Supporting Adoption Permanency
July, 2019
Brittany Gay, JaeRan Kim, Richard Lee, Tracy Vozar, & Jeffrey Waid
How well children and their families adapt to adoption depends on a few things, including social environments, biology, and time (see figure below).This document reviews information associated with adoption permanency.
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Before adoption, Parents’ should learn about…
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Birth parents’ medical histories
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Children’s health and medical history (e.g., history of malnourishment, low birth weight, documented disabilities)
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Children’s pre-adoption living conditions (e.g., whether children were in institutionalized care, such as orphanages, have a history of trauma/abuse)
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Children’s age at adoption
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Trans-racial and trans-cultural parenting
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Is this information collected?
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The child’s health during the adoption process is most likely to be known. Family medical and child vaccination histories are often lacking, but this varies by children’s native countries.
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Adoption Supports/Services
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Types of adoption supports
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Information and referral
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Education and training
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Family support
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Mental health and crisis intervention
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Supports are not just needed during and immediately after the adoption process - challenges can occur throughout children’s development (e.g., during teenage years).
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Some resources for parents are available online through sites such as MN ADOPT. Others are sometimes available through local adoption service providers and programs/clinics, but often at a cost.
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Evidence from the MN ADOPT program, which offers services across the adoption continuum, suggests that parents tend to seek phone/email support on the following issues:
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Child emotional-behavioral issues
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Caregiver strain
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School-related challenges
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Adoption-specific resources/assistance
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