Archive
FY 2003 – FY 2011 Foster Care: Entries, Exits, and In Care on the Last Day of Each Federal Fiscal Year
Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (Children’s Bureau)
This report provides state-specific data from fiscal year 2003 to fiscal year 2011 on the annual number of children who enter and exit foster care, as well as the number of children who are in care on the last day of the fiscal year.
Access to Adoption Records
Source: Child Welfare Information Gateway
This factsheet discusses laws that provide for access to both nonidentifying and identifying information from an adoption record by adoptive parents and adult adopted persons. Generally, the person whose information will be disclosed must consent to the disclosure; methods of providing consent are discussed. Access to the original birth certificate by the adult adopted person also is addressed. Summaries of laws for all States and U.S. territories are included.
Evidence-Based Treatments for Childhood Trauma
Evidence-Based Treatments for Childhood Trauma (PDF)
Source: Virginia Department of Social Services
Trauma-based treatments are designed to serve many children who are impacted by a wide variety of traumatic experiences. Children who are victims in motor vehicle accidents, who have experienced war, who have lived with domestic violence, who have experienced the loss of a parent to illness or to an accident, and those who have been maltreated all might benefit from interventions designed to alleviate symptoms of traumatic stress.
Children in the foster care system have often experienced deprivation or trauma such as child maltreatment that led to their placement in care. Child trauma victims of sudden parental loss, natural disasters, refugee children, or children who are immigrating to the United States with their families from war-torn countries may be living with their families of origin and may or may not be served by child welfare systems. The trauma interventions described in this article can be appropriate for both children in foster care and children living with their families.
Providing Postadoption Services
Providing Postadoption Services
Source: Child Welfare Information Gateway
This bulletin summarizes key issues related to providing effective postadoption services by drawing from available literature and practice knowledge. Quality postadoption services are important because of the effects that separation, loss, and trauma can have on adopted children and youth, adoptive families, and birth families. The bulletin discusses several types of postadoption services that are available to each of these groups, describes how each type could be of benefit, and explores the characteristics critical to the success of the services. It also includes an explanation of key steps in the development and implementation of a postadoption program that can help strengthen the development process and overcome barriers to service use.
Finding and Using Postadoption Services
Finding and Using Postadoption Services
Source: Child Welfare Information Gateway
Adoptive families often need support and services after adoption to help them deal with a wide range of issues. This factsheet describes some of the postadoption issues that may arise and how the needs of adopted children and youth change according to their age and developmental stage. Information is provided on the different types of postadoption services available and on how and where families can obtain services. The factsheet also explains what parents can do if quality postadoption services are not readily available to them and includes a list of additional resources.
2012 Best Adoption-Friendly Workplaces
2012 Best Adoption-Friendly Workplaces
Source: Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption
Each year, the Foundation announces a list of employers with the best adoption benefits in the nation.
Rankings are based on the maximum amount of financial reimbursement and paid leave for employees who adopt. Honorees include the top 100, the top 10 by size and the top five in each industry.
Parents’ Pasts and Families’ Futures: Using Family Assessments to Inform Perspectives on Reasonable Efforts and Reunification
Source: Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago
In this study, assessments conducted as part of the Illinois integrated assessment program allow us to look at a subset of parents for whom reunification might seem unlikely given their own personal histories and extensive exposure to trauma. Using a sample of narrative assessment reports drawn from the IAs, we explore the nature and prevalence of traumatic experiences among biological parents whose children were placed in the custody of the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). The relationship between parents’ childhood experiences and their current functioning is explored, as are data on reunification outcomes.
The findings that a subset of parents involved with the child welfare system have extensive childhood trauma experiences and present with multiple problems or service needs have implications for caseworker engagement as well as interventions. We examine what caseworkers and clinicians see as the initial prognosis for these families as well as the reunification and reentry outcomes after the children entered foster care. We hope to encourage dialogue about what policies and practices might need to be developed and implemented in order to improve long-term child and family well-being outcomes for this particular group of families. The study raises fundamental questions about our obligation to and approach to protecting children and to promoting their well-being.
Social Media for Child Welfare Resource Guide
Social Media for Child Welfare Resource Guide (PDF)
Source: National Resource Center for Child Data & Technology (Children’s Bureau, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)
Social media can help child welfare programs conduct activities ranging from advertising to staff recruitment, collaboration, networking, fundraising, and finding and supporting foster parents. Social media can help reach potential or current foster/adoptive parents, at‐risk parents, past or current foster youth, mandated reporters (such as teachers and doctors), a specific neighborhood, or staff of partner or champion organizations. Social media can potentially boost the effectiveness of a wide range of programs, such as adoption, child protective services, foster care, and youth development.
