Oregon Administrative Rules › Chapter 413 - DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES, CHILD WELFARE PROGRAMS › Division 120 - ADOPTION › Section 413-120-0620 - Values

Current through Register Vol. 63, No. 7, July 1, 2024
(1) Support and
			 Safe Communication: Every healthy family requires support. Families created
			 through adoption have different support needs than biological families in that
			 the child is connected to more than one set of parent(s). One important aspect
			 is the need for continued safe connection and communication between biological
			 and adoptive families, to the extent that it is consistent with the health and
			 safety needs of the child.
(2)
			 Collaboration: The child and their families benefit when the significant adults
			 in their lives work collaboratively to identify and respond to the individual
			 needs of the child. The significant adults for a child in foster care may
			 include, but are not limited to: biological parent(s), prospective adoptive
			 parent(s), child welfare workers, CASA, attorneys, and others.
(3) Empowered, Informed Decisions: Families,
			 and individuals within them, are capable of making decisions about their lives.
			 They should be empowered to make those decisions that affect the cooperative
			 nature of an agreement for post adoption communication, whenever possible. In
			 order for their decisions to be effective, they may need to be informed by a
			 wide range of people and sources about a variety of adoption related
			 issues.
(4) Mediation as Tool:
			 Mediation is a process that can play an important role in developing effective
			 communication between those families seeking to participate in a cooperative
			 adoption planning process. Qualified mediators can provide assistance in the
			 cooperative adoption planning process by providing a safe and constructive
			 atmosphere for effective communication.
(5) Voluntary Commitment to
			 Cooperate/Participate: Mediation is most successful when the adoptive parent(s)
			 and biological parent(s) participate voluntarily. Their commitment to a
			 cooperative planning process to support the lifelong safety and well-being of
			 their child is an essential aspect of this success. It is these parent(s) who
			 are the ultimate decision makers about this agreement and are responsible for
			 maintaining the agreement throughout the life of the child.
(6) No Coercion: The cooperative adoption
			 mediation process is meant to be a tool that is used to achieve a result that
			 is in the long term best interest of the child. It is not meant to be used
			 coercively for unilateral gain.
(7)
			 Flexibility: PACAs should be flexible in responding to the child's maturity and
			 developmental needs, or changes in the lifestyles of the birth and adoptive
			 parent(s). Flexibility in these agreements will support the on-going nature of
			 the cooperative relationship that is formed and fostered through the
			 cooperative adoption process.
(8)
			 Benefits of the PACA for the child may include, but are not limited to:
(a) Having knowledge and information about
			 his/her birth family,
(b) Having an
			 ability to maintain birth family identity,
(c) Having a good model of effective
			 communication,
(d) Having a
			 realistic understanding of the circumstances of the birth parent(s),
(e) Having a sense of well-being fostered by
			 adoptive and birth parent(s) working collaboratively to support the needs of
			 the child,
(f) Having a better
			 ability to process important life transitions as the child grows into an
			 adult,
(g) Having an opportunity to
			 appropriately grieve the loss of the birth family, and
(h) Having the permission of the birth
			 parent(s) to become a member of the adoptive family.