Research Literature Survey 

Adoption

Gay and Lesbian Adoptors

Other

Children in Foster Care

Policy & Practice Literature Survey   

Adoption

Children in Foster Care

Angel, Daniel Scott.
Personality Characteristics of
Adoptive vs. Non-parenting
Gay Male Couples.
Ph.d. diss., California Institute of Integral Studies,
San Francisco, California, 1998.

       Characteristics of gay male couples choosing to become parents through adoption (n=50) were compared to gay male couples choosing not to parent (n=50). The survey found that gay male parenting couples had higher mean scores on the traits of Order and Succorance on the Edward Personal Preference Schedule, a test which measures personality traits. Non-parenting couples had higher mean scores on the traits of Change, Exhibition, and Autonomy. Demographic data from the study showed that gay male parenting couples are more likely to have a history of adoption in their family than the non -parenting couples.

       The researcher surveyed 129 master of social work students ' attitudes toward non - traditional adoptive parents. Among the findings were that the students ' first preference for an adoptive family was a two - parent heterosexual couple, followed by a lesbian couple. The lowest desirability rating was for single men adopting a newborn infant. The students were also assessed on their knowledge of myths and stereotypes about nontraditional families. Political affiliation and marital status were found to be correlated with holding negative stereotypes. Those who identified themselves as Republican and those who identified themselves as married held the greatest number of stereotypes about nontraditional adoptive parents.

Taylor, Miyoshi U.
Attitude of Social Workers
Toward Gay and Lesbian Adoption.
Master 's Thesis, California State University,
Long Beach, California, 1998.

       The survey sample consisted of 50 senior social workers employed in public child welfare services. The research indicated that if the social workers were nonhomophobic and had positive attitudes toward homosexuality, they were also positive about adoption by gay and lesbian couples. Ethnic minority respondents were less accepting than whites of homosexuality and more homophobic. Homosexual respondents were more accepting of homosexuality and less homophobic than heterosexuals. Approximately one third of the respondents felt that gay -lesbian couples should not be able to adopt children under five years of age. The sample favored adoption of gay/lesbian teenagers by gay/lesbian couples over other children.

        In the past quarter, research findings were published on issues such as attachment in children who have spent time in an orphanage; self - esteem in adopted adults; and risk factors associated with emotional and behavioral problems and antisocial behavior. One of the first studies of within - country adoption in contemporary China was released as well.

Chisholm, Kim...
Three Year Follow - up of Attachment and Indiscriminate Friendliness in Children Adopted from Romanian Orphanages.
Child Development v 69, n 4 (August 1998): 1092­1106.

        Three groups of children were assessed in the areas of attachment and indiscriminately friendly behavior. Group one had spent at least 8 months in a Romanian orphanage (RO), group two were adopted from Romania before the age of 4 months (EA), and group three were nonadopted, noninstitutionalized, Canadian born children (CB). The key finding was that the Romanian orphanage children (RO) displayed significantly more insecure attachment patterns and significantly more indiscriminate friendliness.The researchers report that the Romanian orphanage experience had an impact on security of attachment only when combined with other stressors. Insecure Romanian orphanage children had more behavior problems, scored lower on the Stanford - Binet Intelligence Scale, and had parents who reported significantly more parenting stress that Romanian orphanage children classified as Secure.

Finkel, Deborah; Pedersen, Nancy L.; Plomin, Robert; and McClearn, Gerald E...
Longitudinal and Cross - Sectional Twin Data on Cognitive Abilities in Adulthood: The Swedish Adoption / Twin Study of Aging.
Developmental Psychology v 34, n 6 (1998): 1400 - 13.

        This study sought to separate age and cohort effects on thirteen cognitive variables in a sample of monozygotic and dizygotic pairs of twins reared apart and reared together. Slightly more than 50 percent of the reared - apart twins were separated before 1 year of age. On eight of the measures, longitudinal decreases in mean performance was found in the older participants. However, none of the longitudinal changes in mean performance attained significance. The largest differences were found for measures of perceptual speed.

