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NACAC Position Statements The following statements serve as a record of the North American Council on Adoptable Children's position on a variety of issues related to child welfare. In some cases, the statements reflect the belief that a given law, policy, or practice is not in the best interest of children. Regardless of our position on a particular law, however, NACAC complies with existing law at all times, and will continue to do so. Click on the topics below to read the position statements.
Philosophy NACAC believes that every adopted person has the right, at the age of majority, to receive personal information about his or her birth, foster, and adoption history, including medical information, and educational and social history. NACAC supports efforts of adoptees to have access to information about and connections with their birth and foster families. Practice Recommendations NACAC believes it is the responsibility of states, provinces, and all child-placing agencies to create, support and adequately fund adoption disclosure registries that actively seek birth relatives or adoptees, upon registration of any of these parties. If such active registries are not available, NACAC supports voluntary mutual consent registries for adults as one way for adoptees to access information. Recognizing that many adult adoptees have a need for more complete information about their birth families, NACAC supports their right to this information and supports access to original birth certificates to any adult adoptee at age of majority. Upon a showing of good cause, courts should have the authority to require disclosure of adoption information and birth records to adoptees, birth family members, and adoptive family members. States, provinces, and agencies must preserve birth and adoption records safely and accessibly for future retrieval.
Access to Residential Treatment Philosophy Currently, in many cases, adoptive families must place their children and youth back in foster care to receive residential treatment. Children and youth with a history of trauma, especially those with previous residential treatment experience, are more likely to need extensive mental health services even after adoption. Out-of-home mental health services should be designed to support child and family connections throughout the treatment period. Policy and Practice Recommendations State, provincial, and local policies should not penalize adoptive families whose adopted children and youth need out-of-home care. No family should be charged with abandonment or forced to give up custody of their child or youth in order to receive mental health services or out-of-home care. If children and youth adopted from foster care must live away from their adoptive family in either residential treatment or foster care, the family should not be required to take on financial responsibility beyond any state, provincial, or federal adoption assistance payment they may receive. Philosophy Federal, state, tribal, provincial, and territorial governments have a responsibility to ensure the safety and security of all children and youth who have been in the guardianship of the government through the foster care system (hereafter referred to as foster children and youth or children and youth adopted from foster care). All foster children and youth who are placed with adoptive families should be eligible for benefits through an adoption assistance program* (also known as adoption subsidy). Adoption assistance is designed to supplement the resources of the approved adoptive family in order to meet the child’s or youth’s needs without creating an undue financial burden on the family. Adoption assistance programs and policies should be structured so that there is not a disincentive for a family to move a child or youth from foster care to adoption. Policy and Practice Recommendations NACAC seeks reforms within adoption assistance programs in the U.S. and Canada so that all foster children and youth are eligible for benefits that will enable their families to meet the children’s or youth’s needs. Specifically:
Specific U.S. Recommendations
*By adoption assistance, NACAC means the federal, state, provincial, and territorial programs that support children adopted from public foster care. Such support can include medical coverage, monthly payments, respite or day care, individual and family counseling, residential treatment, specialized camps, etc. (These services may also be available to other adopted children through a state's or province’s post-adoption service program.) Adoption Disruption and Dissolution Philosophy In special needs adoption today, disruptions and dissolutions do occur; therefore, adoptive placement should be done carefully and thoughtfully. (An adoption disruption is the end of an adoption placement that has not yet been finalized. An adoption dissolution is the end of an adoption after finalization.) Disruptions and dissolutions are hard on children and families. When an adoption disrupts/dissolves, contact between the family and the child/youth should not necessarily end. Continuity of relationships is important to children/youth, and child welfare professionals should help children/youth and families maintain connections after disruption/dissolution when it is in the child’s best interests and is safe and possible to do so. NACAC believes that many disruptions/dissolutions can and should be prevented through improved child/youth and family preparation, child/youth and family selection,* and ongoing support including complete disclosure of the child/youth’s background, behaviors, and needs. States, provinces, territories, tribes, and placing agencies and organizations have a responsibility to implement practices to prevent disruptions/dissolutions and to support children/youth and parents when disruption/dissolution occurs. Placing agencies and organizations should never make it necessary for an adoption to disrupt or dissolve in order for a child/youth or family to access services. Support will increase chances of future adoptive placement success for the child/youth and the adoptive family. Policy, Practice, and Research Recommendations Preventing Disruptions and Dissolutions Before Placement All placing agencies and organizations must train staff about the importance of relationship continuity to child/youth well-being, as well as the role of family selection, preparation, and support for all parties in adoption. The training should also address the agency’s and staff’s responsibility to help prevent disruption/dissolution, and all parties’ need for nonjudgmental support in a case of disruption/ dissolution. States, provinces, territories, tribes, and placing agencies and organizations should do the following before each adoptive placement:
Since some research suggests adoptive placements with foster and kinship caregivers are less likely to disrupt/dissolve, states, provinces, territories, tribes, and placing agencies and organizations should:
