Source: http://www.adoptioninstitute.org/whowe/newsletter_October03.html
Timestamp: 2013-06-18 06:57:19
Document Index: 186748275

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 1', 'art 2', 'art 1', 'art 2', 'art 1', 'art 2']

October 2003 E-NEWSLETTER IN THIS ISSUE
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT REPEALS PAID
HOUSE APPROVES INCENTIVE TO INCREASE
ADOPTIONS OF OLDER CHILDREN
STATES SPEND LITTLE TITLE IV-B
FUNDING ON ADOPTION SERVICES
GUATEMALAN COURT CONSIDERING
INTERNATIONAL ADOPTION SUSPENSION
NEW STUDY SHOWS MOST AGENCIES NOW
ACCEPT HOMOSEXUALS AS PARENTS
PARENTS� EXPECTATIONS FOUND KEY TO RELATIONS
CHILDREN FROM EASTERN EUROPEAN
ORPHANAGES REPORTED TO PROGRESS QUICKLY
CENSUS FINDS NEARLY 2.5 MILLION
GRANDPARENTS ARE PRIMARY CAREGIVERS
NEW JERSEY ABUSE CASE PROMPTS DEBATE
ON ADOPTION INCENTIVES FLORIDA RELAXES POLICY, BUT STILL
FAVORS ADOPTION BY MARRIED COUPLES UN PANEL CRITICIZES CANADIAN
PROVINCES FOR LIMITING ACCESS TO RECORDS U.S. AGENCY READY TO OFFER
"EMBRYO ADOPTIONS" IN BRITAIN 4. About the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute 1. Laws, Policy & Practice
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT REPEALS PAID LEAVE FOR NEW
PARENTS The Department of Labor issued a final rule on
October 9, 2003, repealing the Birth and Adoption
Unemployment Compensation regulation allowing states to
provide up to 12 weeks of paid leave for parents who have
newly adopted or newborn children. The 2000 regulation,
supplementing the Family and Medical Leave Act's unpaid
leave, had permitted states to use unemployment insurance
to fund paid leave for employees caring for a new child,
but will now be ineffective as of November 10, 2003. No
state had implemented the policy, though a number of state
legislatures have considered bills and a few established
task forces to examine the option. To read the rule, go to http://frwebgate4.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/waisgate.cgi?WAISdocID=9285864871+0+0+0&WAISaction=retrieve. HOUSE APPROVES INCENTIVE TO INCREASE ADOPTIONS OF
The House of Representatives this month approved
legislation (HR3182) to reauthorize and amend the
Adoption Incentive program, adding a provision to
reward states for increased adoptions of children nine
or older by granting $4,000 for each additional one
over its baseline. The program retains the $4,000
bonus for each adoption from foster care above
states� baselines and modifies the $2,000 special
needs (Title IV-E eligible) adoption award by limiting
it to children under age nine. The new program will
allow states to be eligible for older-child bonuses
even if they do not increase overall adoptions. The
legislation also resets the baselines to determine
increases � for 2003 adoptions the baseline is 2002
and for subsequent years it is the year, from 2002 on,
with the highest number of adoptions. The Senate
Finance Committee is considering a companion bill
(S1686). To read the bills, go to: http://thomas.loc.gov/ and
type HR3182 or S1686 in the bill number field. STATES SPEND LITTLE TITLE IV-B FUNDING ON
A September 2003 General Accounting Office (GAO)
Child Welfare Report, �Enhanced Oversight of Title
IV-B Could Provide States Additional Information to
Improve Services,� discovered that in Fiscal Year
2002, states spent less than 3 percent of Title IV-B
Subpart 1 and 14 percent of Subpart 2 funding on
adoption services. While one of the primary purposes
of Title IV-B Subpart 1 funding is adoption
assistance, the GAO found that only seven states (of
46 that responded) used the funding for adoption
subsidy payments, accounting for less than 2 percent
of the funding. Additionally, though adoption
promotion and support is one of four major purposes of
Subpart 2 (Promoting Safe and Stable Families), just
16 states (of 44 responding states) spent less than 3
percent of that funding on recruitment and training of
foster/adoptive parents and 27 states spent 11 percent
of it on adoption support and preservation. In total,
states spent more than $9 million Title IV-B money on
recruitment and training. The GAO analysis of Title
IV-B funding by population served showed that 13
states spent 5 percent of Subpart 1 funds on services
for children waiting for adoption, adopted children
and adoptive parents, while 31 states spent 16 percent
of Subpart 2 money on that group. To read the report,
go to: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d03956.pdf.
GUATEMALAN COURT CONSIDERING INTERNATIONAL
ADOPTION SUSPENSION
Constitutional Court is considering a request from the
nation�s Solicitor General of Human Rights (PDH) to
order a �provisional suspension of all international
adoptions and a suspension of authority for adopted
children to leave the country,� according to an
October 15, 2003, State Department notice. The posting
reported that it is unclear how and when the Court
will respond and what the interim status will be.
