	Adoption Services

Introduction

Administration and Management

Service Delivery Administration Standards

Service Standards

AS 7: Pre-Adoption Services

Pre-adoption services prepare children, birth families, and prospective adoptive parents for adoption.

Interpretation: When the case involves an Indian child, resources offered by the tribe or a local Indian organization should be considered.

NA The organization provides homestudy services only.

NA The organization provides post placement services only.

AS 7.01

Custody status of the child is clearly established before the initiation of adoption services, and the organization acts in accordance with federal and state regulations for legal proceedings to terminate parental rights.

Interpretation: The child’s custody status may be as follows: the child is in the custody of a public agency and the birth parents’ rights have been terminated; the child’s birth parents have legal custody; or another organization or individual has legal custody.

Note: The Indian Child Welfare Act includes provisions related to the termination of parental rights that apply to both public and private adoption proceedings.

Research Note: Research suggests that court delays can be one of the greatest challenges in completing special needs adoptions.

Research Note: Federal law permits Indian families to move forward with a customary adoption, without terminating parental rights. Customary adoptions are arranged through custom and tradition and allow for the transfer of custody while preserving parental rights.

AS 7.02

Age-appropriate services that prepare the child for adoption include:

opportunities to visit prospective adoptive parents, and preparation and support for such visits;
counseling to help the child understand the adoption and cope with separation, loss, and birth family loyalty issues;
consideration of continued contact with the birth parents, siblings, extended family, and the child's tribe when one has been identified; and
the development of a lifebook that describes the child’s personal history.

Interpretation: Generally, a lifebook is completed for young children, and older children are actively engaged in developing their lifebook.

Research Note: Contact with tribal relatives is commonly practiced among tribal communities and is believed to support the child's cultural identity and an improved sense of belonging.

Research Note: Consideration of continued contact with the birth family may be especially important for youth, who often have strong attachments. Research suggests that the amount of visitation between children and prospective adoptive parents can have an impact on adjustment. Researchers recommend the visitation schedule take into account the individual needs of the child and the prospective adoptive parents.

AS 7.03

Birth parents who are interested in the continuum of openness in adoption receive information and counseling.

Interpretation: The continuum of openness can range from the provision of identifying information about the birth family at the time of placement, to organization-mediated ongoing written communication, to frequent, in-person contact with birth family members. Counseling helps birth parents consider whether continued contact is in the best interest of the child, with whom the child might continue contact, and the type and frequency of contact. The organization should explain limitations on confidentiality and document in the case record the birth parents’ preferences regarding the disclosure of personal information.

Research Note: While some early research on open adoption presented conflicting conclusions, recent studies have demonstrated that most birth parents involved in open adoptions are satisfied with the arrangement.

AS 7.04

Birth parents are prepared for adoption through services that include:

education about their legal rights and confidentiality;
planning for participation in the adoption process when it is appropriate and desired;
counseling and support to cope with voluntary or involuntary termination of parental rights, grief, separation, loss, and the lifelong implications of placing a child for adoption;
discussion of changing roles and relationships when the birth parents will have an ongoing relationship with the adoptive family;
education on issues related to search and reunion; and
planning for the immediate future and referral for needed services.

Research Note: Consent to voluntarily terminate parental rights is not valid unless it complies with specific procedural requirements outlined in the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), including that the consent be in writing, recorded before a judge, and accompanied by a certificate authenticating that the terms and consequences of voluntary termination were fully explained and understood. Parents of Indian children should be informed of their right, under ICWA, to withdraw consent and the process and timeframes for doing so.

AS 7.05

Prospective adoptive parents participate in an orientation that includes the following:

an overview of the lifelong process of adoption and its meaning;
the process for completing an adoption;
the needs of children awaiting adoptive families;
benefits and responsibilities of openness in adoption and the range of openness;
the availability of adoption subsidies and post-adoption services; and
criteria used to determine eligibility for adoptive parenthood.

Interpretation: Prospective adoptive parents who have adopted a child through the program previously may only need a refresher orientation.

Interpretation: When the program facilitates adoptions by older caregivers, the orientation is tailored to include information about the capacity to provide permanency over time for the child. This material can cover the need for additional support, circumstances that may adversely impact the caregiver's ability to care for the child, and plans for the child if the caregiver is unable to provide care.

Research Note: While some early research on open adoption presented conflicting conclusions, studies have demonstrated that most adoptive parents involved in open adoptions are satisfied with the arrangement, and some desire even greater openness in the relationship with birth family members.

Literature suggests that prospective adoptive parents considering a special needs adoption may have concerns about the costs of providing services for the child, and these concerns can impact their decision to proceed with the adoption.

AS 7.06

Prospective adoptive parents are prepared for adoption through education, training, information, and support that address the following:

attachment and bonding;
possible impacts of adoption on the family;
changing roles and relationships when the child and prospective adoptive parents already know each other;
maintaining connections with the child's community or tribe;
child development and parenting techniques;
raising a child of a different race, ethnicity, culture, or religion;
caring for a child with special needs; and
helping a child cope with separation and loss, history of maltreatment, and identity development.

Interpretation: Pre-adoption services should be tailored to the age range, cultural background,and needs of the children awaiting adoption, and the types of adoptions facilitated, for example, private, foster care, customary, or identified. Prospective adoptive parents that have already adopted another child through the program may only need refresher training.

Research Note: A preliminary study suggests that the organization consider the readiness of each prospective adoptive family, rather than relying only on the completion of training or other tasks.