During Placement tates, provinces, territories, tribes, and other placing agencies and organizations must ensure that the adopted child/youth and the entire adoptive family are effectively supported from the selection process through the transition and throughout the adoption placement. Such support should include:
Access to these services should never be contingent on the child/youth being placed in foster care or on an adoption disruption/dissolution. (For more detailed information, see NACAC’s position statements on Access to Residential Treatment, Adoption Assistance, and Post-Adoption Support.) Providing Support after Disruption/Dissolution When a disruption/dissolution does happen, states, provinces, territories, tribes, and other placing agencies and organizations must:
Worker changes on a case have been shown to correlate with increased disruption/dissolution, therefore states, provinces, territories, tribes, and other placing agencies and organizations must address issues that lead to burnout, turnover, and layoffs, including funding, pay, training, caseload, and other working conditions. Agencies and organizations must also recognize that disruption/dissolution can be traumatic for staff and can affect their future performance, and should provide adequate supervision and support. When any placement disrupts/dissolves, involved agencies and organizations should hold a review meeting to assess what happened and how future placements can be preserved, including resources that may have been needed and child, family, and agency factors that affected the placement. Tracking Disruptions/Dissolutions and Conducting Research The U.S. federal government and Canadian provinces and territories should develop a standard definition of disruption and dissolution. States, provinces, territories, and tribes should accurately gather and report the following data:
-the reason for the child/youth’s original removal from birth family
-child/youth’s age at placement and at disruption/dissolution
-whether the child/youth was placed with siblings and the status of any sibling's placements
-the length of time the child/youth spent in care and the number of placements
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any physical, emotional, or behavioral problems the child/youth had at placement
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adoptive family characteristics (relationship to the child/youth before placement [foster parent, relative, etc.], marital status, family size, family and child/youth race/ethnic background, etc.)
-stated cause of disruption/dissolution
-services provided before and during the adoption (including child/youth and family preparation), as well as any specific efforts to prevent disruption/dissolution
-services that were needed but were not available or provided before and during the adoption Both the U.S. and Canadian federal governments should also fund in-depth comparative studies of successful adoptive families and families involved in disruptions/dissolutions to identify any parent or child/youth characteristics, practice issues (matching, preparation, etc.), and supportive services that are more common in successful adoptive placements versus disrupted/dissolved placements. * This has historically been known as matching. The term family selection indicates a focus on choosing a family that can best meet a child/youth’s needs. Philosophy Foster, adoptive, and kinship families may be vulnerable to allegations of abuse. For these families, child welfare authorities and agencies have an obligation to ensure the safety of children for whom they have assumed responsibility. When allegations are made, agencies must keep the child or youth’s best interests in mind and act quickly, fairly, and accurately to investigate and resolve the complaint. Practice Recommendations 1. Agencies should educate all prospective foster, kinship, and adoptive parents about their potential to act in an abusive manner or to be vulnerable to false allegations of abuse. Agencies should train and support families to avoid abusive behavior and keep their children and youth and themselves safe. Training should include appropriate parenting techniques for children who have been abused or neglected. 2. Agencies should also encourage all family members to participate in the development of an abuse prevention and safety plan. 3. Agencies should inform, in writing, and provide training to all foster, adoptive, and kinship caregivers about the process for investigating allegations as well as the parents’ rights and resources if they should be accused. 4. Child welfare agencies, including child protection agencies, have an obligation to provide training on abuse and allegations to all staff as well as to community response agencies, police, schools, medical and mental health professionals, and others who respond to allegations of abuse. 5. Agencies must develop a process for handling all allegations of abuse or neglect that includes the following elements:
6. When allegations are found to be false, agencies should promptly provide the accused parent(s) and any other notified parties with formal, written acknowledgment of the result of the investigation. 7. When allegations are substantiated, foster, adoptive, and kinship parents should be treated as any other abusive or neglectful parent, including listing in the state’s, province’s, or territory’s central registry. When it is in the child’s best interests, foster and kinship parents should have the same opportunities for support and family preservation or reunification as birth and adoptive parents in similar situations. Best Interests of the Child or Youth Philosophy NACAC’s position statements often refer to the best interests of a child or youth, so below we detail what we believe should be included in assessments of a child’s or youth’s best interests. NACAC acknowledges that such determinations are extremely challenging and that workers and judges often must balance competing best interests such as those of the child’s or youth’s siblings or other family members, or community or cultural groups (such as a tribe). Best interests determinations must be made on an individual, child- or youth-specific basis. The right decision for one child or youth may not be in the best interests of another child or youth, even one in similar circumstances. Best interests assessments should be ongoing, and should take into account changes in the child’s, youth’s, or family’s circumstances. In making such determinations, workers and judges should seek input from the child or youth, family members, and community members. Policy and Practice Recommendations Whenever a best interests determination is required, the following factors* shall be considered in the context of the child’s or youth’s age and developmental needs:
