Juvenile court judicial expertise and children's permanency outcomes

Using a combination of survey and administrative data, the current study examines the relationship between juvenile dependency court judicial expertise and children's permanency outcomes. Specifically, based on several behaviorally-anchored questions about judicial expertise and decision-making from a survey of attorneys representing foster children, we examine the respective relationships between jurisdiction-level judicial expertise and the rates of (a) exit to different types of permanency and (b) transition between various dependency court milestones. Results suggest that judicial expertise is positively related to the rates of some dependency court transitions (e.g., entry to dispositional order approval, termination of parental rights to adoption finalization). However, because of a lack of significant associations with the rates of other transitions (e.g., dispositional order approval to reunification), judicial expertise is not found to be statistically significantly associated with the rate of exit to permanency. The findings are consistent with a growing body of evidence that suggests that the influence of juvenile-court-related factors may be limited to specific court milestones that, by themselves, do not account for a substantial proportion of the overall variability in the population-level rates of permanency exit.     

In Their Own Words: Adopted Persons’ Experiences of Adoption Disclosure and Discussion in Their Families

This study explored adoption disclosure in a sample of 18 adult adoptees who were adopted as infants. A qualitative analysis of semistructured interviews with adoptees was used to learn about participants’ experiences of adoption disclosure. The majority always knew they were adopted, were able to talk openly with parents about adoption, and had positive feelings related to learning about their adoption. Those who were dissatisfied with their disclosures reported that their parents were uncomfortable with discussing adoption and withheld information. Based on the findings, suggestions are provided for parents and adoption professionals on ways to improve the management of the disclosure process.     

Preparing Parents for Adoption: An Agency Experience

To prepare for the complexities of family formation, 78 prospective adoptive parents participated in Pre-Adopt, a psychosocial educational orientation program offered by one private nonprofit agency. The five-session curriculum included an overview of adoption policies and procedures, discussion of the child placement process, exploration of couples' adoption concerns and expectations about child characteristics, information about adoption laws and birth-parent/child searches, and examination of anticipatory fantasies about birth parents. Program evaluation yielded statistically significant and clinically meaningful findings about changes in emotional readiness to adopt, parenting knowledge, and satisfaction with group participation, adoption policies and agency practices. Practice implications are considered.     

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.     

Indicators of information and communication technology adoption in the nonprofit sector: Changes between 2000 and 2004

With the knowledge that information and communication technology (ICT) has brought about significant changes in the structure and functioning of businesses, this research provides information about the changes that have occurred in ICT adoption in nonprofit organizations between 2000 and 2004. Using archival data, it specifically investigates various indicators of ICT adoption and adoption readiness factors. Results illustrate that nonprofit organizations are beginning to position themselves to take advantage of the opportunities provided by ICT adoption.     

Adoptees' and Birth Parents' Therapeutic Experiences Related to Adoption

ABSTRACT

This study examined adoptees' and birth parents' experiences in therapy, including the perceived level of helpfulness and preparation by therapists relating to adoption issues as a function of the year these experiences occurred. Participants consisted of 152 adoptees and 66 birth parents, with the majority (78%) of the respondents being female. Overall, adoption inquiry, addressing adoption issues, helpfulness, and preparedness by therapists increased from 1965 though the 1990s. Therapists who inquired about adoption (54%) or addressed adoption (72%) were perceived as being significantly more prepared and helpful compared to those therapists who did not inquire about or address adoption issues.     

INCOMPLETE INFORMATION STRENGTHENS THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SOCIAL APPROVAL

We present a theoretical model of a public good game in which the expression of social approval induces pro‐social behavior. Using a laboratory experiment with earned heterogeneous endowments, we test our model. The main hypothesis is that the expression of social approval increases cooperative behavior even if reputation building is impossible. We vary the information available and investigate how this affects the expression of social approval and individual contributions. The expression of social approval significantly increases contributions. However, the increase is smaller if additional information is provided, suggesting that social approval is more effective if subjects receive a noisy signal about others' contributions. (JEL C72, C91, D71, D83)     

