THE EVAN B. DONALDSON ADOPTION INSTITUTE
September 2003 E-NEWSLETTER
IN THIS ISSUE
1. Laws, Policy & Practice
2. Research
3. News
4. About the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute
1. Laws, Policy & Practice
PROPOSED INTERCOUNTRY ADOPTION REGULATIONS PUBLISHED
The State
Department published proposed rules to implement the
Intercountry Adoption Act and the Hague Convention on
Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of
Intercountry Adoption on September 15, 2003 in the Federal
Register. The regulations provide for accreditation and
approval standards and procedures for agencies and persons
and preservation of Convention records, but regulations
governing intercountry adoption procedures have not yet
been published. Comments on the proposed regulations must
be submitted to the State Department by November 14, 2003.
The Adoption Institute has submitted recommendations on
earlier drafts of the regulations and will submit comments
on the proposed regulations in the coming weeks. To read
the accreditation regulations, go to http://www.regulations.gov/fredpdfs/03-22650.pdf;
to read the records regulations, go to: http://www.regulations.gov/fredpdfs/03-22651.pdf
$15
MILLION IN ADOPTION INCENTIVE BONUSES AWARDED TO 25
STATES
The U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services awarded twenty-five states and Puerto Rico
nearly $15 million in Adoption Incentive bonuses for
increasing adoptions of foster children in fiscal year
(FY) 2002. Among the states receiving bonuses, 3,703
more children were adopted in FY02 than FY01. The
awards were given to states that have completed more
adoptions in FY02 than they completed annually in the
last five years. States receive $4,000 for each child
adopted beyond its baseline, or best annual total, as
well as $2,000 for each special needs child adopted
beyond its baseline. Rep. Camp (R-MI) introduced
legislation (HR3182) on September 25, 2003 to
reauthorize and amend the Adoption Incentive program
by rewarding states for increasing adoptions, special
needs adoptions and older child adoptions. The Senate
is considering legislation (S1439) to promote older
child adoptions. For more information about the FY2003
bonuses, go to: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/news/press/2003/release_091203.htm;
to read the bills, go to: http://thomas.loc.gov/
and type S1439 or HR3182 in the bill number field.
CONGRESS
CONSIDERING LEVEL FUNDING FOR SAFE AND STABLE FAMILIES
The House
and Senate have passed FY2004 appropriations bills to
fund the Department of Health and Human Services,
including $405 million for the Promoting Safe and
Stable Families program, the same funding level as
FY2003. The President's budget, by contrast, requested
$505 million for the program, which funds adoption
promotion and support services, in addition to other
child welfare services. The appropriations bills are
currently being deliberated by a committee to
reconcile the differences between the House and Senate
measures, but since both bills contained the same
funding levels for Safe and Stable Families, the
amount is unlikely to change without pressure from the
White House.
COURT VOIDS GUATEMALA'S
IMPLEMENTATION OF HAGUE CONVENTION
The
Constitutional Court of Guatemala published its
decision ruling that Guatemala's accession to the
Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption is
unconstitutional. The Guatemalan Solicitor General's
office (PGN) indicated it would return to the previous
system, working through notary publics, after the
ruling was published on September 12, 2003. The State
Department warned that prospective adoptive parents
should expect delays due to case backlogs, but stated
that the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration
Services in Guatemala City will begin accepting new
I-600s for approval. For more information, go to: http://travel.state.gov/guatemala_notice.html.
HAGUE CONVENTION ENTERS INTO
FORCE IN BELARUS
As of
November 1, 2003, the Hague Convention on Intercountry
Adoption will enter into force in the Republic of
Belarus. Americans adopted 169 children from Belarus
in 2002, ranking it 14th among sending countries to
the U.S. For more information, go to: http://www.hcch.net/e/status/adoshte.html.
2. Research
STUDY
FINDS 80 PERCENT OF AGENCIES OFFER OPEN
ADOPTIONS
A
longitudinal study of changes in adoption practices
related to openness found increasing numbers of
agencies are offering fully disclosed adoption - from
36% in 1987 to 79% in 1999. Fully disclosed adoption
is defined in "The Impact of Openness on Adoption
Agency Practices: A Longitudinal Perspective" as
"when the parties share information, and/or
meetings, and/or phone calls, and the sharing is
conducted directly with the other party."
According to the study by Henney, McRoy, Ayers-Lopez
and Grotevant, by 1999 only one-third of agencies were
offering confidential adoptions ("no information
is shared beyond 6 months after placement") and
none were offering confidential only. The study,
published in Adoption Quarterly, Volume 6, Number 3,
consisted of phone interviews with private adoption
agency staff in 1987-1989 (31 agencies), 1993 (34
agencies) and 1999 (24 agencies). The shift in
practice has occurred primarily because of birthmother
demand - in 1999, 87% of agencies reported that as a
factor for the practice change. To order this article,
go to: http://www.haworthpressinc.com/store/product.asp?sku=J145.2000
ADOPTIVE PARENTS' EMPATHY
ASSOCIATED WITH OPEN ADOPTION
The first
stage of a United Kingdom longitudinal study on open
adoption found an association between adoptive
parents' empathy for their children's birth families
and stability of contact. Elsbeth Neil's study,
published in Volume 6, Number 3 of Adoption Quarterly,
consisted of interviews with 49 recent adoptive
parents (30 families with 35 children) who had
face-to-face contact with birth families.