Making Healthy Choices: A Guide on Psychotropic Medications for Youth in Foster Care
Making Healthy Choices: A Guide on Psychotropic Medications for Youth in Foster Care
Source: National Resource Center for Youth Development
This new guide —written specifically for youth in foster care with input from youth and professionals— looks at ways to handle powerful feelings and behaviors and make healthy choices. Understanding how psychotropic medication can help and what other options are available can be challenging. This guide can help you decide what’s best. Making Healthy Choices includes useful information, questions to ask, worksheets, and tips on:
- Recognizing you need help
- Knowing your rights about your health and who can help you make decisions
- Considering your options, including helpful approaches other than medication
- Making decisions about how best to stay healthy
- Maintaining treatment (taking medication safely and continuing or stopping treatment after leaving foster care)
Child Welfare Outcomes 2007-2010: Report to Congress
Child Welfare Outcomes 2007-2010: Report to Congress
Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families
The Child Welfare Outcomes Reports are created by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (the Department) to meet requirements of section 203(a) of the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 (ASFA). 1 ASFA amended section 479A of the Social Security Act (the Act) to require an annual report that assesses State performance in operating child protection and child welfare programs under titles IV-B and IV-E of the Act. Child Welfare Outcomes 1998 was the first report created in the Child Welfare Outcomes series of reports. The present report, Child Welfare Outcomes 2007–2010, is the eleventh report since the series’ inception.
CONTEXTUAL FACTORS The Child Welfare Outcomes Report presents data on child welfare-related contextual factors relevant to understanding and interpreting State performance on the outcome measures. 2 Below is a summary of fiscal year (FY) 2010 data for these contextual factors.
Characteristics of child victims
• In 2010, 754,000 children were confirmed to be victims of maltreatment. The overall national child victim rate was 10.0 child victims per 1,000 children in the population. 5 State child victim rates varied dramatically, ranging from 1.3 child victims per 1,000 children to 24.6 child victims per 1,000 children.
• The national child victim rate decreased from 10.4 child victims per 1,000 children in the population in FY 2007 to 10.0 in FY 2010. This is a continuation of a long-term, downward trend in the child victimization rate that began in the early 1990s.
Foster care information overview
• Nationally, there were approximately 415,000 children in foster care on the last day of FY 2010. During that year, an estimated 250,000 children entered foster care, and 248,000 children exited foster care. Among the States, the foster care entry rate ranged from 1.4 children per 1,000 to 7.5 children per 1,000 in a State’s population.
• Between FY 2002 and 2010, the number of children in care on the last day of the FY decreased by 22 percent. While currently it is not possible to determine the cause of the decrease in the number of children in foster care using the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) database, several States have made deliberate efforts to safely reduce the number of children in care through various programmatic and policy initiatives.
• Nationally, 213,000 children exited foster care to a permanent home in 2010 (i.e., were discharged to reunification, adoption, or legal guardianship). Of these 213,000 children, 145,000 were discharged to reunification; 52,000 were discharged to adoption; and 16,000 were discharged to legal guardianship. In addition, 27,000 children were emancipated from foster care in 2010. There were approximately 7,000 children who exited care for reasons other than permanency or emancipation, such as transfer to another agency or to another State.
• Approximately 107,000 children were waiting for adoption in 2010.
Selecting and Working With a Therapist Skilled in Adoption
Selecting and Working With a Therapist Skilled in Adoption
Source: Child Welfare Information Gateway
Members of adoptive families may need professional help when concerns arise, and professionals skilled in adoption issues often can prevent concerns from becoming more serious problems. An appropriate therapist will understand that although the adoptive family is often not the source of the child’s problems, it is within the context of the family relationships that the child will begin to heal.
Adoption Disruption and Dissolution
Adoption Disruption and Dissolution
Source: Child Welfare Information Gateway
A small percentage of adoptions disrupt (end before finalization) or are dissolved (ended after finalization). This factsheet looks at the statistics for adoption disruption and dissolution, examines the associated factors, and reviews trends. Factors associated with the child, family, and agency are explored.
Variation in neural development as a result of exposure to institutionalization early in childhood
Variation in neural development as a result of exposure to institutionalization early in childhood
Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
We used structural MRI and EEG to examine brain structure and function in typically developing children in Romania (n = 20), children exposed to institutional rearing (n = 29), and children previously exposed to institutional rearing but then randomized to a high-quality foster care intervention (n = 25). In so doing, we provide a unique evaluation of whether placement in an improved environment mitigates the effects of institutional rearing on neural structure, using data from the only existing randomized controlled trial of foster care for institutionalized children. Children enrolled in the Bucharest Early Intervention Project underwent a T1-weighted MRI protocol. Children with histories of institutional rearing had significantly smaller cortical gray matter volume than never-institutionalized children. Cortical white matter was no different for children placed in foster care than never-institutionalized children but was significantly smaller for children not randomized to foster care. We were also able to explain previously reported reductions in EEG α-power among institutionally reared children compared with children raised in families using these MRI data. As hypothesized, the association between institutionalization and EEG α-power was partially mediated by cortical white matter volume for children not randomized to foster care. The increase in white matter among children randomized to an improved rearing environment relative to children who remained in institutional care suggests the potential for developmental “catch up” in white matter growth, even following extreme environmental deprivation.