While the State Department said that the Solicitor
General�s office (PGN) is processing adoptions
through notary publics and is accepting new cases, it
warns of delays and states that the �U.S. Embassy
has learned that many adoption cases have been pulled
from or not sent to PGN while appeals were being filed
over the last several months.� The notice recommends that prospective adoptive
parents ask their agencies or attorneys whether their
cases are under active consideration. For more
information, go to: http://travel.state.gov/guatemala_notice.html.
NEW STUDY SHOWS MOST AGENCIES NOW ACCEPT
HOMOSEXUALS AS PARENTS
An Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute study
released October 29, 2003, found that 60% of all
adoption agencies accept applications from lesbian and
gay prospective adoptive parents, while 39% of the
agencies have placed at least one child with a
homosexual adoptive parent. The survey was a
systematic, nationwide analysis to determine whether
agencies work with lesbian and gay prospective
adoptive parents, the extent to which agencies place
children with them, and agency staff attitudes
regarding adoption by homosexuals. The research found
that agencies� willingness to work with this
population was a function of two primary
characteristics: the agency�s religious affiliation,
or lack thereof, and types of adoption programs
offered. Public (83.3%), secular private (55.9%),
Jewish- (72.7%) and Lutheran-affiliated agencies
(53.3%), and those focusing on special needs (61.5%)
and international adoption (51.5%), were the most
likely to place children with lesbian and gay
prospective adoptive parents. The research findings demonstrate that many
agencies are willing to work with this population but
are unsure of how to reach out to them, and that it is important for
agencies to develop pre-placement and post-placement
services for gay- and lesbian-headed families. To read the report, go to: http://www.adoptioninstitute.org/whowe/Gay%20and%20Lesbian%20Adoption1.html. PARENTS� EXPECTATIONS FOUND KEY TO RELATIONS
WITH SPECIAL NEEDS CHILDREN Survey results from 249 Nevada adoptive families,
with a total of 373 special-needs children, showed
that realistic parental expectations had the greatest
influence on the quality of parents� relationships
with their children and impact on family and marriage,
whereas children�s behavior problems had the most
impact on parental satisfaction. More than
three-quarters (77%) of parents responding to the mail
survey in 2000 said the �quality of their
relationship with their child was good to excellent�
and two-thirds (66%) said the �overall impact of the
adoption on their family was positive.�
Significantly, the Reilly and Platz research,
�Characteristics and Challenges of Families Who
Adopt Children with Special Needs: An Empirical
Study,� did not find differences between foster
parents who adopted and new adoptive parents in terms
of their assessment of adoption outcomes like
satisfaction and quality of relationship. The
research, published in Children
and Youth Services Review
25 No. 10, 2003, also found that more time in the
adoptive home was associated with an increase in the
number of children�s behavior problems and
disabilities �reinforc[ing] the notion that many problems of
special needs children manifest themselves many years
after placement.� and children adopted in sibling groups had more
behavior problems than those adopted individually. The
average age of the children at placement was about 3
years and, at the time of the survey, was 9.67 years
old. A majority of families (58%) responded that they
did not receive enough information on the child and
more than a third (37%) said the child�s problems
were more serious than the state agency originally
told them. To order the article, go to: http://www.childwelfare.com/kids/cysr.htm.
CHILDREN FROM EASTERN EUROPEAN ORPHANAGES
REPORTED TO PROGRESS QUICKLY
Interviews with families who adopted a total of
124 children from Eastern European orphanages show
that children experienced �considerable catch-up�
from the developmental delays caused by early
deprivation, especially those adopted before the age
of 24 months. According to Judge�s �Developmental
Recovery and Deficit in Children Adopted from Eastern
European Orphanages,� parents reported 61% of
children were delayed in three or four areas at their
first meeting, while six months later only 8% remained
delayed in as many respects. The sample consisted of
children adopted February 1999-January 2000 who were
3- to 57-months-old at the time and had spent an
average of 17.9 months in an institution. When the
parents were interviewed, their children had been
living with them for an average of slightly over 6
months, and the children�s mean age was a little
over two years old. The research, published in Child
Psychiatry and Human Development 34, No. 1, Fall 2003,
discovered that the degree of developmental delay at
adoption, the amount of time in the adoptive home and
age at placement were associated with recovery. To
order the article, go to http://www.kluweronline.com/issn/0009-398X/contents.