Parent perspectives on adoption preparation: Findings from the Modern Adoptive Families project

Preparing prospective adoptive parents for receiving a child into their family is an important task for child and family professionals. This study uses data from the recent Modern Adoptive Families survey to understand parent perspectives on their preparation for adoption. Logistic regression (n = 917) and qualitative thematic analysis of adoptive parents' comments about their adoption preparation were conducted to understand aspects of the preparatory experience that were satisfactory (n = 623) or dissatisfactory (n = 283). Child emotional and behavioral problems significantly predicted parent dissatisfaction with adoption preparation. Major themes for satisfactory aspects of preadoption services included receiving information about adoption in general and, more specifically, about clinical and special populations, and parenting tools and strategies. In addition, parents identified opportunities to connect with others touched by adoption and access to specialized post-adoption services as helpful. Conversely, parents expressed dissatisfaction when information was lacking or withheld, when they had quality concerns with the worker or agency, and when there was a dearth of services and supports following adoption. Implications of these findings include the need for adoption mental health competent training for adoption professionals to better support families preparing for or experiencing adoption.     

The journey to adopt a child who has special needs: Parents' perspectives

Many of the children eligible for adoption from the public child welfare system are considered to have special needs. Given the importance of securing adoptive families for these children, knowing more about the adoption process as it is experienced by prospective parents who complete (or are in the process of completing) their adoption pursuit and those who discontinue it are critical. Using qualitative inquiry, prospective adoptive parents in nine families were studied in an effort to learn more about their motivations, expectations, preparation, and experiences. Although the adoption outcome (continued versus discontinued) was different, the process, including negative experiences, was quite similar. Programming implications and suggestions for future research are offered.     

“Do You Know Your Real Parents?” and Other Adoption Microaggressions

Myths, fairy tales, films, books, and everyday communication contain images and stories of orphans and adoptees that convey societal discomfort and judgment about adoption (i.e., adoption stigma). In this article, I apply the microaggression model to adoption-related experiences using the literature and theory on adoption stigma. Definitions for adoption-related microaggressions (microassaults, microinvalidations, and microinsults) and a fourth type of microaggression called microfictions (i.e., shared and hidden narratives that contribute to and define the secrecy in adoption) are introduced. Thirteen themes for adoption microaggressions and examples for each are proposed.     

U.S. Transracial Adoption Trends in the 21st Century

A number of researchers have called attention to the lack of information available on transracial adoption at the national level. This project was a concerted effort to identify detailed informational about transracial adoption in the United States from nationally representative data sources. The 2000 U.S. Census and 2008–2012 American Community Survey data were analyzed to identify information about the number of young adoptees adopted transracially in the population, the proportion of transracial adoptions that are international, which racial groups adopt transracially, and which racial groups are transracially adopted in the 21st century.     

Public Perceptions,Beliefs and Experiences of Fostering and Adoption: A National Qualitative Study in South Africa

In South Africa, rates of adoption remain low while the number of fostered children continually rises. Little is known about the public perceptions, beliefs and experiences that inform decisions to either foster or adopt in South Africa. This qualitative research explored these issues among a national sample of childless adults, biological parents, kin and non‐kin fostering parents and prospective and successful adopters. Fostering is driven predominantly by access to subsidies but is also informed by socio‐cultural beliefs. Low adoption rates are influenced by an absence of subsidies, poor access to quality adoptive services and a lack of information about adoption.     

Public Support for American Presidents: A Cyclical Model

The approval accorded to Presidents by the American public isfound to follow a cyclical pattern over time. All Presidentsbegin their terms with great popularity, experience parabolicdeclines, steadily lose popular support for about three years,and then recover some at the ends of their terms. These distinctivecycles, it is argued, reflect regular expectation/disillusionmentcycles among the less well-informed segments of the public andare tied to the four-year election calendar. The extraordinaryfit of parabolic curves to actual presidential approval leadsto the suspicion that presidential approval may be almost whollyindependent of the President's behavior in office, a functionlargely of inevitable forces associated with time.     

