Need for Federal Funding for Post-adoption Services

The National Adoption Center supports the need for increased federal funding for post-adoption services. In a recent Congressional briefing given by Voice for Adoption (VFA), it was stated that post-adoption services are critical to helping adoptive families and children overcome the challenges they encounter. These services also help to influence families to adopt, by reassuring them that the services their children need will be available after the adoption is finalized. Since 2002, approximately 51,000 children are adopted from foster care annually.

Currently there are 130,000 children in the United States —1600 of them in the Delaware Valley —waiting to be adopted. VFA cites some disturbing statistics about these children:

• 47% are nine-years-old and older

• Nearly 42 months is the average stay in foster care

• Children of color stay in foster care longer and have fewer adoptions than their white peers
• Nearly 90% of children adopted from foster care in 2006 had special needs

• In 2006, more than 26,000 “aged out” of foster care

Post-adoption services include a variety of services, such as support groups, crisis intervention and family counseling. The need for these services is on-going. But it all takes money. Families who adopt children from the foster care system are generally eligible for a financial subsidy to support the basic cost of caring for the child. While medical assistance may be available, it does not always cover the special needs of these families and children

At present there are diverse federal funding sources for post-adoptions, some of which are matched by state dollars. However, VFA points out that there is no federal mandate or funding directed solely toward post-adoption services and recommends that federal funding for this purpose be enhanced and improved.

A priority for increased federal funding is to ensure that post-adoption services once again be part of the federal grants offered through the Adoption Opportunities program. The National Adoption Center has won many federal grants through the Adoption Opportunities funding both in recruitment and post-adoption services.

Family Preservation 2.0

We are a family oriented country. Family is often spoken of as a sacred institution that must be considered when legislation is written, whether it is a matter of health care or taxes.

In the world of adoption, family is two-fold; there are the children’s families of origin and the families who are created through the adoption process. We know that there is a need to preserve the family of origin if at all possible but when this is not the reality we turn to the families who will make a child a member of their family through adoption.

The need to preserve families, however, does not end with the success of adoption. There are many adoptive families who struggle to parent the child they have adopted, especially those who adopted children with special needs from foster care. There is a need again for family preservation. Post adoption support for adoptive parents is critical to the continued health and well-being of the child who is adopted and to the newly-created family.

On July 16th, Voice for Adoption, a national advocacy organization that the National Adoption Center helped to found, held a briefing for Congressional members on the topic of post adoption services. There was powerful and moving testimony by adoptive parents, adult adoptees and child welfare professionals about the need for increased federal funding for post adoption services.

Post adoption services can range from parent support groups to therapeutic counseling for families to the continued services of speech and occupational therapists.

Particularly in these challenging economic times, post adoption services are critical to keep families formed through adoption from foster care together and to encourage those considering such adoptions that the support and services they need will be there for their family after they adopt.

Throughout the years, the Center has consistently promoted and expressed support for post adoption services for adoptive families and our policy states, “The National Adoption Center believes that the availability and accessibility of post-adoption services are vital to adoptive family preservation and advocates that all adoptive families be informed of post-adoption services.” It is time to make post adoption services a priority and to support our belief that our society benefits from children who are raised in families, not foster or institutional care.