG adoptive parents (16 lesbians and 46 gay men) living in Belgium (n = 14), France (n = 26), and Spain (n = 22) participated in this study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in order to gather information about two key steps in the adoptive path: the decision making and the adoption process itself. Results revealed that while choosing to adopt, LG adoptive parents experienced numerous self-doubts and emotional conflicts driven by introjected heteronormative assumptions about family. During the adoption procedure, they were confronted with a large number of challenges and legal roadblocks connected to their sexual minority status. Exploring the experience of the first generation of LG adoptive parents in Europe provides insight into the great impact that the sociolegal context has on their lives. Findings suggest the necessity of promoting practice geared not only to fight discrimination but also to provide better support to LG people throughout the adoption process.     

The Development of Adoption Law

Abstract

Adoption law in the United States, since its inception in 1851, has reflected changes in society and in child welfare practices. The author reviews its evolution from an issue involving property and inheritance, to a means of helping children and creating the ideal nuclear family, to the current understanding that virtually all children needing permanent homes are “adoptable” and that families can take many forms. She also recounts changes in the perceived “best interests” of all members of the adoption triad over time, and the growing recognition of links between adoption and child welfare policy. Finally, she discusses current controversies including open adoption; rights of birth parents, including unmarried fathers, and the role of culture and race.     

The Impact of Openness on Adoption Agency Practices

ABSTRACT

This article reports the results of a longitudinal study of the changing openness-related practices of private U.S. adoption agencies. Staff from private adoption agencies were interviewed at three points in time, in 1987–89, 1993, and 1999, about their current practices and attitudes regarding openness in adoption and any changes that may have taken place since the previous interview. From 1993 to 1999 agencies continued a trend toward offering and encouraging more open adoptions. During this period fully disclosed arrangements became more common and had the greatest growth since 1987, while confidential adoptions continued to decrease in frequency. Mediated adoptions remain the predominant arrangements. Changes in the adoption options offered by the agencies at all three time periods have been driven primarily by the demands of the birthmother for greater openness. However, by final data collection in 1999, most agencies in this sample changed from viewing the birthmother as their primary client to viewing the adopted child as their primary client. Implications for agency practices are discussed.