A Report to Congress on Interjurisdictional Adoption of Children in Foster Care

Administration for Children and Families

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Executive Summary

This report to Congress outlines the findings of two adoption-research studies conducted as part of The Collaboration to AdoptUsKids. In the first study, a nationwide purposive sample of 300 families seeking to adopt children with special needs from the public child welfare system was selected, interviewed, and surveyed to determine actual and potential barriers to the completion of the adoption process. In addition, a nationwide sample of 382 private- and public-agency adoption staff members were surveyed to assess their opinions regarding barriers to the adoption process. This first study is referred to as the "Barriers" study in this report.

In the second study, a four-year prospective examination of a nationwide sample of 161 families who had adopted children with special needs was conducted in order to determine factors that contributed to successful adoption outcomes. This research study is referred to as the "Success Factors" study in this report. When all represented States are counted in both studies, family and staff participants came from all ten standard Federal regions, 47 States and the District of Columbia.

Below is a summary of demographics of participants and the major findings from each study.

Barriers Study

Barriers Study: Family Demographics

Three hundred families who were in the process of adopting from the child welfare system were selected for participation in the Barriers study. Over the past four years, these families were interviewed periodically by telephone. At the close of data collection, July 1, 2007, 98 families (33 percent) had completed the process, received children and finalized their adoptions; 102 families (34 percent) had discontinued the process of adopting a child through the child welfare system; and 16 families (5 percent) were still continuing in the process. Among the 16 families who were still in the process of adopting, seven families (44 percent) had been approved to adopt but were waiting for children to be placed in their homes and nine families (56 percent) had children placed with them, but the adoptions had not yet been finalized. The remaining 84 families (28 percent) were re-contacted throughout the four-year period but for various reasons stopped responding to requests for updates, so their final adoption outcomes are unknown.
In this report, data from the 102 families who discontinued the adoption process and the 98 families who finalized an adoption are highlighted (N = 200). These groups will be referred to as "discontinued" and "finalized."
Of the 200 discontinued and finalized families, 183 (92 percent) were considered general adopter families (defined as families who did not have a prior relationship with the child they were adopting). Of these general adopters, 29 (16 percent) discontinued prior to completion of training and home study; 50 (27 percent) discontinued the adoption process after being approved; 17 (9 percent) discontinued the adoption process after a disrupted placement; and 87 (48 percent) eventually finalized an adoption.
Of the eight foster parent adopters, seven (88 percent) finalized an adoption and one (13 percent) discontinued after approval.¹ Among the seven child specific adopters, three (43 percent) finalized an adoption; two (29 percent) discontinued the adoption process after being approved; and two (28 percent) discontinued prior to completion of training and home study. Of the two relative adopters, one (50 percent) finalized an adoption, and one (50 percent) discontinued the adoption process prior to completion of training and home study.
Among the 102 families who discontinued the adoption process, 59 (58 percent) were married couples, two (two percent) were unmarried same-sex couples, two (two percent) were unmarried opposite-sex couples, 29 (28 percent) were single females, and 10 (10 percent) were single males. The average age of this subsample of both prospective adoptive mothers and prospective adoptive fathers was 41. Prospective adoptive mothers averaged 17 years of education; prospective adoptive fathers averaged 15 years of education. Seventy-one (70 percent) of the discontinued families were Caucasian; 22 (22 percent) were African American; six (six percent) were interracial; two (two percent) were Hispanic; and one (one percent) classified themselves as "mixed" (i.e., both parents had the same ethnic/racial mix). The majority of discontinued families (n = 96, 94 percent) were general adopters, and of the discontinued families 88 (86 percent) reported that this was their first adoption.
Of the 98 families who completed the process, received a child, and finalized their adoptions, the majority, (n = 60, 61 percent), were married couples; seven (seven percent) were unmarried same-sex couples; one (one percent) was an unmarried opposite-sex couple; 29 (30 percent) were single females; and one (one percent) was a single male. The average age of prospective adoptive mothers was 41, and the average age of prospective adoptive fathers was 42. Prospective adoptive mothers averaged 16 years of education, while prospective adoptive fathers averaged 14 years of education. Sixty-eight (69 percent) were Caucasian; 15 (15 percent) were African American; nine (nine percent) were interracial (i.e., race/ethnicity of parents is not identical); three (three percent) were Hispanic; two (two percent) classified themselves as "mixed"; and one (one percent) was Native American. The majority of families (n = 87, 89 percent) who finalized their adoptions were general adopters.
Over half (n = 81, 51 percent) of the 158 children adopted by these 98 families were female; 139 (88 percent) were part of a sibling group; 74 (47 percent) were over five years of age at time of placement; and 84 (53 percent) were racially mixed or children of color.

