THE ADOPTION OPTIONTHE ADOPTION OPTION

Exploring Adoption as a permanent placement in the substitute care context.

Frances Evans, Wesley Dalmar Research UnitFrances Evans, Wesley Dalmar Research Unit

frances.evans@wesleymission.org.aufrances.evans@wesleymission.org.au

LOOKING AFTER KIDS LOOKING AFTER KIDS IN NSW FIRSTIN NSW FIRST

““This review will put the This review will put the needs of children & needs of children &

young people in OOHC young people in OOHC first…focus DoCS first…focus DoCS

efforts on adoption and efforts on adoption and permanency planning permanency planning

in this state”in this state” DoCS Media Release DoCS Media Release

44thth July 2006 July 2006

WHERE DOES THIS WHERE DOES THIS EVIDENCE COME EVIDENCE COME FROM?FROM?

• International Research

• Australian Research

• Consultation

Listening…Listening… Collaborating…

Measuring…

WHAT IS ADOPTION?WHAT IS ADOPTION?

What is ‘adoption’ in an OOHC context?

•Ethical

•Open

•Culturally appropriate

•Supported

One aspect of a ‘seamless spectrum’

Security & Stability•Legal

•Emotional & Social

•Flexibility

•Breakdown & Disruption

Why should we use it?Why should we use it? The Evidence BaseThe Evidence Base

Outcomes •Health and Well being

•Parenting Factors

Non Welfare Based Model of Care

•Children’s Views

The Child•Age•Behavioural & Physical

Needs•Birth Family•Cultural Heritage•The Child’s Voice

Who should we use it for?Who should we use it for?Research on Placement Decision MakingResearch on Placement Decision Making

The Placement

•Restoration & Contact

•Family Characteristics

•Types of Placement

Concurrent Planning• Casework

• Birth Family & Restoration

• Decision Making

• Resource Foster Families

How should we use it?How should we use it? Promising Practice in Service ModelsPromising Practice in Service Models

Family Group Conferencing•Permanency Conference

•Conflict Resolution

•Participation

Casework Models & Tools•Adoptions Training

•Legal Caseworkers

•Birth Family Workers

Post Adoption Support•Practice Elements•System Elements•Types of services

Guardianship•Legally permanent•Flexibility•A middle ground?

WHERE DO WE GO WHERE DO WE GO

FROM HERE?FROM HERE?

Further Discussion & Policy Development

Training

Programs & Evaluation

Further Research

Listening…

Collaborating…Collaborating…

Measuring…Measuring…

particular attention will be paid to the unique needs of -

• Children with additional needs

• Indigenous and CALD children

• Older children and sibling groups

FURTHER FURTHER RESEARCH:RESEARCH:Churchill Fellowship 2006Churchill Fellowship 2006

A critical evaluation of adoption and other legally permanent placement options for children in care.

Government departments, NGOs, university research centres and peak bodies in NZ, USA, Canada & UK in relation to:

•Adoption, Guardianship & other legally permanent placements

•Legislation and policy models

•Casework and permanency planning practices

•Recruitment, assessment and training of families

•Legal processes

•‘Post Adoption’ support services

References

ACWA, 2005, Discussion Paper: Consideration of Adoption for Selected Groups of Children in Long Term Out of Home Care,

Australia

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare; Child Protection Australia 2004 Available online www.aihw.gov.au

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare; Adoption Australia 2004. Available online www.aihw.gov.au

Barth, 2000, Rights and Realities in the permanency debate, Children Australia, v25 no 4 2000, pp 13 – 17

Barth, 1999, After Safety, what is the goal of Child Welfare Services: permanency, family continuity or social benefit?

International Journal of Social Welfare, v8, pp244 – 252

Brown L & Lupton C, 2002, Role of Family Group Conferencing in Child Protection, Bath Nuffield Foundation & Centre for

Evidence Based Social Services

Casey Family Services, 2002, An Approach to Post Adoption Services: A white paper, Washington USA

Cashmore J & Paxman M, 1996, Longitudinal Study of Wards Leaving Care, Report of Research Commissioned by the NSW

Department of Community Services, Social Policy Research Centre & University of NSW, NSW Australia

Cashmore, 2000, What the research tells us: permanency planning, adoption and foster care, Children Australia, v25 no4, pp17

– 22

Cashmore, 2001, What Can we learn from the US experience on Permanency Planning?, Australian Journal of Family Law, v15 no 3 2001, pp215 – 229

Cashmore J & Ainsworth F, 2004, Audit of Australian Out of Home Care Research, ACWA Inc, Sydney Australia

Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2005, Issue Brief: Concurrent Planning, What the Evidence Shows, Department of Health & Human Services

Administration for Children and Families, Washington DC USA

Delfabbro & Barber, 2003, Placement Disruption & psychological outcomes: findings from the 3 year South Australian Longitudinal Study, 8th Annual

Australian Institute of Family Studies Conference, Melbourne Australia

Department of Health UK, 2000, Adoption: A new Approach – a white paper, The Stationary Office, Federal Government UK

Department of Community Services NSW, 2006, DoCS Annual Statistical Report 2004/05

Department of Community Services NSW, Children and Young Person’s (Care and Protection) Amendment (Permanency Planning) Bill 2000; Issues