Johnson, Kay; Banghan, Huang; and Liyao, Wang.
Infant Abandonment and Adoption in China.
Population and Development Review
v 24, n 3 (September 1998): 469 - 510.

       This research investigates the practice of within - country adoption in contemporary China. Three hundred and ninety two families who had adopted children and 237 who had abandoned children were given questionnaires to complete and 40 of the families participated in in - depth interviews. The adoptions occurred from the 1950s through the 1990s ; however, 90 percent occurred in the 1980s and 1990s. A majority of the abandonments occurred in the 1980s and 1990s as well. All of the birthparents of abandoned children were married except for three. In this study, abandonment was related to impoverishment. The most important determinants of who was abandoned were gender, birth order, and the gender composition of siblings. It was quite rare for the only girl born into a family to be abandoned. The sample consisted of only 25 abandoned boys of which 60 percent were disabled or severely ill, while only 8 percent of the abandoned girls were disabled or severely ill. Typically, the abandoned child was a healthy newborn girl who had one or more older sisters and no brothers. Children abandoned in rural areas appeared to be adopted quickly. Of the 392 adoptions in the sample, about 80 percent had occurred after 1985 and 307 of adoptions involved girls. Two - thirds of the adopted girls had been abandoned. Thirty of the 51 non - abandoned boys were orphans. Most adoptions were of children unrelated to the adoptive parents by any kinship ties. The reasons birthparents cited for arranging the adoptions were the same as those cited by birthparents who abandoned girls : the family already had one or more girls and no sons. Adoptive parents were married couples and tended to be bettereducated than abandoning parents. About half were childless at the time of adoption. The other half sought to include a daughter in their family. In about 25 percent of the cases, the infant girl was found outside the family door by the adoptive family. The authors concluded that in - country adoptive parents had defied prevailing adoption law and adopted abandoned children. One - third of the adoptive families with birth children were fined and punished as if they themselves had violated the birth planning policy.

Kramer, Laurie, and Houston, Doris.
Supporting Families as They Adopt
Children with Special Needs
.Family Relations
.v 47 (1998): 423-32

       The authors sought to identify the types of formal and informal support that are used and needed by adoptive families with children with medical, behavioral, or developmental needs. The 40 parents surveyed expressed a desire for a variety of support sources including those not restricted to the adoption agency. Access to family resource support specialists and experienced adoptive parents topped the list of unmet needs as did financial assistance and child care and respite. Difficulty in contacting case workers and delays in adoption finalization were also mentioned by the parents as high priorities. Based on the study, the authors offer suggestions for agency involvement in facilitating informal support mechanisms such as: "1) encouraging preadoptive parents to seek emotional and concrete forms of assistance from family members, friends, church associates, etc.; 2) encouraging providers of informal support to not withdraw support prematurely ; 3) advertising the availability of master adoptive parents and family resource specialists and increasing the availability of these resources ; 4) referring parents to existing support and self-help groups ; 5) sponsoring the formation of new support or self-help groups that are targeted at particular issues ; and 6) providing ongoing opportunities for families to learn about resources in their community. "

Logan, F. A.; Morrall, P. M. E.; and Chambers, H..
Identification of Risk Factors for
Psychological Disturbance in Adopted Children.
Child Abuse Review
v 7, n 3 (May - June 1998): 154 - 64.

       A mailed survey explored the prevalence of emotional and behavioral problems in 97 adopted children using Achenbach's Child Behavior Checklist. Possible predictors of high problem scores were sought in the pre - placement history and in aspects of the adoptive placement. The adopted children studied had significantly higher problem scores than a non - clinic population. Problem scores were significantly higher in children with a history of pre - placement abuse. Abused children also had significantly more placements prior to adoption and were older at adoption. Racial congruence of adopted family, sex of child, and ethnicity did not affect problem scores.