"Understanding Other People's Perspectives: Tasks
for Adopters in Open Adoption" found that the
majority of adoptive parents (71%) had
"good-enough empathy" (or understanding)
with birth relatives and 66% had "comprehensive
empathy" with their children. Most of the
children (74%) had been adopted from public care, with
60% having experienced neglect or maltreatment, and
their mean age was 21 months at placement (in 1996 and
1997) and 53 months at the time of the study. The
findings indicated that not only is the adoptive
parents' ability to empathize important, but the
adoption agency's practices are influential in shaping
the views of the adopters. To order this article, go
to: http://www.haworthpressinc.com/store/product.asp?sku=J145.
STUDY LINKS ADOPTIVE MOTHER'S
ATTACHMENT TO CHILD'S EMOTIONS
A study from
the United Kingdom found an association between a
mother's attachment and her adopted child's emotions.
The study by Steele et al, in the Journal of Child
Psychotherapy, consisted of interviews with 43 mothers
before placement and a story-completion exercise with
their 61 adopted children within three months of
placement. The children ranged in age from 4 to 8 years
old, and they had suffered neglect, abuse and multiple
placements. Mothers whose attachment interviews were
rated as "insecure" (dismissing or
preoccupied) were more likely to have children who
provided story completions with higher levels of
aggression than mothers rated as "secure."
Similarly, mothers who were judged to be
"unresolved" with respect to prior loss or
trauma had children whose narratives were characterized
by themes of "parent appearing childlike" and
"adult aggression" more than
"secure" mothers. The study's findings may be
helpful in matching and supporting adoptive parents. To
order this article, go to: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/online/0075-417x.html.
MOST AGENCIES FOUND TO OFFER
TRAINING FOR TRANSRACIAL ADOPTERS
A survey by
Vonk and Angaran found that 53% of responding agencies
that facilitate transracial adoptions provide cultural
competence training; of those, 61.7% are private and
43.4% are public. The researchers found that of the 53%,
all the public agencies and 65% of the private ones
offer culture competence trainings to all parents,
regardless of their race or that of their children. A
vast majority (84% of the public and 80% of the private)
make the trainings a requirement for parents adopting
transracially. "Training for Transracial Adoptive
Parents by Public and Private Agencies," in
Adoption Quarterly, also reports that almost all public
and over half of private agencies offer training before
the home study, but fewer than 30% of private and fewer
than 20% of public agencies provide post-placement
training. To order this article, go to: http://www.haworthpressinc.com/store/product.asp?sku=J145.
SURVEY
REPORTS GRANDPARENTS NOW CARING FOR 1.3 MILLION
CHILDREN
According to the National Survey of America's
Families (NSAF), 1.3 million children (1.8% of all
children) were cared for by grandparents in 1999,
accounting for 58% of the children living in relative
care. For the vast majority of these children (1.1
million), the arrangements were made privately, while
for the remaining 200,000, child welfare officials
played a role. Based on the 1999 NSAF data, an August
2003 Urban Institute report finds that compared to
children living with other relatives, children living
with grandparents are more likely to live in poverty
(though not have housing and child care problems) and
with a caregiver in poor health. Children in both
relative caregiver groups, however, are as likely to
have health, behavioral or emotional, or school
problems. Though all grandparent caregivers are
eligible for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
child-only payments and all children in relative care
are eligible for Medicaid, only 29% receive foster
care or child-only payments and 47% receive Medicaid.
The authors recommend improving service delivery
through improved targeting, outreach and access. To
read this article, go to: http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/310842_B-55.pdf.
PHYSICIANS PROVIDE HEALTH ADVICE FOR
INTERCOUNTRY ADOPTIONS
Noting that internationally adopted children
are at increased risk for infectious diseases and
often have uncertain immunization status, Chen et al
make recommendations for adoptive parents to reduce
the risk of transmission. "Preventing Infectious
Diseases During and After International Adoption"
provides suggestions for pre-travel consultation and
for protecting other family members. The report cites
a study finding that "important medical
conditions" were identified in 57% of 293
internationally adopted children, 81% of which were
identified "by obtaining a specific panel of
screening tests." The September 2003 article in
Annals of Internal Medicine also gives an overview of
specific infectious diseases and their case rates for
internationally adopted children - including
tuberculosis, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, measles, mumps
and intestinal parasites - as well as of vaccination
rates. To read the article, go to: http://www.annals.org/cgi/reprint/139/5_Part_1/371.pdf.
3.
News
IOWA MAY CURB SUBSIDIES TO PARENTS
ADOPTING FROM FOSTER CARE
The Iowa Department of Human Services (DHS) is
considering cutting assistance to adoptive parents of
children from the foster care system, including eliminating
the subsidy for minority infants. The state does not plan
to cut off those parents already receiving the subsidy, but
would not offer it to the estimated 75 families that would
be eligible in 2004. Additionally, Iowa is proposing to
eliminate the subsidy for children at risk of mental,
physical or emotional disabilities, though the state would
maintain it for those diagnosed with such problems. These
two proposals would yield an annual savings of less than
$250,000. Iowa has more children in subsidized adoptions
than in the foster care system. To read the article, go to:
http://www.dmregister.com/news/stories/c4780934/22211963.html.
4. About
The Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute
Since
its establishment in 1996, the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption
Institute has been a pre-eminent, independent voice for
improving adoption for everyone it touches - particularly
children - through innovative programs, educational initiatives,
research and analysis, and advocacy for better practices,
policies and laws.
Our award-winning
web site, www.adoptioninstitute.org,
is a popular and reliable source for accurate adoption
information. Read past e-Newsletters at http://www.adoptioninstitute.org/whowe/nl_archives.html.
SUPPORT
OUR WORK
The Adoption Institute was established in 1996 with a
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and renewable sources of funding. We need the financial
support of people like you whose lives have been touched
by adoption and who care about the future of vulnerable
children everywhere. Please send a generous contribution
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