A FActSheet 

For FAmilieS 

March 2003 

Obtaining Background 

Information on Your 

Prospective Adopted Child 

In any type of adoption (agency or independent, 

domestic or intercountry), involving children of 

any age, it is important to obtain as much thorough and accurate medical, genetic, and social 

history information as you can about your prospective child. While adoption, like any form of parenting, involves a certain level of risk, background 

information is useful for the following reasons: 

What’s inside: 

• Finding background information about 

waiting children 

• Questions to ask a child’s caseworker 

• Reasons all the information might not 

be available 

• When some or all of the information is 

not available 

• Places to go for more information 

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 

Administration for Children and Families 

Administration on Children, Youth and Families 

Children’s Bureau 

Child Welfare Information Gateway 

Children’s Bureau/ACYF 

1250 Maryland Avenue, SW 

Eighth Floor 

Washington, DC 20024 

703.385.7565 or 800.394.3366 

Email: info@childwelfare.gov 

www.childwelfare.gov 
Obtaining Background Information on Your Prospective Adopted Child www.childwelfare.gov 

• It enables you to make an informed decision about accepting a child. When you 

have complete and accurate knowledge 

of a child’s needs (medical or emotional) 

prior to placement, you will be better able 

to determine if your family is prepared 

to care for this child. You are also able 

to consider whether you have the emotional and financial resources to meet any 

special needs that may be identified for 

the child. 

• It may enable you to access Federal or 

State adoption subsidies available for 

children with special needs. Adoption 

subsidies (sometimes called adoption 

assistance) are available for some children 

with special needs. Not all children will 

qualify for adoption subsidies. The Child 

Welfare Information Gateway factsheet 

on Subsidized Adoption (www.childwelfare. 

gov/pubs/f_subsid.cfm) is one source for 

more information. 

• It provides an opportunity for your child 

to develop an accurate sense of his or her 

own history. Without accurate information, adopted children may develop unrealistic fantasies about their history or may 

blame themselves for the separation from 

their birth families. They may feel disconnected from their past or like a piece of 

themselves is missing and incomplete. As 

they grow older, they will also lack information critical to their own childbearing 

decisions. 

• It provides an opportunity for early 

diagnosis, treatment, and intervention 

for developmental problems and conditions. Knowledge of medical problems 

or genetic predispositions in a child’s 

birth family may help you diagnose and 

treat conditions more quickly. Knowing 

whether a child has been tested for a specific disease or condition, and the results 

of such tests, avoids duplicative testing. 

Finding Background 

information About 

Waiting children

Contact your local agencies and ask about 

the types of children their agency usually 

places with adoptive families, the ages of 

children who generally are available for 

adoption, and the general backgrounds of 

the children. There are also many excellent books about adoption that can provide 

information (see Places to Go for More 

Information at the end of this factsheet). 

Keep in mind that each child is an individual with his or her own potential problems, as well as his or her own strengths, 

abilities, talents, and charms. Agencies will 

often share more specific information about 

each child after your family has completed 

a home study and expresses an interest in 

adopting that particular child. 

The national online photolisting 

AdoptUsKids (www.adoptuskids.org) provides pictures and general descriptions 

of children around the country who are 

waiting for families. Because the descriptions in photolistings are so brief, it is 

important to understand what might be 

meant by certain phrases. For example, a 

description such as “very active, impulsive, 

needs a lot of attention and acts out” may 

suggest a diagnosis of Attention Deficit 

Hyperactivity Disorder; a child described 

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Obtaining Background Information on Your Prospective Adopted Child www.childwelfare.gov 

as “developmentally delayed” may be diagnosed with mild to moderate mental retardation. Be alert to any phrases that would 

indicate what it might be like to live with 

this particular child. After your home study 

is completed, talking with the child’s caseworker and others who know the child, such 

as a child’s former foster parents or teachers, will give you a more complete sense of a 

particular child. 

Questions to Ask a 

child’s caseworker

Once your home study is complete and you 

express an interest in a particular child, you 

will have an opportunity to talk in-depth 

with the child’s caseworkers and, possibly, 

others in the child’s life. Asking questions 

and listening carefully to the responses will 

help you better understand what it would be 

like to live with that child. 

The questions you ask and the information 

you receive will depend to some degree on 

the child’s age. With an infant, the birth 

parents’ health history, particularly the 

birth mother’s prenatal history, will be most 

important. With an older child, you will be 

seeking more comprehensive information 

(including social, developmental, educational, and mental health histories). If the 

child has been in foster care, the questions 

you ask may be much more complex. 

 Regulations issued as a result of the Health Insurance 

Portability and Accountability Act 996 (HIPAA), which went 

into effect April 4, 2003, may impact the amount or type of 

information about birth parents’ health information that may be 

shared by agencies. 

Keep the following questions in mind 

when listening to any child’s background 

information: 

• What would a child with this history 

believe about him/herself? 

• What would a child with this history 

believe about parents/caretakers/the 

world? 

• What types of behaviors should I expect 

from a child with this history? 

• What special skills, abilities, or resources 

might be necessary to parent this particular child (e.g., medical knowledge or 

skills, accessible housing, special cultural 

or parenting training)? 

