Policy & Practice: Policy & Practice Papers

The Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute periodically publishes Policy Perspectives briefs focusing on important and timely questions in adoption. By examining key issues the Institute furthers its effort to provide accurate, research-based information, enhance understanding and perception of adoption, and work for better laws, policies and practices. The following is a listing of briefs conducted and published by the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute with the most recent study listed first. For inquiries and questions, please email info@adoptioninstitute.org.

To see a comprehensive listing of all Institute publications organized by topic see Publications, or to view a listing of original research conducted by the Institute, see Institute Research. For a listing of current Institute initiatives, see Programs & Projects and other Institute products including conferences, books and events.

Title: A Family for Life: The Vital Need to Achieve Permanency for Children in Care

Author: Susan Livingston Smith and Institute staff
Published: 2013 April, New York, NY: Donaldson Adoption Institute
Document Type: Policy Perspective (24 pages)
Availability: PDF Full Report | Web Page | Press Release
The Donaldson Adoption Institute issued this initial report – based on extensive research throughout the U.S., England and Canada – on 22 practices that facilitate the adoption of children from foster care. This Issue Brief is intended to provide a preview of and introduction to a book-length Compendium that the Institute plans to publish in late 2013.

Title: Untangling the Web: The Internet's Transformative Impact on Adoption

Author: Jeanne A. Howard, Ph.D.
Published: 2012 December, New York NY: Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute
Document Type: Policy and Practice Perspective (70 pages)
Availability: PDF Full Report | Executive Summary | Web Page | Press Release
This new report concludes that social media and other elements of this modern technology are having "transformative" effects – positive and negative – on adoption policy, practice and millions of people’s lives, while raising serious legal, ethical and procedural concerns that have yet to be addressed.

Title: The Vital Role of Adoption Subsidies: Increasing Permanency and Improving Children's Lives

Author: Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute and NACAC
Published: 2012 September. New York NY: Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute and NACAC
Document Type: Policy and Practice Brief
Availability: Web Page | Press Release
As part of the Institute’s "Keeping the Promise" initiative, is a nationwide effort – in partnership with the North American Council on Adoptable Children – to preserve state funding for adoption subsidies, which are an essential tool for enabling children and youth to move from foster care into permanent, loving, successful families.

Title: Expanding Resources for Children III: Research-Based Best Practices in Adoption by Gays and Lesbians

Author: David M. Brodzinsky, Ph.D.
Published: 2011 October, New York NY: Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute
Document Type: Policy Brief (69 pages)
Availability: PDF Full Report | Executive Summary | Web Page | Press Release
The survey is part of a broad, four-year-long research project by the Adoption Institute that culminates in the publication today of a 68-page report, "Expanding Resources for Children III: Research-Based Best Practices in Adoption by Gays and Lesbians," which provides important new information about and insights into the perceptions, experiences and needs of non-heterosexual adoptive parents.

Title: Never Too Old: Achieving Permanency and Sustaining Connections for Older Youth in Foster Care

Authors: Jeanne A. Howard and Stephanie Berzin
Published: 2011 July. New York NY: Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute
Document Type: Policy and PracticePerspective(94 pages)
Availability: PDF Full Report | Web Page | Press Release | Executive Summary
This Institute Report explores initiatives, synthesizes research findings, and makes recommendations for better meeting the needs of the growing proportion of youth who "age out" of foster care each year – and face daunting challenges in their transition to adulthood.

Title: Keeping The Promise: The Critical Need for Post-Adoption Services to Enable Children and Families to Succeed

Author: Susan Livingston Smith
Published: 2010 October. New York NY: Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute
Document Type: Policy Brief (99 pages)
Availability: PDF Full Report | Executive Summary | Web Page | Press Release

An extensive examination of adoptive families in the United States, concludes that too many are not receiving the essential services they need, and calls for a reshaping of national priorities and resources to develop and provide such services.

Title: For The Records II: An Examination of the History and Impact Of Adult Adoptee Access to Original Birth Certificates

Authors: Dr. Jeanne A. Howard, Susan Livingston Smith, Program Director and Georgia Deoudes.
Published: 2010 July. New York NY: Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute
Document Type: Policy Brief (46 pages)
Availability: PDF Full Report | Executive Summary | Web Page | Press Release I
Press Release II
"For the Records II: An Examination of the History and Impact of Adult Adoptee Access to Original Birth Certificates" is based on a years-long examination of relevant judicial and legislative documents; of decades of research and other scholarly writing; and of the concrete experiences of states and countries that have either changed their laws to provide these documents or never sealed them at all.

