Michele D. Hanna

Happily Ever After? The Journey From Foster Care to Adoption

Providing the foster child with a forever family through adoption is often seen as a happy ending to the long and painful journey through foster care. This qualitative study explores this complex journey from foster care to adoption from the perspective of 30 young adults aged 18 to 25 who were adopted from the foster care system after the age of 8. The results indicate that the foster and adoption experience for these youth cannot be compartmentalized when trying to understand the impact adoption has had on their overall sense of self. Implications for future research to explore the emerging concept of foster/adoptive identity for older youth adopted through the foster care system are provided.

The Effective Child Welfare Unit Supervisor

Child welfare agencies are generally organized around supervisory units. This paper presents qualitative findings from a small exploratory study designed to explore the characteristics of the effective unit supervisor from the perspective of supervisors recognized for their effectiveness. A thematic description of well-functioning child welfare units is presented.

Innovative Practice Approaches to Matching in Adoption

Matching a child to a family in adoption has often been seen as a professional yet subjective decision-making process. The recent emphasis on evidence-based practice in the field of social work and child welfare has led many adoption professionals to pursue more objective, innovative approaches to the matching process. This article provides an overview of 7 assessment tools and discusses the potential for their use as part of an innovative approach to adoption practice using a public health model of prevention. The need for standardization and data on the effectiveness of these tools is also highlighted.

Openness in adoption and the impact on birth mother plans for search and reunion

This article addresses the attitudes of 125 birth mothers about their roles in their birth childrens lives, 12 to 20 years postplacement. As part of a longitudinal study on adoption openness, decision-making is explored for birth mothers who maintained direct contact with the adoptive family, for those with ongoing mediated contact, mediated contact that had stopped, and those without contact. Analyses also were conducted to determine if birth mother planned searches were related to their age, marital status, and parenting status. Significant differences were found for type of openness. To contextualize the findings, birth mother reasons for making decisions about searching were analyzed. Recommendations are provided for adopted adults, birth parents considering a reunion, and adoption agency staff.

Preparing School Age Children for Adoption

ABSTRACT This paper presents the results of an exploratory study that examined the preparation of children for adoption from the perspective of 55 adoptive parents and 26 caseworkers. Results indicate little consistency in practice and highlight the pivotal role of the adoptive parent. From the caseworker perspective, preparation for adoption is often seen as a process that ends at placement with the adoptive family. Adoption issues often arise at developmentally significant times in a childs life and adoptive parents may need to continue working with the child, building on the foundation of preparation work done by the childs caseworker or therapist. If the preparation work is insufficient or ineffective, adoptive parents may face greater challenges as they help the child resolve issues related to their past, present and future.

The Impact of Historical Trauma and Mistrust on the Recruitment of Resource Families of Color

ABSTRACT The Multiethnic Placement Act of 1994 and the Interethnic Adoption Provisions of 1996 (MEPA-IEP) require states to diligently recruit “potential foster and adoptive families that reflect the ethnic and racial diversity of children in the state for whom foster and adoptive homes are needed” (42 U.S.C. §622b(3)(9)). Nationally, 53% of the children in foster care and 55% of the children waiting to be adopted are children of color (Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System, 2014). Recruitment of resource families of color has historically presented challenges. This article critically examines the diligent recruitment efforts of an urban county targeting Black/African American, Latino, and Native American communities through a critical race theory lens. Although there was an overall increase in resource families, the racial and ethnic representation of resource families to children in care within the county improved for Latinos yet declined for Black/African Americans and Native Americans. Theoretically, these results indicate that the historical mistrust of communities of color toward the child welfare system is a barrier to successful recruitment of resource families from these communities.

Agency-Related Barriers Experienced by Families Seeking to Adopt From Foster Care

ABSTRACT Although about 100,000 children in foster care await adoption, families approved to adopt encounter obstacles in the adoption process. This nationwide longitudinal study identified agency-related barriers faced by prospective adoptive parents. A pur-posively recruited sample of 300 families seeking to adopt from foster care completed an in-depth, semi-structured telephone interview and quarterly follow-up surveys until they either finalized a foster care adoption (n = 98) or discontinued (n = 102) the process, followed by an exit interview by telephone. Findings revealed the top barriers encountered were adoption process logistics (n = 185, 92.5%), agency communication and responsiveness (n = 159, 79.5%), agency emotional support (n = 130, 65%), availability of services (n = 65, 32.5%), and juris-dictional and interjurisdictional issues (n = 52, 26%). Policy and practice implications are provided with recommendations for improving procedures, services, support, and communication to better retain prospective adoptive parents and improve adop-tion outcomes.

“You Look Fine!”: Ableist Experiences by People With Invisible Disabilities

Much existing research on ableism focuses on individuals whose disabilities are more apparent to others. Using a phenomenological approach, this study interviewed 14 participants, exploring how people with “invisible” physical disabilities experience ableism. In addition to multiple examples of microaggressions, emergent themes included the policing of bodies, tension in roles, a desire for justice, and internalized ableism. Many of the participants recounted experiences of having bodies and actions policed by others, and several struggled with their role in educating others about policies, needs, and accommodations. The theme of desire for justice included frustration at having to educate others, the energy this education took, and the desire for overarching justice regarding ableism. The theme of internalized ableism reflected both explicit experiences of individuals sharing their self-judgment and ableist statements during interviews. These findings indicate the need for a more nuanced understanding by social workers of how ableism is experienced by those with invisible disabilities as well as additional research on how to support these members of the community.

Race Matters: Child Protection and the Communication Process

ABSTRACT It is well-known that, in the United States, African-American children are disproportionately represented in the child welfare system and that disparities in the provision of services exist. The debate over contributing factors to this overrepresentation and these disparities is ongoing as researchers seek explanations and practitioners pursue solutions. This qualitative inquiry finds that within the context of the child protection system and the juvenile court process, racial dynamics emerge between respondent parents and system representatives that may affect the process and, in turn, the outcomes for the thousands of children of color in the foster care system.

When Love is Not Enough: Parenting an Adopted Child with Mental Illness:

This article presents the results of a qualitative study designed to explore the experiences of adoptive parents who placed an adopted child with mental illness in a residential treatment center (RTC). Twenty-four adoptive families from across the United States who placed an adopted child in residential treatment were interviewed. The adopted children represented various types of adoption including public child welfare, domestic infant, and intercountry adoption. Parents reported feeling victimized by their child and by the very systems designed to help them, including child welfare, mental health, health care, and education. The findings reveal signs of trauma in the adoptive parents as a result of their experiences. The article concludes with recommendations from adoptive parents for adoption, mental health, and residential treatment professionals who work with adopted children and their families.