Questions regarding the child’s 

medical and Family history 

• How complete is the social/medical 

history on the birth family, including 

extended family? What is missing? Is it 

possible to get more information? 

• What is the birth family’s racial, ethnic, 

cultural, and religious background? 

• What is the general physical description 

of the child’s birth parents, siblings, and 

other close relatives? Are there pictures? 

(Attempt to get pictures of a child’s birth 

parents and relatives whenever possible, 

because this will enable you to answer the 

questions frequently asked by adopted 

children: “What did my birth parents 

look like?” or “Who do I look like?”) 

• Is there a family history of drug or 

alcohol abuse? 

• Is there a family history of mental illness 

or other genetic conditions, or predisposiThis material may be freely reproduced and distributed. However, when doing so, please credit  Child Welfare Information Gateway. Available online at www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/f_background.cfm. 
Obtaining Background Information on Your Prospective Adopted Child www.childwelfare.gov 

tions to diseases such as diabetes or heart 

disease? 

• What was the age and cause of death of 

close relatives in the birth family? 

• What is known about the birth parents’ 

developmental history—physically, emotionally, cognitively, including language 

development? 

• What is known about the educational 

background of the birth parents and the 

child’s siblings? 

• What are the special skills, abilities, 

talents, or interests of birth parents and 

family members? 

• Are there letters, pictures, videotapes, and 

gifts from the birth family? 

• What was the birth mother’s health like 

during pregnancy, and what was the 

health of each parent at the time of the 

child’s birth? 

• What prenatal care did the child receive, 

and what was his or her condition at 

birth? 

• When did he or she achieve developmental milestones, and have there been any 

developmental assessments reflecting 

deviation from typical development? 

• Are there prior medical, dental, psychological, or psychiatric examinations and/ 

or diagnoses for this child? 

• Are there records of any immunizations 

and/or health care received while the 

child was in out-of-home care? 

• What is the child’s current need for 

medical, dental, developmental, psychological, or psychiatric care? 

• What is the child’s HIV status? 

Questions regarding the child’s 

Social and Placement history 

• Why did the birth parents make an 

adoption plan for the child, or why was 

the child removed from his or her birth 

family? 

• Did the child suffer any physical, sexual, 

or emotional abuse or neglect? At what 

point in the child’s life did he or she 

experience these traumas? How often? By 

whom? 

• How many placements did the child 

have, and where (e.g., relative placements, foster homes, orphanages, residential treatment facilities, hospitals)? What 

were the reasons for placements or replacements? What does the child remember about his or her placements? What 

does the child believe about why he or 

she was placed or moved from one placement to another? (The child’s belief may 

or may not be accurate, but it is important to understand a child’s perception of 

his or her placement history.) 

• Where is the child currently enrolled and 

what is his or her performance at school? 

• What are the results of any educational 

testing and are there any special educational needs? 

• Are there significant events (early separations, multiple caretakers, abuse/neglect) 

in the child’s life that could affect his or 

her capacity to relate to a new family? 

• What are the past and existing relationships in the child’s life with people he 

or she has regularly lived with or visited 

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Obtaining Background Information on Your Prospective Adopted Child	¬ www.childwelfare.gov 

(e.g., siblings, birth parents, foster 

parents, orphanage workers, teachers, 

therapists, nurses)? How has the child 

responded to visits with these persons in 

the past? Is future contact planned with 

any of these persons? How often? Who is 

responsible for seeing that it happens? 

• What are the child’s strengths? 

• What are the child’s special interests, 

talents, and/or hobbies? 

You should seek assistance in interpreting 

this information by speaking with doctors, 

mental health professionals, education professionals, and parents who have adopted 

children with similar needs and issues. 

reasons All the 

information might 

Not Be Available

complex Family histories 

Social workers in the child welfare system 

make every effort to collect complete background information about each of the 

children for whom they are responsible. 

This often includes positive information 

about the child and family as well as problems. However, children in foster care often 

have complex and difficult family histories. 

They often are older, need to be placed with 

their brothers and sisters who may also have 

been removed from their birth family, have 

experienced trauma, and have experienced 

frequent moves both while in their family 

of origin and while in the foster care system. 

All these factors may make it difficult to 

obtain a complete background history. 

Gaps in recordkeeping 

Children in the foster care system may 

have had many different social workers in 

various units of the social service system 

before becoming available for adoption. 

Recordkeeping may vary, and workers may 

have moved on. Children may have had 

multiple foster placements; foster families 

may no longer work for an agency. 

intercountry Adoptions 

The only source of information in intercountry adoptions may be the agency, 

orphanage, and/or adoption facilitator in 

the country of origin. There may be no (or 

very limited) information about a child’s 

birth family. Doctors or attorneys who 

facilitated an adoption may have retired or 

moved out of the area. 

Many children placed internationally 

may have health and developmental 

problems, particularly if they were 

placed at an early age in an institutional 

setting. Some problems, such as 

certain vitamin deficiencies and 

scabies, are unique to children adopted 

internationally and may depend on 

the child’s country of origin. Other 

problems, such as learning disabilities 

and the effects of prenatal alcohol or 

drug exposure, are similar to those that 

children in the United States experience. 

