Month: September 2010

New data on children in foster care released

Just the other week, the Children’s Bureau released new AFCARS data.  The below chart taken from their website shows the data trends from FY2002- FY2009.


I was looking over the data with my colleague, and being a numbers guy (our finance director to be exact) David and I decided to look a little closer at the numbers.  We noticed two significant trends:

1) Why are so many more children being adopted out of foster care than ever before?

Between 2002-2009, the number of children waiting to be adopted decreased from 134,000 to 115,000.  However, the number of children adopted with public child welfare agency involvement actually increased from 51,000 to 57,000 over the same time period.

This represents a substantial increase in the percentage of children waiting to be adopted who were actually adopted.  In 2002, only 34% of waiting children were adopted but by 2009 that had increased to over 49% of waiting children who were adopted.  The AFCARS data also shows that the percentage of children in care whose parental rights have been terminated and were then adopted increased from 68% to 81% between 2002 and 2009.

The problem is that no real answer exists for this question.  Several factors may be influencing this decrease in the number of waiting children and the spike in adoptions out of foster care:

  • Policies continue to improve to promote more efficient processing of adoptions.  This is in response to efforts to minimize time in care or prevent placement in foster care.
  • Over the past few years, adopting internationally has increasingly become more difficult due to changes in foreign country’s own adoption practices.  According to the State Department, international adoption is down from a high of almost 23,000 in 2004 to under 13,000 in 2009.
  • Campaigns such as National Adoption Day , AdoptUsKids/Ad Council PSAs, Wendy’s Wonderful Kids, and many others to encourage foster care adoption and recruit adoptive parents have increased over the years

2) Why are there so many less children in foster care now?

Between 2002-2009, the number of children in foster care decreased by almost 100,000 from 523,000 to 424,000.  The number of children entering care has decreased by as little as 7% or as much as 17% each year.  This is due in part to increasing programs and funding to assist families and keep children out of the system.

In an Associated Press article examining this topic, Richard Wexler of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform shares, “Now, finally, it’s sinking in that most cases labeled ‘neglect’ — the single largest category of maltreatment — are really poverty, and it makes more sense to try to deal with the poverty than destroy the family.”

CCAI heads to the UK to tackle orphan issues globally

As part of CCAI’s 20/20 Vision Program, I had the privilege of coordinating a congressional delegation to the United Kingdom and Ethiopia during the August recess here on Capitol Hill.  Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) led the official Congressional delegation and was joined by Ambassador Susan Jacobs, the recently appointed Special Advisor to the Department of State’s Office of Children’s Issues (reporting directly to Secretary Clinton), as well as Mr. Gary Newton, USAID’s Special Advisor for Orphans and Children.

CCAI is honored to be a part of what we believe is essential to moving Orphan and Vulnerable Children (OVC) policy forward in the world by bringing the government sectors together along with the private sectors and faith-based groups.  Toward that end, CCAI and Senator Landrieu’s delegation coordinated with the Legatum Institute of London and Buckner Bright Hope of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and Buckner International of Dallas Texas to create an incredible itinerary to raise awareness of the children around the globe in need of permanent, loving families.

The delegation’s visit to London was graciously hosted by Dr. Jean Geran and Natalie Gonnella at the Legatum Institute, who also launched the fabulous EACH Campaign in March, 2010.  Legatum Institute arranged for Senator Landrieu to meet with two Members of Parliament – Mr. Jim Fitzpatrick and Mr. Nick Smith – to discuss the issues surrounding orphans and vulnerable children and the legislative work of the U.S. members of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption toward finding permanency for these children.   The meeting was followed by a larger program with a panel of presenters from the United Kingdom and United States, including Secretary Andrew Mitchell, the U.K.’s Secretary of State for International Development.

The delegation then concluded their short visit to London with a tour of the Foundling Museum, which tells the story of London’s first home for abandoned children – the Foundling Hospital.  The Foundling Hospital’s work was supported by philanthropist Thomas Coram and his friends: artist William Hogarth whose beautiful pieces grace the walls of many rooms in the museum, as well as the renowned composer George Frideric Handel who regularly played his Messiah at benefit concerts for the Hospital.  The Hospital’s care for abandoned, parentless children was cutting edge in 1739, and the historical lessons the delegation heard were quite amazing.  How far we have come since that time, but how much work still remains!

After a short but quite full day in London, the delegation was off to Heathrow Airport to catch our overnight flights to Addis Ababa where we had four more days of meetings.

-Becky Weichhand, Director of Policy

Russia and Guatemala: a legislative update

Guatemala

In May 2010, a large number of families representing the Guatemala 900, an advocacy network for families whose cases still await processing, came to Washington, D.C. and held a briefing for Members of Congress. During this briefing, adoptive families laid out reasons why these cases continue to be delayed as well as ways Members of Congress might act on their behalf. Motivated by the passion and commitment of these families, several members including Senators Boxer (D-CA), Senator Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Senator Feingold (D-WI) have been actively engaged in efforts to unite these families with their children. In late June, 76 Members signed a letter to President Colom and three other high ranking officials asking for them to take immediate action to resolve these cases.

