UB RESEARCH PROJECT FOR CDHS CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT
CDHS, College Relations Group (Buffalo State College Research Foundation) and State University of New York at Buffalo, School of Social Work Partnership
Work Plan Agreement
July 26, 2004 to July 31, 2005
Rick Johnson, Director
Human Resources and Special Projects
OCFS Adoption Option & Training
Ernst Anderson, Adoption Specialist, Center for Development of Human Services
Cheryl Larrier, Office of Children & Family Services of New York State
Barbara Rittner, Associate Professor, School of Social Work,
State University of New York at Buffalo,
Marsha Schwam-Harris, MSW, PhD student, School of Social Work, State University of New York at Buffalo
Project Title: Adoption Dissolution Study
Project Overview
Adoption failures have a considerable impact on both the child and the adoptive families. Many children who experience termination of parental rights (TPR) from biological families often have lost touch with their families of origin. In addition, the failure to maintain a stable adoptive family constellation, especially within kinship networks, further potentially increases the loss of attachment capacity in these children making it more difficult to find appropriate placements for them after the dissolution of the adoption.
Purpose:
This study will examine variables expected to contribute to the dissolution of adoptions in children residing in the State of New York, specifically in the metropolitan New York area. All state child welfare agencies will benefit from this study because it will help to define some of the variables associated with adoption dissolution. In addition, this study will result in the development and the validation of an instrument that can capture salient variables and data related to adoption dissolution.
Core Application: OCFS Adoption Option & Training
Rationale:
The State of New York, like most states, is evaluated by the level of successful outcomes for dependent children. Successful outcomes are defined as stabilization of families with children at risk, reunification of children with their biological families from foster care, or termination of parental rights and adoption. The decision to terminate parental rights is a serious one. The goal of adoption is recognized as critical to providing permanency for at-risk children. In order to insure that hard to place children can be placed in caring families with minimal negative financial impact on those families, some adoptive families have been provided subsidies. These children, for a variety of reasons, constitute higher levels of risk for successful outcomes. Recently, concern has been raised about the fact that some children, including those with subsidies, return to foster care after adoption finalization. Understanding what combination of factors increase the risk of adoption dissolution will help to ensure that appropriate preventative measure are taken as adoption placements are considered.
Objectives: To explore the interaction of variables that predict the dissolution of adoption for those children who receive subsidies.