The American Academy of Pediatricians 

has a directory of pediatricians with a 

special interest in adoption (www.aap. 

org/sections/adoption/adopt-states/ 

adoption-map.html). 

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Obtaining Background Information on Your Prospective Adopted Child www.childwelfare.gov 

limitations in Knowledge 

Agencies, social workers, and intermediaries 

cannot disclose what they do not know. For 

example, children who have been abused 

may not feel comfortable telling anyone 

about the abuse until they are in a safe, 

stable environment. Indeed, an adoptive 

parent may be the very first person a child 

feels comfortable talking to about an incident of abuse. 

When Some or All 

of the information 

is Not Available

In domestic agency adoptions the family 

can ask the agency to try to contact the 

child’s birth family (or others in the child’s 

life) for additional information. Former 

foster parents can sometimes be the best 

source of information regarding an older 

child. Child Welfare Information Gateway 

has a listing of adoption statutes related 

to access to identifying and nonidentifying information in each State (www. 

childwelfare.gov/systemwide/laws_policies/ 

state/adoption.cfm). 

In any case, it is important to be honest 

with your child regarding what you know 

about his or her birth family and background information. How that information is shared with a child will depend on 

the family and the child’s developmental level. The Child Welfare Information 

Gateway factsheet Explaining Adoption to 

Your Children, Family and Friends (www. 

childwelfare.gov/pubs/f_explaining.cfm) 

has additional information. 

Places to Go for 

more information

internet resources 

National Resource Center for Special Needs 

Adoption 

Back issues of their newsletter, The 

Roundtable (www.nrcadoption.org/round 

table.html), can be obtained through the 

website. This publication regularly has 

articles relating to children who have been 

adopted from foster care. Volume 0, # has 

an article for social workers by Kay Donley 

Ziegler regarding sharing children’s background information (disclosure). 

Information Gateway’s State Statutes 

The State Statutes series (www.childwelfare. 

gov/systemwide/laws_policies/search/index. 

cfm) highlights specific topics and provides 

a quick overview and comparison of legal 

requirements across the States. 

Books and Journal Articles 

Carp, E. Wayne (99) Adoption and 

Disclosure of Family Information: A Historical 

Perspective in Child Welfare, January-February 

99, pp. 7-9. (Available through 

CWLA c/o PMDS, P. O. Box 09, Annapolis 

Junction, MD 070-09, 800.07.7, 

cwla@pmds.com, www.cwla.org.) 

Edwards, C. Lynne (00) Opening 

Pandora’s Box: Helping Children Heal Through 

Storytelling, Conference Presentation, 

CWLA National Adoption Conference, Ft. 

Lauderdale, FL. (Available from author at 

Coordinators/, Inc. 00 Chamberlayne 

Ave., Richmond, VA, 80..9.) 

This material may be freely reproduced and distributed. However, when doing so, please credit  Child Welfare Information Gateway. Available online at www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/f_background.cfm. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Obtaining Background Information on Your Prospective Adopted Child www.childwelfare.gov 

Freundlich, Madelyn and Peterson, Lisa 

(999), Wrongful Adoption: Law, Policy, and 

Practice. Washington, DC: CWLA Press. 

Keefer, Betsy and Schooler, Jayne E. (000) 

Telling the Truth to Your Adopted or Foster Child. 

Bergin and Garvey. (Available through Bergen 

and Garvey Trade, Westport, CT, Greenwood 

Publishing Group, 88 Post Rd. W., Westport, 

CT 088, 0..7, orders@greenwood. 

com, www.greenwood.com.) 

Leshne, Liane (999) Wrongful Adoptions: 

Fewer Secrets and Lies, But Agencies Still Fail at 

Full Disclosure, Association of Trial Lawyers 

of America, April 999, pp -7. (Available 

through Association of Trial Lawyers of 

America, Washington, DC. Leonard M. Ring 

Law Center, 00 st St. NW, Washington, 

DC 0007, 800..7, 0.9.00, 

info@atla.org, www.atla.org.) 

Lorandos, Demosthenes A. (99), Secrecy 

and Genetics in Adoption Law and Practice, 

Loyola University of Chicago Law Journal, 

Winter 9, pp. 77-0 (Available 

from Fred B. Rothman and Co., 08 

W. Centennial Rd., Littleton, CO 807 

0.979.7.) 

Melina, Lois (998) Raising Adopted Children: 

Reassuring Advice for Every Adoptive Parent, 

HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. (Available 

from Tapestry Books, P. O. Box 9, Ringoes, 

NJ 08, 800.7.7, 908.80.9, 

info@tapestrybooks.com, www.tapestry 

books.com.) 

Van Gulden, M. and Bartels-Rabb, L. (99) 

Real Parents, Real Children: Parenting the 

Adopted Child. Crossroad Publishing, New 

York, NY. (Available from Tapestry Books 

www.tapestrybooks.com/catalog/text/b_ 

adpar.html, 800.7.7.) 

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Child Welfare Information Gateway. Available online at www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/f_background.cfm. 7