Paper, available online www.community.nsw.gov.au

Department of Families Queensland, 2003, Discussion Paper: Stopping the drift: Improving the Lives of Queensland’s children and young people in

long term care, Queensland Australia

Doran L & Berliner L, 2001, Placement Decisions For Children in Long Term Foster Care: Innovative Practices & Literature Review , Washington State

Institute for Public Policy, Washington USA

Evan B Donaldson Adoption Institute, 2004, What’s working for children, a policy study of adoption stability and termination, New York USA

Fisher et al for Casey Outcomes & Decision Making Project, 1999, Improving the Quality of Children’s Services, AHS, Washington

Goldstein J, Solnit A & Freud A, 1996, The best interests of the child: the least detrimental alternative, Free Press, New York

Hollingsworth L, 2000, Commentary: Adoption policy in the US – a word of caution, Social Work Research, v45(2), pp 435 – 446

Howe D, 1998, Adoption Outcomes Research & Practical Judgement, Adoption & Fostering, vol2(2), pp 6 – 15

Institute for Child Protection Studies, Good Practice for Placement Planning, ACT, Australia

Ivaldi G, 1998, Children Adopted from Care, BAAF, Russell Press, Nottingham

Kiely P, 2005, A longitudinal Evaluation of Family Group Conferencing, presented at the 9th Australian Institute of Family Studies COnference ,

Melbourne

Lutz L, 2003, Achieving Timely Permanency for Children in the Welfare System: pioneering possibilities amidst daunting challenges , NY Hunter College

School of Social Work, National Resource Centre for Foster Care & Permanency Planning, NY USA

Maluccio, Fein & Olmstead, 1986, Permanency Planning for Children: concepts and methods, Tavistock Publications, New York

Maluccio, Ainsworth & Thoburn, 2000, Child Welfare Outcomes research in US, UK and Australia, CWLA, Washington DC

McDonald, Billings & Moore, 2002, Achieving Timely Adoption Placement, OKDHS Child & Family Division, Oklahoma USA

Monck E, Reynolds J & Wigfall V, 2003, The role of Concurrent Planning, Making Permanent Placements for young children , BAAF, London

Nickman et al, 2005, Children in Adoptive Families: Overview and Update, Journal of American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 44:10

October 2005, pp 987 – 995

Office of the Children’s Guardian, 2004, Permanency Planning Issues Paper, NSW Australia

O’Neil C, 2000, Support, timelines & hard decisions, Children Australia, vol25 no 4

Parker (Ed), 1998, Adoption Now Messages from Research, Chichester Wiley

Parkinson, 2003, Child Protection, Permanency Planning and children’s right to family life, International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family, v17 i2

2003, p147

Parkinson, 2000, The Children (Care and Protection) Amendment (Permanency Planning) Bill 2000, Forum on Permanency Planning, ACWA

Plunket R & Osmond M, 2004, Permanency Planning: Choosing Between Long Term Foster Care & Adoption, OACAS Journal, Spring 2004 vol48 no1,

pp 7 – 14

Potter C.C & Klien-Rothschild S, 2002, Getting Home on Time: predicting timely permanency for young children, Child Welfare, v81(2), pp 123 – 130

Quinton D & O’brien K, 2000, The Beacon Council Scheme, Adoption Output 2 – Review of Issues & Research, University of Bristol, UK

Rath, 2001, Parliament of NSW Briefing Paper: Permanency Planning and Adoption

Schmidt-Tieszen & McDonald, 1998, Children who wait; Long Term Foster Care or Adoption?, Children & Youth Services Review v20 n1-2, pp 13-28

Sellick, Thoburn & Philpot, 2004, What Works in Adoption and Foster Care, Barnardos, UK

Selman P & Mason K, 1997, Alternatives to Adoption for Looked After Children, Scottish Executive, UK

Selwyn J, Frazer L & Quinton D, 2006, Paved with Good Intentions: the Pathway to Adoption and the costs of delay, British Journal of Social Work v36,

pp561 – 576

Testa, 2004, When Children Cannot Return home: Adoption & Guardianship, Children, Families & Foster Care, v14(1), pp 116 – 129

Thoburn, 2000, A comparative Study of Adoption, University of East Anglia, UK

Thoburn J for ‘Making Research Count’, 2002, Briefing 5: Adoption & Permanence for Children who cannot live safely with birth parents or relatives ,

Research in Pratice, UK

Thomas C, Beckford V, Murch M & Lowe N, 1999, Adopted Children Speaking, BAAF, Russell Press, Nottingham

Thorpe, 2002, Examining the Evidence in Out of Home Care, ACWA Conference 2002

Tregeagle, Voigt, Smith & Moggach,2005, Secure Legal Belonging: an important factor for children permanently removed from their families ,

Developing Practice no 12, Autumn 2005

Treseliotis, Shireman & Mundelby, 1997, Adoption: Theory, policy & practice, Cassell, London UK

Treseliotis, 2002, Long Term Foster Care or Adoption? The evidence explained, Child & Family Social Work, v7 2002, pp 23- 33

Web Based Resources

These sites have a wide variety of information – from research publications

and data to placement decision making tools and program evaluations. Not

to mention links to other useful resources!

USA Child Welfare Information Gateway

www.childwelfare.gov

Chapin Hall Center for Children – University of Chicago

www.chapinhall.org

Research In Practice www.rip.org.uk

Casey Family Services www.casey.org

British Association for Adoption & Foster Carewww.baaf.org.uk