Adoption Barriers: Family Perspectives

General adopter families who finalized an adoption as well as those who discontinued were similar in the types of children they wanted to adopt. Overall, families most desired to adopt females and children who were 11 or younger. Families indicated a willingness to adopt children of varying racial backgrounds; however, the majority of families desired to adopt Caucasian children. In both groups, many families were willing to consider adopting children who had experienced prenatal drug use, had learning disabilities, or ADD/ADHD, but were unwilling or unable to adopt children with multiple physical disabilities and children with HIV/AIDS.
The motivations to adopt from foster care were similar among finalized and discontinued families. The most common reason among both groups was the desire to help a disadvantaged child, a child with special needs, or a child in foster care. Financial constraints was the second most common reason for adopting from foster care rather than adopting internationally or through a private agency.
Parents who finalized their adoptions reported that, at the time of placement, the child issues they considered most challenging were medical needs (n = 34, 22 percent) and having a history of abuse and neglect prior to adoption (n = 34, 22 percent). Other challenging child issues that families mentioned were: ADHD (n = 29, 18 percent); educational needs (n = 26, 16 percent); behavioral problems (n = 22, 14 percent); and prenatal drug or alcohol exposure (n = 22, 14 percent).
Parents of children whose adoptive placements disrupted (n = 19 children) reported that the most challenging child issues known at placement were ADHD, medical needs, behavioral problems, and educational needs.
After in-depth analyses of the transcripts of interviews with the 200 (102 finalized and 98 discontinued) families, the participants were divided into the following five groups based on which steps in the adoption process they had completed: Group 1: Families who made an initial contact with an agency, may have attended orientation, and started or completed their initial application, but then discontinued the adoption process; Group 2: Families who had completed an application, but discontinued the adoption process prior to approval, during either the training or home study process; Group 3: Families who completed their home study and training, were approved, but never had a child placed with them; Group 4: Families with whom a child was placed, but the adoption disrupted prior to finalization and the family subsequently discontinued the adoption process; and Group 5: Families who completed the adoption process, received a child, and finalized the adoption.
The families' experiences with the adoption process were coded to assess child, family, and agency barriers that each group of families encountered. Every barrier that families felt impacted their entire adoption process was identified, and these are discussed in this report as "overall barriers." After identifying the overall barriers, the list was narrowed to those "top barriers" that appeared to most negatively impact the families' adoption process.
Families who finalized an adoption (Group 5) or discontinued after a disrupted placement (Group 4) were most likely to report agency barriers. Ninety-eight percent of the 98 families who had finalized adoptions and 82 percent of the 17 families with disrupted placements identified adoption process logistics as an agency barrier. In fact, adoption process logistics generally were reported as an "overall barrier" by increasingly more families as they moved further along in the adoption process: Group 1 = 60 percent; Group 2 = 81 percent; Group 3 = 94 percent; Group 4 = 82 percent; and Group 5 = 98 percent. When analyzing the prevalence of adoption process logistics as a "top barrier," a similar trend emerges: Group 1 = 20 percent; Group 2 = 41 percent; Group 3 = 51 percent; Group 4 = 41 percent; and Group 5 = 68 percent.
Families who finalized an adoption (Group 5) were less likely to report family barriers than families in Groups 1 through 4 (all families who discontinued the process of adopting a child from foster care).
Families in Group 4 (disrupted placement) experienced the highest frequency of child barriers (76 percent), but only 29 percent of the families in this group reported child factors to be among the top barriers that influenced their decision to discontinue the process of adopting a child from foster care.
Families who discontinued the adoption process after approval or after a disrupted placement and families who finalized an adoption from foster care (Groups 3-5) reported the highest number of agency barriers overall. Families who finalized an adoption (Group 5) reported the highest number of agency barriers as top barriers in their adoption process.
The number of child, family, and agency factors were all significantly related (p < .05) to the group assignment for families. Seventy-seven percent of families in Group 4 (disrupted placement) and 40 percent of families in Group 5 (finalized adoption) reported child factors to be overall barriers to their adoption process. All families in Group 1 (discontinued after orientation) and Group 4 (disrupted placement) reported family factors as barriers to their overall adoption process. Fifty percent of Group 5 families (finalized adoption) reported family factors. Families in all five groups reported agency factors as barriers to their overall adoption process: 80 percent of Group 1; 93 percent of Group 2; 100 percent of Group 3; 100 percent of Group 4; and 100 percent of Group 5.
Family factor barriers were most frequently reported by Groups 1 and 4 with a mean of 2.0 and 2.6 factors, respectively. All other groups reported a mean of less than two family factors per family. Group 4 families (disrupted placement) reported a mean of 1.2 child factors. Groups 1, 2, 3 and 5 all reported a mean of less than one child factor.
The most frequently reported agency factors were: agency emotional support, adoption process logistics, jurisdictional and inter-jurisdictional issues, and agency communication/responsiveness. All of these factors, except jurisdictional and inter-jurisdictional issues,² were significantly related (p < .05) to the family's stage of completion in the adoption process (Groups 1-5).

