Open Adoption and Adolescence

In open adoptions, birth and adoptive families exchange identifying information and have contact. Although most adoptions today include some form of openness, much of the public remains wary of this. The purpose of this study was to explore, longitudinally, adoptive parents\u27 perceptions of their children\u27s open adoptions. This article reports the findings of tape-recorded interviews with 31 adoptive parents who were first interviewed when their children were infants and toddlers, again 7 years later, and a third time when their children were adolescents. The study found adoptive parents were committed to maintaining contact with the birth family even when discomforts and challenges in the relationships occurred. These findings can be used to guide agency policies and clinical practices that enable a wide range of open adoption options

Recruiting Hispanic Foster Parents: Issues of Culture, Language, and Social Policy

Hispanics are one of the fastest growing ethnic/racial groups in the United States. The number of Hispanic children entering foster care is greater than the number of licensed families who share their language and cultural identity. This paper addresses issues of culture, language, and social policy which must be considered when recruiting Hispanic foster parents. Copyright 2006 Alliance for Children and Families