Lenkowsky, Linda Klein.
The Behavioral and Psychological Adjustment,
Family Functioning, and Adoption Dynamics of Adopted Adolescents
Growing up in Biological - Adoptive Families, Compared with Adopted
Adolescents Growing Up in All - Adoptive Families.
Ph.d. diss., Columbia University, New York, 1998.

       This study investigated whether adopted adolescents (n=521) from biological -adoptive families , in which parents were raising both adopted children and children born to them (N=64) , reported the same levels of behavioral and psychological adjustment as adopted adolescents in all - adoptive families (n=457). The major finding was that adoptees in both adoptive family types were equally well adjusted. When compared with a nonadopted group, the only finding was a report of more delinquency for adoptees. No differences were found in the family dynamics of the two types of families other than that parents in biological - adoptive families were more religious. A key finding was that adoptees from biological - adoptive families felt less similar to their parents in values , personality , interest , and appearance , and felt more societal stigma from adoption than adoptees in all - adoptive families.

O'Connor, Thomas G.; Deater-Deckard, Kirby ;
Fulker, David ; Rutter, Michael ; and Plomin, Robert.
Genotype - Environment Correlations in Late
Childhood and Early Adolescence : Antisocial
Behavioral Problems and Coercive Parenting.
Developmental Psychology v 34, n 5 (1998): 970­81.

       The goal of this investigation was to determine if adopted children at genetic risk (n=38) for behavioral problems evoke more negative parenting than children not at genetic risk (n=50). Children were determined to be at genetic risk if their biological mother reported exhibiting antisocial behavior. Negative control, inconsistent parenting and positive parenting were the dependent variable measures. The chief finding was that adoptive parents of children at genetic risk reported using more negative control than did adoptive parents of children who were not at genetic risk. The correlation between negative parenting and children 's behavioral - emotional problems did not differ in the genetic nonrisk and at - risk samples.

Smith, Susan Livingston ; Howard, Jeanne A. ;
and Monroe, Alan D..
An Analysis of Child Behavior Problems
in Adoptions in Difficulty.
Journal of Social Service Research
v 24, n 1 / 2 (1998): 61 - 84.

       Families (n=401) participating in an adoption preservation program for legally adopted children at risk for being placed in a facility outside the home or dissolution constituted the study sample. The children in the study were administered the Child Behavior Checklist (CBC) and a behavior problem rating scale. Overall, 91 percent of the children scored in the clinical range on at least one of three summary scores of the CBC. Over half of the children reported behaviors generally classified as conduct disorders. Several behaviors were significantly associated with parents raising the issue of dissolution. Violation of family norms was the problem with the highest association with dissolution risk. The number of placements was not associated with the behavior problems score, although it was associated with parents raising the issue of dissolution. The parents of children placed in infancy were less likely to raise dissolution as an option than parents of children placed later.

Smyer, Michael A. ; et. al.
Childhood Adoption : Long - Term Effects
in Adulthood.
Psychiatry
v 61, n 3 ( Fall 1998 ) : 191 - 205.

       The authors report on a Swedish study of 60 pairs of twins in which one twin was reared by a biological parent and the other by an adoptive parent or a parent with no biological relationship. The results indicate few significant effects of adoption on the adult adjustment of adoptees. The main finding was the important mediating role of childhood socioeconomic status.

Ward, Margaret
The Impact of Adoption on the
New Parents' Marriage.
Adoption Quarterly
v 2, n 2 ( 1998 ) : 57 - 73.