Barriers Study: Staff Demographics

Approximately 1,659 surveys were sent to staff in 34 States and Washington, D.C. A total of 382 surveys (23 percent) were received from staff located in 29 States and the District of Columbia.³
One hundred thirteen of the staff surveys (30 percent) were completed by staff working in private adoption agencies, and the majority (n = 269, 70 percent) were completed by staff working in public adoption agencies. Private-agency adoption workers typically contracted with the State (public) agency to place children from foster care into adoptive placements.

Adoption Barriers: Staff Perspectives

Major agency barriers identified by staff in this study included the following: an inadequate pool of families; jurisdictional issues related to termination of parental rights (TPR); issues with the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC);⁴ the size of worker caseloads; and the availability of post-adoption services (respite care, etc.).
Major family barriers identified included: the type of child desired; criminal background of prospective parents; an inability to accept certain characteristics in a child's background; an unwillingness to access services or community resources; and the lack of experience with special needs children.
Major child barriers identified included: older age of child (over 11); a history of, or engaging in, sexual perpetration; sexual acting-out behavior; the need for siblings (three or more) to be placed together; and behavior problems in the home.
Additional analyses were conducted on responses from staff in the seven States with significant public and private agency representation to determine whether there were statistically significant differences between public and private agency staff members' perceptions of major agency, family, and child barriers.⁵ Adoption agency staff from public agencies were significantly more likely (p < .05) than private agency staff to rate the following as major barriers to adoptive placements: a lack of families appropriate for adoption of children with special needs (80 percent vs. 60 percent); issues with the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC) (64 percent vs. 34 percent); caseload size (63 percent vs. 42 percent); and prospective adoptive parents' inability or unwillingness to accept certain characteristics in a child's background or history (61 percent vs. 41 percent).

Success Factors Study

Success Factors Study: Family and Child Demographics

There were 161 families, a total of 270 individual adoptive parents, who participated in the Success Factors study. These families had finalized their adoptions between one and 14 years earlier. Ninety-three families (58 percent) had worked with public agencies, and 68 (42 percent) had worked with private agencies. The majority of the families (n = 104, 65 percent) were married couples. There were also two (one percent) unmarried same-sex couples and three (two percent) unmarried opposite-sex couples. Forty-seven parents in the sample (29 percent) were single female adopters, and the five single males represented three percent of all adoptive parents. The majority of families (80 percent) identified their ethnic background as Caucasian (n = 128). Eighteen (11 percent) were African American, five (three percent) were Hispanic, and nine (six percent) families identified themselves as interracial couples. Overall, the majority of families (n = 105, 65 percent) adopted children of the same ethnic background as their own, while 56 families (35 percent) transracially adopted. Caucasian single women (58 percent) were significantly more likely than couples (30 percent) to have adopted at least one child of color.
Of the 161 families, 106 (66 percent) had adopted more than one child, of whom 47 (44 percent) had adopted two children; 42 (40 percent) had adopted between three and five children; and 17 (16 percent) had adopted between six and 10 children. The majority of families (n = 94, 58 percent) were general adopters,⁶ while the remaining families were either adopting a foster child already living in their home (n = 41, 25 percent), adopting a relative (n = six, four percent), or adopting a specific child known to the family (n = 20, 12 percent).
One child from each family selected into the sample was chosen as the focus of the research study. The "focus child" was selected based on the age of the child at placement, severity of the child's special needs, level of challenge the child presented to the parent(s), and length of time the child had been in the adoptive home. Of the 161 focus children, 89 (55 percent) were males, and 72 (45 percent) were females. Half of the 161 focus children (n = 80) were Caucasian (non-Hispanic), and the other half were children of color (n = 31 or 19 percent were African American, n = 20 or 12 percent were Hispanic, n = three or two percent were Native American, and n = 27 or 17 percent were mixed race/ethnicity).
Focus children were an average of 6.5 years of age at placement into the adoptive home and had been in their adoptive homes an average of six years at the time of the interview. Seventy-four percent (n = 119) of focus children were between five and 17 at the time of placement. Of the 161 children, six (four percent) were between 13 and 17 when placed, and 39 (24 percent) were between nine and 12 at placement.