“I Would Do HIV Adoption 100 Times Over Again”: An Exploratory Study on Families With Internationally Adopted Children With PHIV

Internationally adopted children with perinatally acquired HIV (PHIV) are an emerging population in the United States. One key informant and nine mothers of internationally adopted children with PHIV were interviewed about the adoption process, HIV disclosure, and family needs. Qualitative analyses of transcribed interviews revealed that faith played a pivotal role in pursuing “HIV adoption.” Many participants expressed initial fear about adopting a child with PHIV, but gained confidence through education on transmission risks and the improved lifespan of children with PHIV. Participants reported few HIV-related challenges. Many actively promoted the international adoption of children with PHIV and used disclosure as a tool for education.     

Who Is Adopted?

ABSTRACT

There are several advantages of using large representative samples to study adoption-related issues, and existing databases are increasingly used for this purpose. Large scale surveys are often limited, however, in the number and type of questions that are asked regarding adoption. Conceptual and methodological issues in measuring adoption status are discussed, and a rich new database-the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health (Add Health)-is used to illustrate these complexities. In Add Health school survey data, adolescents were asked a direct question about whether or not they were adopted and whether they lived with biological parents. During home interviews, adolescents were not asked about adoption status per se, but they could be classified as adopted if they lived with adoptive rather than biological parents. Parents' and adolescents' reports of adoption status and living arrangements are compared in Add Health data to illustrate the complexities of measuring adoption status when using archival data. For research to be scientifically credible and to enhance the accumulation of knowledge, investigators need to be precise about the concepts and measures they use in studying adoption-related issues, particularly when using previously collected survey data.     

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.     

Health Information Seals of Approval: What do they Signify?

Much of the health information available to consumers on the Internet is incomplete, out of date and even inaccurate. Seals of approval or trustmarks have been suggested as a strategy to assist consumers in identifying high-quality information. Little is known, however, about how consumers interpret such seals. This study addresses this issue by examining assumptions about the quality criteria that are reflected by a seal of approval. This question is of particular importance because a wide variety of quality criteria have been suggested for online health information, including: core aspects of quality such as accuracy, currency and completeness; proxy indicators of quality such as the disclosure of commercial interests; and indicators that reflect the quality of the site or the interaction it affords, such as the availability of a search mechanism. The results of this study suggest that seals of approval are assumed to certify information quality primarily with respect to core quality indicators, aspects that subjects both consider to be important and feel relatively less able to evaluate for themselves (compared with their ability to rate proxy indicators of information or indicators of site or interaction quality). This assumption is largely inconsistent with practice: most seals of approval involve assessment of proxy indicators of information quality, rather than direct assessment of content. These results identify a problem that certification or accreditation bodies must address since, unless and until consumer expectations are congruent with evaluation practice, seals of approval will seem to promise more than they deliver.     

Adoption Preparedness,Cultural Engagement,and Parental Satisfaction in Intercountry Adoption

We explored factors that influence parental involvement in adoption dialogues in 66 internationally adoptive, heterosexual couples with 4- to 7-year old children. Correlates of adoption involvement varied by parent sex. Mothers were more involved in talking about adoption than fathers, but adoption involvement was also correlated within couples. Emphasis on the difference between biological versus adoptive parenting, quality of the marital relationship, and child characteristics were differentially associated with maternal and paternal involvement. Findings suggest an intricate interplay between the marital and co-parental dynamics that shape the early communication process within adoptive families.     

The Experience of Infertility by Low-Income Immigrant Latino Couples: Attitudes Toward Adoption

Low-income immigrant Latino couples attending an infertility clinic in San Francisco participated in three in-depth interviews. Couples were unwavering in their desire to become parents by “natural” means, yet faced with the prospect of childlessness, many expressed a guarded willingness to consider adoption in the future. Although few had actually made the commitment or initiated steps toward formal adoption, several couples had experiences with adoption through informal channels. Couples generally expressed concerns about stigma and appeared daunted by financial and bureaucratic obstacles. Low-income Latino families in California would benefit from increased adoption information, research, and support.