Vol. 9, No. 2• May 2005
Project identifies changes needed to achieve timely adoption for children with developmental disabilities
by Kathryn D. Kramer, Irene Nathan Zipper, and Barbara Leach
Many children enter foster care with unidentified and/or unaddressed developmental disabilities. These children may not have received adequate health care, mental health, or substance abuse services, but after being in foster care, they often show improvements in physical, emotional, and intellectual development.
Still, services for these children can be inaccessible, limited, fragmented, or overlapping, and children who remain in foster care into adolescence are vulnerable to a host of health and social problems that include drug and alcohol abuse, teen pregnancy, and high school drop-out.
In North Carolina in 2002, approximately 38% of children whose biological parents had their parental rights terminated had to wait longer than one year before being adopted. For the significant number of children who cannot return home safely, finding a permanent placement as quickly as possible is critical. The need for timely adoptive placements is particularly keen for children with special needs.
In 2004, supported by a grant from the the NC Council on Developmental Disabilities, the Family Support Network of NC initiated a project to address this need. Called From Foster Care to Adoption, this project sought to:
- Identify the primary system-level challenges that slow the process of adoption for children with developmental disabilities in the foster care system;
- Develop recommendations for system-level changes, so that the identified challenges can be overcome; and
- Disseminate findings to organizations involved in promoting the adoption of children with developmental disabilities.
Several activities were undertaken to achieve these objectives. First, information was gathered from key stakeholders, including foster and adoptive families. Several focus groups were conducted with foster and adoptive parents during last year’s NC Foster Parents Association Conference. A focus group was also conducted with systems-level representatives, including the Guardian ad Litem program, private and public adoption agencies, and the legal system.
Following the focus groups, a working conference was held with additional stakeholders. This event generated targeted, feasible recommendations for system changes that could facilitate more timely adoptions for children with developmental disabilities. Finally, a forum was held in March 2005 where stakeholders from around the state created an action plan for addressing the recommended changes.
Findings from the focus groups indicated that several key issues affect the pace of the adoption process, including:
- The appeal process in North Carolina;
- The Termination of Parental Rights (TPR) process;
- Variation from county to county in policy and practice;
- Multiple numbers of social workers and lawyers involved in placement; and
- Values that affect the choice of permanent placements.
The project recommended change in three primary areas:
- Improving the adoption process;
- Improved communication; and
- Increased training and education.
Each of these areas was discussed during the March forum.
It is hoped that these activities and the project as a whole will promote practices and reforms that will ensure children in the foster care system who have developmental disabilities and who need adoptive families will find permanent, loving homes in a timely fashion.
Additional information is available from the authors, who can be reached at the Family Support Network at 800/852-0042 and through the FSN web page at www.fsnnc.org
Copyright © 2005 Jordan Institute for Families