*NACAC adapted these factors from the Illinois state statute on best interests. Cognitive, Social, Emotional, Physical, Developmental, and Educational Needs of Foster and Adopted Children and Youth Philosophy Research has demonstrated that abuse, neglect, in-utero exposure to drugs and alcohol, and multiple placements in foster care all have damaging effects on children and youth, and that special services are often required to ensure the healthy development of children and youth who have spent time in foster care. Children and youth in foster care have been found to have disproportionately higher rates of physical, developmental, and mental health problems. NACAC believes that the public child welfare system has primary responsibility to properly assess and address the cognitive, social, emotional, physical, developmental, and educational needs of children and youth who are or who have been in the foster care system. The child welfare system must partner with family and community to do a thorough assessment and must provide services and support that meet the child’s or youth’s full range of needs. Both assessment and service provision are necessary to ensure the best possible outcomes for every child and youth in care. Practice Recommendations
Policy Recommendations To make services more accessible to families, the government should:
To ensure educational continuity for foster children and youth, the government should pass legislation that:
Philosophy NACAC believes that effective permanency planning for children and youth is best done if there are accurate accountability systems that track the number of children in foster care and other out of home placements, as well as systems that assess and track each child’s well-being and permanency outcomes. Practice Recommendations Agencies with responsibility for foster children should track, and report to their state/province and national government, data on each child in their care, including:
Data should be kept longitudinally so that accurate information is available on each child’s length of stay in care and specific placement outcomes. States, provinces, and federal governments should make collected data available in a timely fashion, so that data may encourage informed funding and policy decisions. The U.S. federal Child and Family Service Reviews should include data on children’s well-being rather than simply tracking process results. The federal government should work with agencies and experts in child well-being to develop accurate well-being measures that can be used to assess the performance of states’ child welfare programs. The federal government should adequately fund needed additional research to help guide child welfare practice. Research should include: (1) longitudinal prospective analysis of how youth who age out of care fare compared to children and youth who are adopted or are in the general population; and (2) analysis of what makes successful families, including any necessary pre-adoption preparation or post-adoption support. Eliminating Categorical Restrictions in Foster Care and Adoption Philosophy Children and youth should not be denied a loving family due to restrictions on particular types or categories of prospective foster or adoptive parents. Limitations that prevent classes of individuals or groups from becoming foster or adoptive parents hurt children and youth who are in need of loving families. Experience and research have shown that diverse and non-traditional families can successfully parent children and youth in foster care and adoption. Practice and Policy Recommendations NACAC opposes rules, legislation, and practices that prevent the consideration of current or prospective foster or adoptive parents based on any of the following characteristics: age, race/ethnic background, gender, family size (including single parent status or number of siblings in the family), marital status, health or disability status, sexual orientation, gender identity, prior professional relationship with the child or youth, or status as foster care or adoption agency employee. All child-placing agencies should fairly and equitably consider each applicant for certification as a foster or adoptive parent based on the individual's or family’s ability to care for foster or adopted children and youth who need a family. Specific placement decisions should be made based on whether an individual or family can meet a specific child's or youth's needs. Although there are legitimate costs in providing adoption services, financial issues should never be the deciding factor in matching a child or youth with adoptive parent(s). Rather, placement decisions must be based on each family’s ability to meet an individual child or youth’s needs, including his or her cultural needs. Unfortunately, adoption fees and other related costs often present a barrier to the prospective adopters who may be best able to meet a child or youth’s needs. NACAC believes that adoption fees should never serve as a barrier that keeps a child or youth from achieving a permanent family. Policy and Practice Recommendations For adoptions from public foster care, governments agencies—federal, state, provincial, territorial, and tribal—should fund adoption services so that prospective adopters bear no costs (including home studies, legal fees, pre- and post-placement support services, etc.). In the United States, all fees paid by state or county agencies should be reimbursable by the federal government through Title IV-E funding. For private agency adoptions, adoption agencies should find creative ways to provide the entire array of culturally competent adoption services at no charge, including seeking government and private funding, partnering with legal organizations, and waiving fees for families. Financing of Child Welfare Programs and Services NACAC recognizes the important role of national governments in providing policy leadership and financial support to child welfare programs. NACAC supports the creation of adequate and targeted federal funding streams for public child welfare programs that preserve safe and stable families, or when necessary find and support alternative permanent families for children and youth, through the implementation of best practices. NACAC also encourages states, provinces, territories, tribes, and aboriginal authorities to adequately fund child welfare best practices in order to provide the full array of services from prevention through post placement. Policy Recommendations Fiscal Incentives NACAC recommends that national governments develop a policy of fiscal incentives that encourage the permanent placement (including reunification, adoption, and permanent placement with a relative, or guardian) of a child or youth, ideally within two years., State, provincial, territorial, tribal, and local governments should additionally be required to devote adequate resources to permanently place any child or youth who has been in care longer than two years. Adoption Incentive Program NACAC supports reauthorization of the U.S. federal adoption incentive program with the following changes:
Gay and Lesbian Adoptions and Foster Care Philosophy Children should not be denied a permanent family because of the sexual orientation of potential parents.
