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News
National U.S. News
A study published in the June 2008 Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine has found that children who are removed from abusive birth parents have fewer behavioral problems if placed with relatives instead of strangers in foster care. Using data from more than 1,300 children, researchers observed that fewer than a third of those who entered kinship care directly had behavior problems versus nearly half of children in non-relative foster care. ["Impact of Kinship Care on Behavioral Well-being for Children in Out-of-Home Care"]
This spring the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption announced the Top 100 Adoption-Friendly Workplaces in America for 2008, a list of organizations that provide exceptional support to employees who adopt. To compile the list, the Foundation compiled data from 919 employers and ranked businesses by the financial assistance and paid adoption leave they offered. Wendy’s International, Inc. topped the list. Learn more at www.AdoptionFriendlyWorkplace.org.
In May the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices selected six states—Arkansas, Florida, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina—to participate in a policy academy aimed at safely reducing the number of children placed in foster care. Conducted in partnership with Casey Family Programs, the academy will invite teams from the chosen states to work with national and state experts to plan strategies for cutting foster care rolls while improving long-term outcomes for at-risk children.
Published in the June 2008 Archives of General Psychiatry, a recent study of former foster youth found that those who participated in an enhanced privately run foster care program had far fewer mental and medical disorders than teens who were placed in regular foster care. The model program, operated by Casey Family Programs, featured workers with more education, higher pay, and lower caseloads, and provided a wider range of services for youth including financial help with higher education. ["Effects of Enhanced Foster Care on the Long-term Physical and Mental Health of Foster Care Alumni"]
Provincial and State News
Arizona
Inspired by the case of a youth who aged out of foster care shortly after joining a would-be adoptive family, a new law (SB 1282) —signed by Governor Napolitano in May and effective this fall—will allow families in Arizona to adopt young adults as old as 21 as long as both parties consent. The current cut off for adoption from foster care is age 18, unless the foster youth has had a relationship with the parent for at least five years.
Florida
After omitting funding for adoption subsidies and independent living programs in the current budget, state legislators agreed on June 18 to transfer more than $21 million from state trust funds to save adoption and foster care programs. More than $14 million will be used to support adoptive families, and another $2.8 million will furnish workers with portable electronic case management devices that include a global positioning system. [The Tampa Tribune, 6/19/08]
Indiana
Under a bill signed into law March 24, school systems must offer tutoring (as needed) to children in foster care and those who are homeless starting July 1, 2009. Public Law 133-2008 (House Enrolled Act 1165) also requires the Department of Child Services to actively promote sibling visitation for children in care, and allows children in care who have lived in a school district for two years, and are then moved to an adjacent district, to stay enrolled in the original home district school.
Iowa
Iowa’s Supreme Court, on June 13, struck down a state law requiring that American Indian children be placed with tribal families when birth parents relinquish custody saying that the law interfered with basic parental rights. The case involved an American Indian woman who selected a non-native family to raise her child—a move tribal leaders opposed. In its conclusion, the court summed up the decision, saying, “The Iowa ICWA placement preferences are unconstitutional in voluntary termination cases.”
New York
Judith Ashton, a New York adoption expert and former NACAC Child Advocate of the Year, is stepping down from the helm of New York State Citizens’ Coalition for Children, Inc. (NYSCCC), the organization she founded. Incorporated in 1975, NYSCCC has grown from 12 to nearly 140 adoptive and foster parent groups statewide and garnered awards for its efforts to improve foster care and adoption services. Effective September 1, Sarah Gerstenzang—an adoptive parent, author, and attorney formerly with AdoptUsKids—will be NYSCCC’s new executive director.
Ontario
Since Ontario’s open adoption records law came into force and was invalidated last fall, the province has worked quickly to present a new law. Announced May 14, the new disclosure law includes a disclosure veto for adoptions that take place before September 1, 2008 and maintains the no-contact notice for all adoptions registered in Ontario. Adoptees and birth parents will be able to apply for disclosure vetoes in September and will be able to request information from their adoption records starting in June 2009.
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