Successful Adoptions: Family Perspectives

Parents most frequently characterized a successful special-needs adoption as having the following characteristics: 1) Parents were committed to the child and the child's adoption into the family; 2) The child was still living in the home and not behaving negatively; 3) The child was showing progress in the adoptive home; 4) The parent and child had bonded with each other; and 5) Parents were prepared to adopt a child with special needs and had realistic expectations of the child.
Statistically significant differences were found in levels of support families received pre- and post-placement (p = .05). At the initial decision to adopt, 66 families (41 percent) had received positive reactions to their decision from both friends and family. By the time of post-placement, however, 119 families (74 percent) reported positive support of the adoption from both friends and families.
Despite the "success of the adoptions," over half of all families (n = 93, 58 percent) described their child as difficult or very difficult to parent. Children in the study exhibited an average of 10 difficult behaviors, including the following: violating rules of conduct (70 percent), verbal aggression (55 percent), physical aggression (48 percent), stealing (48 percent), and vandalism (31 percent).
Over 75 percent of the families received an adoption subsidy or help with dental and routine medical care. The most commonly reported post-adoption services used were financial supports including adoption subsidies (89 percent), help with routine medical care (79 percent), and help with routine dental care (77 percent). Ninety percent or more of the families who received these three services found them very or extremely helpful.
Sixty-three to 79 percent of families found various types of counseling, training, and support groups to be helpful. Between 69 percent and 76 percent of the families who were counseled on parenting skills, abuse, separation, sexual, and adoption issues found the counseling very or extremely helpful.
Sixty-seven percent of the families found their child's individual therapy to be very or extremely helpful. At least two thirds of families found that 10 out of 11 types of counseling were very or extremely helpful, while 50 percent of families found counseling to prevent an out-of-home placement to be very or extremely helpful.
Forty-one percent of families reported a problem with finding time to access services. Forty percent of families indicated a lack of confidence in services providers. Thirty-five percent reported that often insurance did not cover a needed service.
Of the 161 families in the study, 27 families (17 percent) had no pre- or post-finalization contact with any birth or foster family members, and 48 families (30 percent) had contact with one or both of the child's birthparents either pre- or post-finalization. Of these 48 families, 19 (40 percent) had contact pre-finalization only, while 29 (60 percent) had contact post-finalization (including those who had contact both pre- and post-finalization). This report includes findings from an analysis of those 48 with birthparent contact and the 27 without contact with birth or foster family members.
In general, families who had contact (either pre- or post-finalization) with the child's birthparents (n = 48) were more likely to have adopted a foster child already placed in their home or a child with whom they had a previous relationship (child-specific or relative adoption) than the 27 families who had no contact with the child's birthparents or foster family members. Families who had pre-finalization only contact with one or both birthparents (n = 19) were more likely to have court-mandated visits with birthparents than parents who had contact post-finalization. Families who had pre-finalization only contact generally had more frequent contact than the families who had contact with the child's birthparents post-finalization. Families with pre-finalization only contact were more likely to have had supervised visits with the birthparents, whereas families who had post-finalization contact had a variety of types of contact, including cards, letters, and emails; phone calls; and supervised or unsupervised visits.
When comparing families with no contact to those families who had some type of contact with birthparents, there were no statistically significant differences between minority/interracial adoptive families and Caucasian adoptive families. In addition, there were no statistically significant differences when comparing pre-finalization only contact with one or both birthparents and pre- and post-finalization or post-finalization only contact. Among Caucasian adoptive families, 35 percent had no contact and 65 percent had some type of contact. Of the 65 percent with some type of contact, 43 percent had pre-finalization only contact, and 57 percent had pre- and post-finalization or post-finalization only contact. Among minority/interracial adoptive families, 37 percent had no contact and 63 percent had some type of contact. Of the 63 percent with some type of contact, 33 percent had pre-finalization only contact and 67 percent had pre- and post-finalization or post-finalization only contact.
There were statistically significant differences (p < .05) in the level of contact when examining the age at placement of the adopted child. For children whose families had no contact, the average age at placement was 4.69 years of age. For children whose families had some type of contact with birthparents, the average age at placement was 6.74 years.
Families in this sample who adopted children who had experienced physical neglect were significantly more likely than families who adopted children who had not experienced physical neglect to have contact with one or both birthparents (76 percent v. 24 percent). This held true regardless of whether physical neglect was the sole cause of the child's removal from the birth family or occurred in combination with other circumstances. There were no significant differences related to neglect, however, when comparing pre-finalization only contact and pre- and post-finalization or post-finalization only contact.
There was a statistically significant relationship for families who were mandated to have contact pre-finalization and whether they had contact post-finalization (p < .05). For families who were mandated to have pre-finalization contact with one or both birthparents (n = 20), the majority did not continue the contact after finalization. Of those 20 families, 70 percent had pre-finalization only contact and 30 percent reported contact post-finalization. Of the 28 families⁷ who were not mandated to have contact with birthparents pre-finalization, 82 percent had post-finalization contact with birthparents.
Despite the parenting challenges, 141 parents (88 percent) believed their child's adoption was a success, 17 (11 percent) were not sure, and three (two percent) said their adoption was not a success. Attachment issues, significant behavioral problems of the child, and lack of services were cited as reasons that parents believed their adoptions were not successful.
When asked to offer advice to prospective adoptive families, families in the study most frequently suggested that adoptive families should display commitment to the child and to the adoption process. They needed to be flexible, tolerant, and patient; love the child unconditionally; and maintain a sense of humor.
When asked to offer advice to adoption agencies, adoptive families suggested that adequate resources and services, such as respite care, subsidies, support groups, and counseling, should be provided to both the family and the child.