AS 7.07

When an open adoption is being planned, birth parents, prospective adoptive parents, and the child, as appropriate, receive assistance and support to:

develop positive relationships;
develop and agree on plans for continued contact; and
decide how to resolve conflicts that can arise, and agree on a method for renegotiating the plan when necessary.

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	PURPOSE: Adoption Services establish a permanent family for children and youth awaiting adoption, and increase the well-being and functioning of birth parents, adoptive families, and adopted individuals.

RELATED FILES


	SERVICE One or more organization-operated programs or activities that have a common general objective and deploy the organization's material and human resources in a planned and systematic manner. An organization that publicly promotes or identifies itself in writing as offering a service, is licensed to deliver a service, assigns personnel and/or space to a service, or allocates financial resources to a service is considered to offer that service.


	FAMILY Two or more people who consider themselves family and who assume obligations, functions, and responsibilities generally essential to healthy family life. Child care and child socialization, income support, long-term care, and other caregiving are among the functions of family life. The definition of "family" will rest with an individual's indication of who plays a family member role, including current or former foster family, adoptive family, extended family members, fictive kin, or significant others. Organizations that believe family is the central constellation in a child's life, and that family attachments are of primary importance for human development, will strive to work with professional staff to develop a common understanding of "family."


	PARENTS Parents can include: birth, foster, kinship, and adoptive parents. Please see service standards for more specific information about use of this term.


	CASE A general term used to designate clients (including individuals, families, and groups) served by an organization for purposes of monitoring the provision of services. A foster care case is generally based on the placement of an individual child, although casework for the child may include services to the child's family. A child protective services case is based on an entire family household if a family assessment model is used; otherwise a case is defined as a child.


	INDIAN CHILD As defined in the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), "Any unmarried person who is under age eighteen and is either (a) a member of an Indian tribe or (b) eligible for membership in an Indian tribe and is the biological child of a member of an Indian tribe." For purposes of compliance with ICWA, the definition provided in the Act shall apply. For purposes of access to services and resources, other more inclusive definitions may apply (e.g. Indian Education Act, tribal definitions, etc.).


	INDIAN ORGANIZATION As defined in ICWA, "Any group, association, partnership, cooperation, or other legal entity owned or controlled by Indians, or a majority of whose members are Indians."


	CUSTODY The care, control, and maintenance of a child. The court legally can award custody to an agency in abuse and neglect cases or to parents in divorce, separation, or adoption proceedings. Child welfare departments retain legal custody and control of major decisions for a child in foster care; foster parents do not have legal custody of the children for which they provide care.


	PUBLIC AGENCY An agency under government auspices. A public agency is typically governed and operated by a public entity (e.g., a state, a county, or a department of the federal government. Public agencies seeking accreditation will utilize the Public version of COA's 8th Edition Standards, found at http://www.coastandards.org/standards.php?navView=public.


	RESEARCH For purposes of COA accreditation, all forms of internal or external research involving persons served except internal program evaluation and outcomes research, or educational projects performed by students and interns that are part of their professional training.


	SPECIAL NEEDS A designation used in reference to conditions or characteristics of a person that reflect a need for special care, services, or treatment. When the term is used in the context of adoption services, special needs refers to conditions that make a child harder to place for adoption. This includes children who are members of sibling groups, older children, children with disabilities, children of certain racial /ethnic backgrounds, etc. When the term is used in the context of foster care it refers to the need for a higher degree of specialized case services and attention due to mental and physical disabilities. When the term is used in the context of out-of-school time services, a child or youth may have special physical, behavioral, medical, emotional, or cognitive needs that should be addressed or accommodated. The term is also used in other contexts. See also DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES.


	TERMINATION See CASE CLOSING


	CASE RECORD A written compilation that describes the client and the services delivered. Records can be in hard copy and/or electronic format. The case record can be used as a source of information for quality improvement or other evaluation activities, for research purposes, or to demonstrate accountability to funding bodies.


	PLANNING The process of specifying objectives, evaluating the means for their achievement, and exercising deliberate decision making about appropriate courses of action.


	CRITERIA Systematically developed, objective, and quantifiable statements used to assess the appropriateness of specific decisions, services, and outcomes.


	CONFIDENTIALITY An ethical and practice principle that requires the protection of information shared within a professional-client relationship. An organization that upholds confidentiality prohibits personnel from disclosing information about persons served without their written consent.


	ELIGIBILITY The degree to which an individual, family, group, or community meets the specific criteria and qualifications required to receive goods, benefits, or services.


	PROGRAM A system of services offered by an organization. For example, an organization providing a mental health service may offer several mental health programs to different populations, e.g., a mental health program for adolescent teens. The word "program" can be used interchangeably with the word "service" or to describe specific programs.


	CAREGIVER The provider of physical, emotional, and social needs to another person, often dependent and unable to provide for his or her own needs. Caregiver is the generic term used for the direct service providers in Community Care and Support Services (CCS).


	TRAINING Instruction so as to make fit, qualified, or proficient in a skill or body of knowledge.


	COMMUNITY A specific group of people living in the same locality and who may share a common culture, values, and norms. Communities can also be defined by race, religion, ethnicity, age, occupation, political status, tribal affiliation, interest in particular problems or outcomes, or other common bonds. The term "community" encompasses worksites, schools, tribes, residential neighborhoods, business districts, recreational areas, and health and human service sites.


	ETHNICITY An orientation toward and identification with a population group that shares national origin, religion, race, or language.


	CULTURE The customs, habits, values, skills, technology, beliefs, and religious, social, and political behaviors of a group of people in a specific period of time.