       The author conducted a literature survey which focused on the quality of the marital relationship in terms of three aspects of research: 1) the transition to biological parenthood ; 2) the impact of the infertility experience on adoptive parenthood ; and 3) the transition experience for adoptive parents of older children. In general, research on the transition to parenthood has documented a decline in marital satisfaction from pregnancy to post -birth. Stressors such as issues around housework and child care and allocation of time for recreational activities lead to decreased levels of satisfaction. The author found few empirical studies that look at the impact of infertility on the marital relationship although much has been written regarding clinical and practice issues. Only one study has looked at the marital relationship of adoptive parents who adopt an older child. The findings were that a number of the marriages became more traditional following the adoption and in some cases, the husband - wife relationship improved. The author provides a list of considerations for practitioners and adoptive parents to address before and after placement : 1) Does the couple have a basic sense of " we-ness " ? 2) Has the couple shifted their focus from the marital to the parental ? 3) Has the couple realistically considered the time demands of the adoption ? 4) Has the couple planned for downtime ? and 5) Does the couple have appropriate support systems in place ?

Recent studies examined demographic data on 26,460 infants who entered foster care in California; compared the death rates among children in foster care to children in the general population; and assessed the mental health problems of children in foster care.

       Death rates were computed for 690 children who died while in foster care in California from 1988 to 1994. These death rates were compared to those for the general population of children in California, as well as for 321 former foster care children who were in care during the same time period and died after being released from care ( and prior to age 19 ). Former foster children who exited from care by adoption were not included in this study. Death rates of children in foster care during the study period were generally higher than those for the general population during the same period. Breakdowns by age, race / ethnicity, cause of death, and type of care found several key differences between the two groups. In general, Caucasian and Hispanic children in foster care had higher rates of death than their counterparts in the general population not exposed to foster care. African American foster children experienced comparable rates relative to African American children in the general population. Regarding the cause of death, foster children experienced higher mortality rates ( relative to the general population ) due to natural causes, " ill-defined conditions " and SIDS, and violent deaths, while former foster children experienced high rates of death from violent causes. African Americans in foster care had lower rates of death form preventable causes, while Hispanic and Caucasian children have comparable rates of death for these causes compared with the general population. Both current and former foster children entering care for reasons of neglect had higher mortality rates than the general population of children for preventable, congenital / perinatal, and natural deaths. The authors stress that the findings of this study should not be interpreted to mean that foster care placement is not as safe as residing at home when children are at risk of serious abuse or neglect at home.

Clausen, June M. ; Landsverk, John ? Granger, William ?
Chadwick, David ? and Litrownik, Alan.
Mental Health Problems
of Children in Foster Care.
Journal of Child and Family Studies
v 7, n 3 ( 1998 ) : 283 - 96.

       Mental health problems were assessed in a sample of 267 children in foster care in three counties in California. Behavior problems, as measured by the Child Behavior Check List, were in the borderline or clinical range in 75 to 80 percent of the children. Over 50 percent of the school age children were found to have difficulties in social competence. Fewer children were found to be in the clinical range on measures of self - concept.

Folman, Rosalind D
I was Tooken': How Children Experience Removal
from Their Parents Preliminary to
Placement into Foster Care.
Adoption Quarterly
v 2, n 2 (1998): 7­33.

       The author presents findings of a qualitative study of the experiences of 90 children, ages 8 -14 years when they were removed from their homes and placed into foster care. The majority of the children reported similarities in the quality of their lives prior to placement. They had, by and large, experienced maltreatment for most of the time interspersed with periods of good caregiving. The actual day of removal was remembered by the children as one of being unexpectedly taken from their home and brought to an agency or temporary shelter. Many thought they were being arrested and, therefore, actively resisted. Many also reported that upon removal from their home, they were separated from their siblings. The author offers recommendations for changing the removal experience from one of trauma to one of opportunity for change. Suggestions for practice include& #058; 1 ) inform the children prior to removal that they are leaving their parents to live temporarily with another family ; 2 ) allow the children to contact their families as soon after removal as possible to reconnect and to make arrangements to visit with their parents ; and 3 ) familiarize the children with where they are going to live by allowing them to meet their foster parents or see their home ; 4 ) have a placement worker familiar with the family remove the children ; and 5 ) allow the children to talk to a child who is in foster care.

