Foster Care Adoption

1. Foster Care & Adoption Case Methods

2. Tasks of Foster Care Family foster care must fulfill five critical tasks: Protecting and nurturing infants, children, and youth Ameliorating developmental delays and meeting social, emotional, and medical needs resulting from physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, maltreatment, exposure to alcohol and other drugs, and HIV infection Enhancing positive self-esteem, family relationships, and cultural and ethnic identity Developing and implementing a plan for permanence Educating and socializing children and youth toward successful transitions to young adult life, relationships, and responsibilities

3. Stresses of Being a Foster Parent FC designed to be temporary (love them, but be prepared to let them go) FP asked to handle a variety of behaviors (withdrawn, explosive, set fires, etc.) Provide foster care while still considering the needs of their own family members Constantly under observation by agency (parenting skills observed) May also feel scrutiny from natural parents Visits by the natural parents

4. Factors Predictive of Foster Care Success Comfort of foster parents in their several roles Motivated to take a foster child by a genuine liking for children Foster mother possessing strong emotional coherence The ability of the family to tolerate unassimilated aspects of the child

5. Reactions of Birth Parents Resentful and angry Feelings of failure Feelings of inadequacy Despair Feelings of relief

6. Reactions of Children Sadness: �I think I did a lot of crying that people never knew about. I suppose I was scared. I never let my mother see me cry when she visited. I always felt that I had to be strong for her. I knew that she hadn�t wanted us taken away but she just couldn�t kick her problems long enough to take care of her kids. I cried alone in bed at night and just wished sometimes that the world would end.� Lonely and abandoned Guilty Shame Wonder why they are different from other children Internalizing the guilt (too dangerous to blame adults)

7. Adoption�Effects on children Question why their parents gave them up�distrust and confusion Grieving Later loss of relationship might provoke individual to feel confirmed that they are unlovable and unacceptable Identity crisis for transracial adoptions (Who am I? What culture is mine?)

8. Issues for adoptive couples Powerlessness (not being able to have children, powerless in the relations with the agency, adopted children may also feel like they didn�t have a say in the matter) The �bad seed� myth�getting a child genetically predisposed to negative behavior Adoptive issues: how to explain adoption to children Needing to be a perfect parent

9. How/when should a child be told Most recommend using the word �adoption� early Before 6, children can accept that they are adopted but do not comprehend the significance Close to 6, children begin to worry and focus on why they may have been given up 8-11: children finally begin to understand the complex nature of adoption, with its losses and changes, and some fantasize that birth parents will appear to claim them Adolescence: children are more able to understand the legalities, rights, and responsibilities of adoption Not telling children until after they are 5 can bring negative results: parents keep a secret, and children may later resent not being told Use �adoption� in a loving way, but don�t overuse Open, honest, confident telling in age-appropriate ways correlates with successful adoptions

10. Foster Care/Adoptive Methods Take care of mental health needs of children, foster, adoptive & birth parents Life books�for children