Title: Old Lessons for a New World: Applying Adoption Research and Experience to Assisted Reproductive Technology

Authors: Naomi Cahn
Published: 2009 Feb. New York NY: Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute
Document Type: Policy Brief (33 pages)
Availability: PDF Full Report | Executive Summary | Web Page | Press Release
The Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute released this Policy Perspective brief in February 2009 which suggests that the knowledge derived from adoption-related research and experience can be used to improve policy and practice in the world of assisted reproductive technologies (ART) such as sperm, egg and embryo "donations." "Old Lessons for a New World" identifies several areas in which adoption's lessons could be applied, including secrecy and the withholding of information; a focus on the best interests of children; the creation of "nontraditional" families, particularly as more single, gay and lesbian adults use ART; the impact of market forces; and legal and regulatory frameworks to inform standards and procedures.

Title: Expanding Resources for Waiting Children II: Eliminating Legal & Practice Barriers to Gay & Lesbian Adoption from Foster Care

Authors: Jeanne Howard & Madelyn Freundlich
Published: 2008 Sept. New York NY: Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute
Document Type: Policy Brief (51 pages)
Availability: PDF Full Report | Executive Summary | Web Page | Press Release
This Institute report offers recommendations to increase the pool of prospective adoptive parents for children in foster care by changing state laws and agency practices so they become more welcoming of gay and lesbian applicants. This report builds on the Institute's 2006 Policy & Practice Perspective, "Expanding Resources for Waiting Children: Is Adoption by Gays and Lesbians Part of the Answer?"

Title: Finding Families for African American Children: The Role of Race & Law in Adoption from Foster Care

Authors: Susan Smith, Ruth McRoy, Madelyn Freundlich, Joe Kroll
Published: 2008 May. New York NY: Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute
Document Type: Policy Brief (58 pages)
Availability: PDF Full Report | Executive Summary | Web Page | Press Release
This Institute report, endorsed by a broad range of national child-welfare organizations, is the most thorough examination to date of the often-sensitive, controversial issues relating to transracial adoption and calls for major changes to better serve the needs of children of color and to improve their prospects of moving to permanent, loving homes.

Title: Adoptive Parent Preparation Project Phase I: Meeting the Mental Health and Developmental Needs of Adopted Children

Author: David Brodzinksy
Published: 2008 February. New York NY: Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute
Document Type: Policy Brief (18 pages)
Availability: PDF Full Report | Web Page | Press Release

This publication, released in February, represents the initial phase of a broad, long-term Institute project designed to shape best-practice standards that will assist adoption professionals in the preparation and education of adoptive parents. This policy and practice paper outlines best practices for preparing adoptive parents to meet the mental health and developmental needs of their children.

Title: Adoption in the Schools: A Lot to Learn

Authors: Susan Livingston Smith, Debbie Riley
Published: 2006 September. New York: Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute
Document Type: Policy Perspective
Availability: PDF Full Report | Web Page | Press release

The Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute released this Policy Perspective brief in September 2006 which for the first time brings together research and years of broad experience on a range of issues that affect millions of boys and girls nationwide. The report points out that, as adoption becomes increasingly normalized in the United States, more and more adoptive families are confronting challenges when their children attend school - and it offers recommendations for how educators can better meet those challenges. The report also states that educating educators about the realities of adoption is a diversity issue and also a fairness issue, because adopted and foster children are sometimes derided in ways we would never accept if the taunting or stereotyping referred to other aspects of their being - such as race, gender, ethnicity, religion or disability.

Title: Expanding Resources for Children: Is Adoption By Gays and Lesbians Part of the Answer for Boys and Girls Who Need Homes?

Author: Jeanne Howard
Published: 2006 March. New York: Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute
Document Type: Policy Perspective
Availability: Executive Summary | PDF Full Report | Web Page | Press release

This Policy Perspective brief provides a research-based context for the ongoing debate in the United States over the adoption of children by gays and lesbians. The report examined relevant issues, laws and practices relating to gay and lesbian adoption and parenting, and review of the available studies spanning the last several decades. The report found no child-centered reason to prevent gays and lesbians from becoming adoptive parents, and recommends that gay and lesbian parents be utilized more extensively to provide permanent, loving homes for children living in state care across the country. This policy brief is part of a larger, more extensive yearlong project on theses issues.