CENSUS FINDS NEARLY 2.5 MILLION GRANDPARENTS
ARE PRIMARY CAREGIVERS
A Census 2000 Brief, �Grandparents Living With
Grandchildren: 2000,� reports that 42% of
grandparents living with grandchildren are primary
caregivers (2.4 million of 5.8 million). The brief
said that the likelihood of grandparents being primary
caregivers was associated with race and Hispanic
origin and the grandparents� age. Hispanics were
less likely (34.7%) than Whites (42.6%), Blacks
(51.7%) or American Indians and Alaskan Natives
(56.1%) to be the primary caregivers, whereas Asians
(20%) were the least likely to be responsible for
their grandchildren with whom they lived. Co-resident
grandparents under 60 years of age were more likely to
be the primary caregiver of their grandchildren (50%)
than those 60 and over (31%). Less than two-thirds of
grandparent primary caregivers were female (62.7%). In
total, 39% of grandparents were the primary caregivers
to their grandchildren for more than 5 years. To read
the brief, go to: http://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/c2kbr-31.pdf.
3. News NEW
JERSEY ABUSE CASE PROMPTS DEBATE ON ADOPTION
the recent case in which a New Jersey couple is
accused of starving their four adopted sons, an
October 29, 2003, New York Times article raises
questions about federal financial rewards to states
for increasing foster care adoptions. �Cash
Incentives for Adoptions Seen as Risk to Some
Children,� by Leslie Kaufman, asserts that the
policy goal of placing children in permanent homes as
quickly as possible is undermined by insufficient
numbers of interested prospective parents. The push to
increase adoptions may also have the negative
consequence of limiting the amount of time states can
spend to assess families and select appropriate
placements for children, says the article. Data on
abuse of recently adopted children is not yet
available, though records of New Jersey foster homes
indicate significant monitoring problems. An October
30, 2003, commentary by Adoption Institute Executive
Director Adam Pertman in the Los Angeles Times
responds to recent coverage of the case by asserting
that a lack of perspective about foster care adoption
threatens to decrease waiting children�s chances for
permanent and loving families. On November 6, 2003,
the House of Representatives� Subcommittee on Human
Resources of the Committee on Ways and Means will hold
a hearing on child safety. To read the New York Times
article, go to: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/29/nyregion/29ADOP.html?hp;
to read the commentary in Los Angeles Times, go to: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-pertman30oct30,1,2349391,print.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions;
for more information on the hearing, go to: http://waysandmeans.house.gov/hearings.asp?formmode=view&id=929. FLORIDA RELAXES POLICY, BUT STILL FAVORS ADOPTION
BY MARRIED COUPLES An October 12, 2003 Sun-Sentinel article reports
that Florida changed its policy regarding how it
evaluates prospective adoptive parents� applications
to adopt children from foster care. The new rule,
amended in August 2003, no longer states a preference
for married couples over single persons and does not
include a prohibition on joint adoption by �sexually
cohabitating� unmarried couples. In addition, the
rules no longer assert that both mothers and fathers
are �considered important� for a child�s growth
and development. Advocates challenging Florida�s ban
on gay adoption cite the rule changes as support for
their case. According to Maya Bell�s article,
�Florida Revamps Rules for Adoption,� however, the
state�s Department of Children and Families has
stated that the rules were changed to bring it into
compliance with federal law, but that Florida will
continue to favor married couples. To order the
article, go to: http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/sun_sentinel/.
To read the regulations, go to: www.fac.dos.state.fl.us,
Chapter 65C-16.005.
PANEL CRITICIZES CANADIAN PROVINCES FOR LIMITING ACCESS
UN Committee on the Rights of the Child reports that
it is �concerned by the fact that certain provinces
do not recognize the right of an adopted child to
know, as far as possible, her/his biological
parents.� The Committee found that a number of
provinces have limited access to adoption records and
have failed to adequately implement the Hague
Convention�s standards on records. To read the
article, go to: http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&call_pageid=971358637177&c=Article&cid=1066042941843
U.S. AGENCY READY TO OFFER �EMBRYO ADOPTIONS�
By year�s end, the first �embryo adoption�
service will open in Great Britain, reports Mark Prigg in
�Now British Couples Can Adopt an Embryo.� According to
the October 2, 2003 article, the service will be offered by Snowflakes, an
adoption agency based in Los Angeles that already provides
the same service in the United States. To read the article,
go to: http://www.thisislondon.com/news/articles/7000761?source=Evening%20Standard 4. About The Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute Since its establishment in 1996, the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute has been a pre-eminent, independent voice for improving adoption for everyone it touches - particularly children - through innovative programs, educational initiatives, research and analysis, and advocacy for better practices, policies and laws.
Our award-winning web site, www.adoptioninstitute.org, is a popular and reliable source for accurate adoption information. Read past e-Newsletters at http://www.adoptioninstitute.org/whowe/nl_archives.html. SUPPORT OUR WORK
The Adoption Institute was established in 1996 with a one-time grant. To continue our work, we depend on new and renewable sources of funding. We need the financial support of people like you whose lives have been touched by adoption and who care about the future of vulnerable children everywhere. Please send a generous contribution to the Adoption Institute’s annual fund today. To donate, please call 212-269-5080 x10 or go online to https://www.networkforgood.org/makeDonation.go