Franck, Ellen Jamieson
Caseworker Outreach to Birth
Fathers of Foster Children in
New York City Foster Care. .
DSW, Adelphi University, New York, December 1998.

       The study examined the level of case worker activity directed at birth fathers in comparison with the level of activity directed at birth mothers at three New York City foster care agencies. Data was collected from 143 foster care workers. Several mediating variables were found to be significant for birth fathers, including the strength of family ties, caseworkers ' difficulties meeting with birth parents, and the number of changes in caseworker. Caseworker activity levels were found to be higher for birth mothers than for birth fathers.

Gardner, Helen.
"The Concept of Family: Perceptions
of Adults Who Were in Long - Term
Out-of-Home Care as Children. "
Child Welfare
v 77, n 6 ( November / December ) : 681 - 700.

       Thirty-nine adults who had been either in family foster care or family groups homes during their time in care were interviewed to examine their perceptions of family. Among the findings were: 1 ) participants who included their foster parents as current family members reported foster environments where they felt nurtured and loved; and 2 ) participants who did not identify their foster parents as current family members reported an experience of being unloved and uncared for. The author concludes that it is possible for children who are placed in care to become attached to a foster family and continue to be part of that person 's experience of family even after they leave care. On - going contact with biological parents did not ensure that the biological parents remained the primary attachment figures. The author also found that neither the number of care givers, length of time in placement, nor age at first placement had any impact on how study participants represented who was in their family.

Gillis-Arnold, Renee ; Crase, Sedahlia Jasper ;
Stockdale, Dahlia F. ; and Shelley, Mack C
Parenting Attitudes, Foster Parenting Attitudes,
and Motivations of Adoptive and
Nonadoptive Foster Parent Trainees.
Children and Youth Services Review
v 20, n 8 (1998): 715­32.

       The authors sought to measure attitudes and motivations toward parenting and foster parenting in a group of adoptive (N=44) and nonadoptive foster parents (N=149). Significant differences were revealed in the parenting attitudes, foster parenting attitudes, and motivations for foster parenting between the two groups. Adoptive trainees had more positive attitudes toward parenting than nonadoptive trainees on three parenting dimensions: inappropriate parental expectations of children, parental value of physical punishment, and lack of empathy toward children's needs. Adoptive trainees were more motivated than nonadoptive trainees in four areas : rescuing a child, companionship for adult, replacing grown children, and companionship for own child. Nonadoptive trainees were more motivated by financial gain. The authors recommend that the two groups receive different training curricula.

Hurt, Hallum ; Et. AL.
Inner-City Achievers : Who Are They?
Archives of Pediatric Adolescent Medicine
v 152, n 10 ( October 1998 ) : 993 - 7.

        The researchers sought to determine which characteristics separated inner - city children with average or above average IQ scores from those with below average scores. The children were four years old at the time the test was administered and were all participating in a prospective study of children with and without in - utero cocaine exposure. Differences in prenatal or natal characteristics, or placement in foster care, attendance at day care or Head Start, continued caregiver cocaine use, or parental IQ were not relevant to IQ scores. The main finding was that children with higher IQs received more developmentally appropriate interaction by caregivers.

The factors that impede permanency and the impact of long term foster care are recurring themes in several new articles.

Needell, Barbara, and Barth, Richard P. .
Infants Entering Foster Care Compared to Other Infants Using Birth Status Indicators.
Child Abuse & Neglect
v 22, n 12 ( 1998 ) : 1179 -87.

       The authors compared demographic data on 26,460 infants who entered foster care in California during the first year of their life with a random sample of 68,401 other infants born during the same time period. Among the main findings were that one - fourth of the infants in care were born with a low birthweight and 15 percent exhibited evidence of a birth abnormality. In comparison, only 6 percent of the other infants were born with a low birthweight and only 4 percent exhibited evidence of a birth abnormality. Almost 75 percent of the infants in care were born to single women. Approximately half of these women had not completed high school at the time of the birth. Fifty-nine percent of the children in care were the third or later child born to their mother, compared to 29 % of the other group of infants. The mothers of the infants in care were much less likely to have received prenatal care than the mothers in the other group.

