Foster Children Struggle to Find Academic Opportunity In a recent study, researchers found more than 4,000 college age youth who were either still in foster c are or had recently left the state’s foster care system. The study also found that less than one in four of those young adults were taking any college classes. […]

Arizona Creates Cabinet-Level Division to Monitor and Enforce Child Safety and Family Services In 2014, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer followed the precedent set by 10 other state chief executives, disbanding the state’s child protective services, seeking to replace it with an independent agency that would report directly to the governor’s office. Governor Brewer used an […]

Ohio Advisory Group Makes Recommendations to Attorney General In late 2012, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine put together a panel known as the Foster Care Advisory Group, a collection of child welfare expert tasked with taking a close look at the state’s child welfare system, and with making specific recommendations to increase the safety and […]

Getting the Information You Need from a Prospective Birthmother When you are considering adopting an infant, and have learned about a potential birthmother, you may have a lot of questions, the answers to which will help you determine whether the relationship is a good fit. Experts advise caution as you gather information from a potential […]

Adopting a Child without Using an Agency—The Benefits and Risks of Independent Adoption Though public perception often seems to indicate that most families seeking to adopt work with an adoption agency, statistics show that private or independent adoptions are far more common. Though five states require the use of an adoption agency, agency adoptions typically […]

Tips for Dealing with the Challenges of Adopting an Older Child If you’ve decided to adopt an older child, you’ll find that there are advantages and disadvantages: There are more older children readily available for adoption You’ll have more communication at an earlier level Your child will likely have formed attachments or bonds to other […]

Understanding the Cost of an Adoption Most estimates put the cost of raising a child at more than $20,000 per year, not including the price of a college education. For parents of a biological child, there’s little expense in bringing the child into the home that isn’t covered by insurance. But if you plan or […]

The Adopted Child in Society—No Longer a Stigma Attached Not so long ago, adopted children were viewed somewhat as social outcasts—the perception often being that they were “illegitimate” or “bastards.” In fact, until the advent of so-called open adoptions, even adoption professionals took a pretty secretive approach to the process. Often, parents would hide the […]

The Importance of Counseling in the Adoption Process An adoption is a monumental event in the lives of the child, the birthparents and the adoptive parents. It’s not a decision to be made lightly, and probably not a process to experience without some form of counseling. Counseling for Adoptive Parents Many adoptive parents, unfortunately, fail […]

New Jersey Law Grants Adoptees Right to Birth Certificate More than 70 years ago, the New Jersey legislature passed a law sealing the birth records of anyone who had been adopted, claiming that it needed to be done to protect the rights of birth mothers. However, as adoption has lost a lot of its social […]