Title: Intercountry Adoption in Emergencies: The Tsunami Orphans

Author: Hollee McGinnis
Published: 2005 April. New York, NY: The Evan B. Donaldson Adoption
Document Type: Policy Perspectives
Availability: PDF Full Report

This policy brief examines the role of intercountry adoption in situations such as the one caused by the massive tsunami that struck Southeast Asia and the eastern coast of Africa on Dec. 26, 2004 - that is, during natural disasters, armed conflicts, and other complex human emergencies. By outlining some of the unique threats posed to children during emergencies, and examining existing international conventions and the legal framework for intercountry adoption, this brief articulates best practices that incorporate both immediate and long-term needs of children left without parental care - including protection, family reunification, community and family solutions, permanency, and respect for culture.

Title: Safeguarding Interstate Adoptions: The Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children

Author: Susan Livingston Smith
Published: 2005 April; Revised 2005 June
Document Type: Policy Perspectives
Availability: PDF Full Report

The primary safeguard to regulate the adoption of boys and girls from one state to another is the Interstate Compact for the Placement of Children (ICPC). For a large number of foster children, finding permanent families requires moving in with relatives or other families outside their own states. For these children, accomplishing permanency is a more complicated process, requiring the cooperation of child welfare agencies and judicial systems in two jurisdictions. The ICPC was created four decades ago, and the pressure to expedite interjurisdictional placements has finally built to the point where serious efforts are now being undertaken to reform the process. This policy brief outlines the relevant issues in an effort to inform the discussion during current efforts to improve the ICPC system.

Title: Reforming the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children: A New Framework for Interstate Adoption

Author: Madelyn Freundlich
Published: No date
Document Type: Policy Perspectives
Availability: Web Page

This article by former Executive Director Madelyn Freundlich examines the ICPC in relation to the role it has played and could play in promoting permanency for children through adoption. It also considers the purpose of the ICPC in relation to adoption, as well as the legal and practice issues that have arisen as attempts have been made to apply the ICPC.

Title: The Future of Adoption for Children in Foster Care: Demographics in a Changing Socio-Political Environment

Author: Madelyn Freundlich
Published: 1998
Document Type: Policy Perspectives
Availability: Web Page

This article examines the forces likely to have an impact on the adoption of children in foster care and considers the implications of policy and practice in a changing economic and sociopolitical

Title: Wrongful Adoption: Litigation/Practice Issues

Author: Madelyn Freundlich, Lisa Peterson
Published: Presented at the American Bar Association's Ninth National Conference on Children and the Law, Sheraton City Centre, Washington, DC, April 8-10, 1999.
Document Type: Presentation Paper
Availability: Web Page

This is an article was written as a synopsis based on the book by the Adoption Institute and published through the Child Welfare League of America, Wrongful Adoption: Law, Policy and Practice.

Title: Confidentiality Statutes

Author: Fred Greenman
Published: 1997
Document Type: Resource Paper
Availability: Web Page

Information on various confidentiality statutes surrounding adoptive parents' control over confidentiality. It also describes various state statutes that for adoptions that are annulled, and confidentiality ends.

Title: Open Records Laws and Voluntary Registries

Author: Madelyn Freundlich
Published: 1997
Document Type: Policy Perspectives
Availability: Web Page

A review article of pending legislation and open record laws in the United States.

Title: Putative Father Registries

Author: Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute
Published: 1997
Document Type: Resource Paper
Availability: Web Page

A complete listing of states with putative father registries and links to statute text.

Title: A Summary of State Laws on Access to Identifying Information and State Registries

Author: Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute
Published: 1997
Document Type: Resource paper
Availability: Web Page

Connect to links of states with varying adoption-oriented laws regarding registries, search, notice, and consent procedures.

Title: Clinical Mediation

Author: Madelyn Freundlich
Published: Presented at the New York State Citizens Coalition for Children, Albany, New York, May 14-15, 1999.
Document Type: Powerpoint Presentation
Availability: Web Page

A slideshow presentation on the key characteristics, uses, and processes of Clinical Mediation.