Religious Attendance of Child Welfare-Involved Caregivers and Youth
Religious Attendance of Child Welfare-Involved Caregivers and Youth (PDF)
Source: Children and Family Research Center
Research has shown that both caregivers’ and children’s attendance at religious services are associated with improved outcomes for disadvantaged youth, 1 but few studies have examined the role of religion in child welfare populations and no studies have presented national data on religious participation of children involved in child welfare. Religious practice could be an important factor in helping children cope with the trauma, loss, and anxiety associated with child maltreatment, and religious communities often provide material and social support for caregivers and youth. On the other hand, some religious beliefs may negatively affect youth’s well-being (for example a gay youth placed in a conservative Christian foster home). Furthermore, religious dissimilarity in families has been connected to negative outcomes for youth in the general population 2 and foster youth may have religious backgrounds that differ from their foster families. While other aspects of foster home placement such as caregiver race and proximity to the home of origin have been given ample attention, religious attendance among foster youth and their foster care providers remains unexplored. This brief examines religious attendance 3 among youth and caregivers involved in the child welfare system and the relationship between caregiver attendance and youth attendance.
Locating and engaging youth after they leave foster care
Locating and engaging youth after they leave foster care (PDF)
Source: Urban Institute
+ States are required to collect data on youth aging out of foster care and provide them to the National Youth in Transition Database.
+ Youth aging out of foster care are difficult to trace, being highly mobile and even experiencing bouts of homelessness. Those most difficult to find are most likely in need of services.
+ For states to successfully locate youth who have left foster care, they must plan ahead, employ a large set of tracking methods, establish rapport with the youth,
and connect with youths’ families.
Adoption and Foster Care — Concurrent Planning: What the Evidence Shows
Concurrent planning is an approach that seeks to eliminate delays in attaining permanent families for children in the foster care system. Concurrent planning involves considering all reasonable options for permanency at the earliest possible point following a child’s entry into foster care and concurrently pursuing those options that will best serve the child’s needs. Typically the primary plan is reunification with the child’s family of origin. In concurrent planning, an alternative permanency goal (e.g., adoption) is pursued at the same time rather than being pursued sequentially after reunification has been ruled out.
Strategies For Recruiting Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Foster, Adoptive, and Kinship Families
Strategies For Recruiting Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Foster, Adoptive, and Kinship Families (PDF)
Source: National Resource Center for Adoption, the National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connections, and the National Resource Center for Recruitment and Retention of Foster and Adoptive Parents at AdoptUSKids
Recruiting and retaining enough qualified foster, adoptive, and kinship parents is a challenge facing nearly every jurisdiction in the United States. States, Tribes, and Territories constantly seek resources and creative strategies for recruiting prospective parents who can meet the needs of children and youth in foster care. They continually look for ways to improve the placement stability for children who need foster care placements and to achieve permanence for children who cannot return to their birth families.
Approximately 408,000 children are currently in foster care in the United States. These children have diverse needs; therefore, child welfare agencies need to have a diverse pool of foster parents who can provide temporary, loving care for the children as they await permanency. Of those 408,000 children in foster care, 107,000 are waiting to be adopted. These children have been in foster care for an average of 37 months. In addition to the children still waiting for a permanent family, nearly 28,000 youth aged out of foster care in 2010 without a permanent family connection. All of these children—and the children who will enter foster care in the years to come—deserve our best efforts to recruit and retain prospective foster and adoptive parents who will provide them with the love, stability, and safety that they need.
For jurisdictions that continue to face challenges in recruiting and retaining enough qualified foster and adoptive parents, looking to previously untapped or underutilized groups of prospective parents—including lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) adults—may be a key step in providing placement stability and permanency to children in foster care.
Helping Your Foster Child Transition to Your Adopted Child
Helping Your Foster Child Transition to Your Adopted Child
Source: Child Welfare Information Gateway
This factsheet summarizes how foster/adoptive parents can help their child make the emotional adjustment to being an adopted child. Children and youth may not clearly comprehend the difference between being a foster child versus being an adopted child in the same family. This factsheet provides specific steps parents can take to help children understand these changes along with helpful resources.
See also: Foster Parents Considering Adoption
Depression in Teens Who Were Adopted: What Families Need to Know
Depression in Teens Who Were Adopted: What Families Need to Know (PDF)
Source: Wisconsin Department of Children and Families
Parenting teenagers can often trigger your own memories of growing up and the roller coaster ride of emotions, drama, unpredictability, and the need to fit in. You may be realizing that being a teenager today is more complicated than ever due to the steady stream of social media in all its various forms.
Now as the parent of a teen who was adopted, your role has become even more challenging as you need to keep in mind the extra layers of teen emotions and identity issues that come with being adopted.
You may be wondering what is considered typical teenage behavior and what requires more immediate attention. This tipsheet focuses on whether your teen may be going through a temporary phase, or instead, may be suffering from teen depression.
Home Study Requirements for Prospective Parents in Domestic Adoption
This factsheet summarizes State laws and policies for approving prospective adoptive homes. The process includes an assessment or home study of the prospective adoptive parent or parents, preparation of the prospective parents, gathering information about the family to better match the parent and child, and evaluating the fitness of the adoptive family.