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¹ Percentages do not always add up to 100% due to rounding. back
² Includes the level of difficulty encountered by parents in the adoption process when working with more than one agency or with two different counties, regions or States. This factor includes issues between public and private agencies and issues with the InterState Compact on the Placement of Children. back
³ Findings must be interpreted with caution, as samples in each State are not representative and may not include responses from both public and private agency staff. Of the 29 States and the District of Columbia, there were seven States from which both public and private agency surveys were received. These States include Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, Mississippi, and Texas. Of these seven, three are among the States with the highest numbers of available children waiting for adoption: Texas with 10,147 waiting children, California with 4,903 waiting children, and Illinois with 3,621 waiting children. back
⁴ InterState Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC) is the statutory law and contract that guides placement of children across State lines. The goal of ICPC is to provide a legal and administrative framework for the placement of children across State lines in order to ensure that children placed in other States receive the same services and legal protections that would be provided to them if they remained in their home State. In addition, the compact specifies legal, financial, and supervisory responsibilities for the State placing the child, as well as the State receiving the child (American Public Human Services Association, 2006). ICPC facilitates all interjurisdictional foster care placements, adoptive placements, and relative placements for children in the child welfare system. back
⁵ In this analysis, 59 private agency staff and 78 public agency staff located in Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, Mississippi, and Texas were included. back
⁶ Although the majority of current adopters of children from foster care are foster parents who have had a prior relationship with the child, agencies are continuing to struggle to conduct targeted and general recruitment for families to adopt the many waiting children whom foster parents are not adopting. Many of these are older children who belong to sibling groups. Therefore, we decided deliberately to over-sample non-foster parent adopters (general adopters) to better understand family dynamics in cases in which the family and child have not had a prior relationship, and therefore learn more about factors that lead to their success. back
⁷ Eighteen percent of the 28 families had voluntary contact with birthparents pre-finalization that stopped after finalization. back