Russia

Over the past several months, the U.S. State Department has been involved in negotiations with officials in Russia . These negotiations have been focused on coming to a memorandum of understanding between the two countries on additional safeguards that can be put in place to better protect adopted children and their families. For the most part, the dialogue between the two countries, has been positive and it is hoped a final agreement can be reached and signed soon. The events leading up to the current situation in Russia, most notably the case of the 8 year old returned to Russia by his adoptive mom, has prompted Members of Congress to introduce legislation to strengthen pre- and post-adoption support services for American adoptive families. The Supporting Adoptive Families Act (introduced by Senators Landrieu (D-LA), Klobuchar (D-MN), Brownback (R-KY) and Johnson (D-SD) would develop and expand training and resources for families adopting domestically or internationally, ensuring that both parents and children have the assistance and care they need to remain together. The bill would also address the current shortage of adoption services available to families prior to and following adoptions.

Immigration, Accreditation, and Intercountry Adoption

In continuing with our series of legislative updates on international adoption, read below to learn about immigration and accreditation:

Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) has been working on passing a piece of legislation entitled the “International Adoption Simplification Act” (S. 1376). Under current law, children adopted from non-Hague countries are able to waive certain immigration-related immunization requirements. Also, children adopted from non-Hague countries who are between the ages of 16 and 18 are eligible for an orphan visa so long as they are being adopted as part of a sibling group. Under Klobuchar’s bill, adoptees adopted from Hague countries would be afforded these same protections. S. 1376 passed the Senate on July 26, 2010 and has been sent to the House for its consideration.  On June 21st, 2010, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) introduced the “International Adoption Harmonization Act” which allows an adopted child to legally immigrate so long as the adoption is completed and the petition is filed before the child turns 18.  This bill would also allow children adopted from Hague countries to be exempted from certain immigration related vaccination requirements. This bill passed the House of Representatives on July 20th, 2010 and is awaiting Senate consideration.

Over the last year, several Members of Congress, most notably Senators Lugar (R-IN), Landrieu (D-LA) and Inhofe (R-OK) and Congressman Albio Sires (D-NJ) have been studying the issue of fraud and abuse within intercountry adoption. In an effort to better understand this issue, these members have held several meetings and community-wide discussions about the degree to which corruption is a part of the current system and ways that federal law might be used as a shield against such abuses. As a result of these efforts, Congressman Albio Spires has announced his intent to sponsor legislation that would require all adoption agencies, regardless of whether they work in a Hague or Non-Hague country, to be accredited by the U.S. State Department. Often referred to as “universal accreditation,” such a proposal would do away with the dualtrack system currently in place in the United States and replace it with a universal system of standards.

Talked out of foster care adoption?

Stephanie Wang-Breal, the filmmaker behind POV’s adoption documentary, Wo Ai Ni (I love you) Mommy that premiered last night on PBS, has taken her new knowledge of adoption and become an advocate for the world’s orphans.  In the weeks leading up to the premier of Wo Ai Ni (I love you) Mommy, Stephanie began posting adoption and foster care trivia on her facebook page to see what the general public’s understanding of these issues really is.  The responses to one of her posts was upsetting, in the least.

Stephanie posted, “FACT: 123,000 children and youth in foster care are available for adoption because parental rights have been terminated; however, only 55,000 children are adopted each year.”

Below are the responses that 2 readers posted:

“We would have been happy to adopt domestically [from foster care], but I got the cold shoulder from everyone I ever contacted about it, and a few in the field even went so far as to talk us out of it. Why? They really need to work out a new system, and soon!!! It’s just not working the way it is now.”

“We were also talked out of it! We were thinking of fostering to adopt and were told that rarely happens. Almost gave up with adoption until we ran into a friend that had adopted from China.”

The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, based on the findings from their 2007 Adoption Attitudes Survey, recommends that “adoption agencies and practitioners need to be informed about the critical nature of responding to initial contact from those interested in adopting and supporting their efforts to drive accountable, results-driven quality customer service, from initial phone call to post-adoption support.”

But why is there such a difference in how prospective adoptive parents (PAPs) are treated in foster care adoption versus international adoption?

The National Child Welfare Resource Center for Adoption published an article last year that argues the difference is simple: customer service.  Public workers lack the customer service that private adoption agencies who provide international adoption services have.  In foster care adoption, the client being served is the child who lacks the power and voice to advocate.  However, in international adoption the client is the PAP, who comes with a determination to adopt a child, ability to advocate and involve other powerful individuals in the process, and the funding to finance the entire process.

This raises the question, what can we do to encourage policy makers to address this problem?  If customer service was improved for foster care adoption, would we see an increase in the number of adoptions out of foster care, and ultimately less of our country’s children waiting in foster care for a family?