Iowa Administrative Code › Agency 441 - Human Services Department › Title XVI - Alternative Living › Chapter 200 - Adoption Services › Rule 441-200.3 - Adoption Services

Current through Register Vol. 47, No. 3, July 24, 2024
Adoption services shall include: adoptive home study,
				  preparation of child, selection of family, preparation of family, preplacement
				  visits, placement services, and postplacement services.
(1)
Adoptive home study.
For
				applicants who apply to the department to adopt, the contractor shall prepare
				an adoptive home study through the following activities:
a.
Family assessment.
The
				family assessment shall include a minimum of two face-to-face interviews with
				the applicants and at least one face-to-face interview with each member of the
				household. At least one of the interviews shall take place at the applicant's
				home. The assessment of the prospective adoptive family shall include an
				evaluation of the family's ability to parent a special needs child or children
				including the following:
(1) Motivation for
				adoption and whether the family has biological children, adopted children or
				children in foster care currently placed in the home.
(2) Family's and extended family's attitude
				toward accepting an adopted child and plans for discussing adoption with the
				child.
(3) The attitude toward
				adoption of other people involved with the family in a significant
				way.
(4) Emotional maturity;
				marital history, including verification of marriages and divorces; assessment
				of marital relationship; and compatibility of the adoptive parents.
(5) Ability to cope with problems, stress,
				frustrations, crises, separation, and loss.
(6) Medical, mental, and emotional conditions
				that may affect the applicant's ability to parent a child; treatment history;
				status of treatment; and the evaluation of the treatment. Applicants and all
				household members must disclose any past or current mental health or substance
				abuse issues, or both. The department may require further documentation,
				evaluation, or both, to determine the suitability of the home.
(7) Willingness to accept a child who has
				medical problems (such as a child who is at risk for a communicable disease),
				intellectual disabilities, or emotional or behavioral problems. Ability to
				provide for the child's physical, medical, and emotional needs and commit to
				support a child's overall well-being.
(8) Description of biological children and
				previously adopted children, if any, including their attitudes toward adoption,
				relationship with others, and school performance.
(9) Capacity to give and receive
				affection.
(10) Statements from
				three references provided by the family and additional references the
				contractor may wish to contact.
(11) Attitudes of the adoptive applicants
				toward the birth parents and the reasons the child is available for
				adoption.
(12) Financial
				information, including the family's ability to provide for a child.
(13) Disciplinary practices that will be
				used.
(14) History of abuse
				involving family members, including how the abuse was addressed and how that
				history impacts the applicant's ability to be an adoptive parent.
(15) Assessment of, commitment to, and
				capacity to maintain other significant relationships.
(16) Recommendations for the number, age,
				sex, characteristics, and special needs of a child or children the family can
				best parent.
(17) The family's
				ability to anticipate and understand the special needs of an adopted child as
				the child gets older and how the family will manage those needs.