Price, Joseph M., and Landsverk, John
Social Information - Processing Patterns as Predictors of Social Adaptation and Behavior Problems Among Maltreated Children in Foster Care.
Child Abuse & Neglect
v 22, n 9 ( 1998 ) : 845 -58.

       Based on a sample of 124 maltreated children ages 5 to 10 who had been placed into foster care the researchers found that incompetent social information processing patterns were predictive of behavior problems in this group. The authors suggest that interventions that target the manner in which maltreated children in foster care process social information may decrease their risk of behavioral and adjustment problems.

Yorker, Beatrice ; Kelley, Susan ;
Whitley, Deborah ; et. al.
Results of a Home - Based
Intervention Study.
Juvenile and Family Court Journal
v 49, n 2 ( Spring 1998 ) : 15

This study of children being raised in households headed by grandparents found that of 163 children : 70 were in guardianship, 40 had no legal relationship, 28 were in state custody, 21 were in temporary custody, and four were adopted by their grandparents. The grandparents and social services agencies in this study were found to be generally unaware that many children in intergenerational kinship care are eligible for financial benefits.

Topics such as genetic testing, open records issues for birth parents and adoptive parents, and medical care for international adoptees have all been carefully investigated from a policy and practice standpoint in the recent literature.

Freundlich, Madelyn. .
The Case Against Preadoption
Genetic Testing.
Child Welfare
v 77, n 6 ( November/ December 1998 ): 663- 79.

The author presents an overview of the medical and psychological benefits and risks of predictive genetic testing and uses an ethical framework based on the principles of beneficence, autonomy, knowledge, equity, and nonmaleficence to advise against predictive genetic testing solely for purposes of evaluating a child for adoption. The benefits of genetic testing include preventive, diagnostic and treatment options while the risks to the child include loss of self - esteem and lowering of self - image, stigmatization or prejudicial treatment from others, and limitation of future life plans.

Hoksbergen, Rene A. C.
Changes in Motivation for Adoption,
Value Orientations and Behavior in
Three Generations of Adoptive Parents.
Adoption Quarterly
v 2, n 2 ( 1998 ) 37 - 53..

       The author defines three generations of adoptive parents: 1 ) the traditional-closed generation (adopted first child before 1970), 2) the open-idealist generation (adopted first child between 1970-1985), and 3) the materialistic-realistic generation (adopted first child between 1985 -1998) and explains how they differ in motivation and attitudes toward adoption. He also addresses the concurrent changes in society and the field of adoption practice.

Kozlowski, Melissa J.
Right to Privacy v. Right to Ancestry. .
Law Journal Extra
November 3, 1998.

       The author briefly reviews Austin v. Snyder, the case involving a Florida woman, Patricia Austin, who has filed suit against a private investigator who located her at the request of the daughter she had placed for adoption 35 years earlier. Austin has accused the investigator of invasion of privacy and infliction of emotional distress. Issues surrounding open records laws in other states are presented.

McRoy, Ruth G.
Special Needs Adoptions: Practice Issues. New York: Garland Publishing, 1998

       This book discusses the policy implications of special needs adoptions as well as the specific practice issues for social workers involved as case workers. The recommendations put forth are based on a study of 40 intact, 15 disrupted, and 25 dissolved adoptions. An overview of outcomes for foster parent adoptions, single parent adoptions, sibling placements, and transracial placements is given. The study suggests that the least disruptive placements occurred with parents who had previous experience parenting special needs children. Adoption service delivery issues addressed include matching families and children, transition planning, and assessing potential for abuse. Over half of the disrupted cases were characterized by poor transition planning.

Mann, Susan.
Adoptive Parents : A Practice Perspective.
Adoption & Fostering
v 22, n 3 (Autumn 1998): 42-52.

       Written from a practitioner's perspective, the author presents an overview of changes in the role of adoptive parents since adoption records in South Australia were retrospectively made open to adopted people and birth parents. Many adoptive parents reported feeling confusion about their parenting role since the opening of records. While they report being supportive of their child's desire to search, they often felt guilty about any apprehensions they had and expressed the need for someone to talk to about their concerns.

The issue of kinship care has recently received careful examination from a variety of perspectives. An historical overview outlines the changes in legal, political, and practice trends regarding kinship care in the United States. A recently published book covers practice and policy issues as well as research on the topic.

Eheart, Brenda K., and Zimmerman, Christopher T.
Hope for the Children: Ending Discontinuity in Foster Care.
Zero to Three
v 18, n 6 (June­July 1998): 21-26..

       This article describes the Hope for Children foster care program, an intergenerational planned neighborhood which is focused on providing continuity and permanency for children. The Hope Meadows community contains 14 homes for foster-adoptive families and 42 apartments for seniors, who volunteer within the community and act as grandparents to neighborhood families. Foster-adoptive parents commit to rear four children, in addition to their own families, in return for housing, a salary, weekly training, and community amenities. Families remain in the community after the adoption is finalized to maintain continuity.

Hegar, Rebecca L., and Scannapieco, Maria. (Editors),
Kinship Foster Care: Policy,
Practice, and Research.
New York: Oxford University Press, 1998

The assembled chapters, written by professionals from a range of fields, cover such topics as kinship adoption laws, emerging policy issues and trends, kinship care practice models, and training staff to provide services to the kinship triad. A review of kinship care research is provided as well.

Kirby, Kathleen M., and Hardesty, Patrick H.
Evaluating Older Pre-Adoptive Foster Children.
Professional Psychology: Research and Practice
v 29, n 5 (October 1998): 428 -36.

The authors discuss the methods and procedures for performing thorough and systematic psychological assessment of older pre -adoptive foster children. The authors offer suggestions for locating pertinent information about the child, recommendations for the test battery, and a comprehensive list of suggestions for particular areas to be addressed in the test report, including specific issues pertinent to the child's mental health and well - being. The final report should address such areas as the optimum adoptive home, qualities desired in a school, any needed therapeutic interventions, and recommendations for open, modified or limited access to the birth or foster family. The authors advise the evaluating psychologist to provide a valid and honest appraisal even if it is felt that the findings may reduce the probability of placement of the child.

McFadden, Emily Jean
Kinship Care in the United States.
Adoption & Fostering
v 22, n 3 (Autumn 1998 ): 7-15.

       The author contends that while kinship care is frequently the preferred placement option for African American children and adolescents who are in the foster care system, it has not been developed in a coherent way throughout the United States. An overview of both informal kinship arrangements and formal kinship placements is given. Many kin caregivers are grandparents and great grandparents who typically have fewer financial resources than do foster parents, and the system of licensing and payments for foster parents and adoption subsidies contribute, in part, to the complexities of kinship care. Models of kinship care practice that have been implemented in the states of Maryland and Michigan are profiled.

O 'Laughlin, Megan M.
A Theory of Relativity: Kinship Foster Care May be the Key to Stopping the Pendulum of Termination vs. Reunification.
Vanderbilt Law Review
v 49, n 5 (May 1998): 650 -57

       The author critiques the provision of the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 that requires states to seek to terminate the rights of parents of children who have been in foster care fifteen of the most recent twenty -two months. The author argues that this provision is not in the best interest of the child since adoptive parents are not always available and she promotes kinship foster care as a solution.

       The Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute is committed to developing and implementing a high quality education program that responds to the needs of adoption professionals and others who work in the field.

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