Practice and Policy Recommendations All prospective foster and adoptive parents, regardless of sexual orientation, should be given fair and equal consideration. NACAC opposes rules and legislation that restrict the consideration of current or prospective foster and adoptive parents based on their sexual orientation. Implementation of the Hague Convention Philosophy NACAC supports a system of safeguards and cooperation to protect the best interests of children, birth parents and adoptive parents in intercountry adoption.
Policy Recommendation NACAC supports ratification and implementation of the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption, which provides for high quality, accessible services, and expediency of process. NACAC supports the development of an affordable accreditation process and standards based on quality of services other than size or structure of the providers. NACAC also supports a central authority system that functions to facilitate and oversee intercountry adoptions, recognizing that timely permanency is in the best interest of a child. The central authority should never use adoption as instrument of foreign policy. Philosophy NACAC recognizes that children and youth have a right to be connected to kin and to other significant family and community members. NACAC encourages kinship foster care as a preferred alternative placement when the kinship care provider is able to ensure the child or youth’s safety and well-being. NACAC also supports placing children or youth with relatives as an alternative to placement in foster care, and believes that relative caregivers in such placements deserve support to help them ensure the safety and stability of the children or youth in their care. Too often, relative caregivers are told that they must accept responsibility for their kin or else the child or youth will be placed in foster care. These caregivers often need support, and should not be forced to choose between raising a child or youth with no support or having their kin enter the foster care system. Placement decisions should be made on an individual case-by-case basis based on the child or youth’s best interests. NACAC recognizes that even if relatives are not able to provide care for a child or youth, they may have a positive role to play in the child or youth’s life. Practice and Policy Recommendations Kinship Foster Care Diligent searches must occur for maternal and paternal relatives or others with established relationships with the child or youth in a timely and effective manner prior to or immediately when a child or youth enters care. A diligent search must include identifying, locating, contacting, recruiting, and supporting relatives and others with significant connections to the child or youth, and then exploring with them their interest and capacity to provide a temporary or permanent placement for the child or youth. Children and youth should be actively involved in identifying those connections. If a diligent, culturally appropriate search has been completed and no kin placement resource has been identified, and the child or youth is in an approved permanent placement, any further searches, if conducted, should not be allowed to disrupt the permanent placement. Any searches after this point should be conducted solely to provide the new permanent family with relative or kin connections that can enhance the child’s or youth’s life. Kinship foster families should be reimbursed at standard foster care rates, and adoption or guardianship should be options when they protect the best interests of the child or youth. When adoption or guardianship is considered the best option, the federal, state, or provincial government should also provide subsidies when they are in the best interests of the child or youth or when required by law. (see Adoption Assistance and Subsidized Guardianship statements) Kin foster families should be evaluated to assure that the child or youth will be safe and nurtured in the care of the family. These families should also be provided support and services to ensure that the child or youth’s needs are continuing to be met. Recognizing the unique value to children and youth of placing them with kin, NACAC opposes federal regulations mandating that all kinship foster parents be subject to the same licensing requirements as non-kin foster parents in order for states to be reimbursed through Title IV-E for payments made to kinship foster parents. Notwithstanding the exemption from licensing requirements, the safety of the child should be assured in any placement. Placements with Kin to Avoid Placing a Child or Youth in Foster Care Children and youth who are placed with kin through the child protection system or by the department of social services to avoid entry into foster care should be eligible for relative assistance payments equal to the foster care rate the child would have received if in care. The department of social services should evaluate these kin caregivers to assure that the child or youth will be safe and nurtured in the care of the family. These kinship families should not, however, be subject to the same licensing requirements as foster care providers. LGBTQ Children and Youth in Foster Care Philosophy NACAC believes children and youth in the foster care system who are—or who are perceived to be—lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender*, and questioning (LGBTQ) deserve loving and permanent families and should be afforded the same rights, services, and protections as those who are [or are perceived to be] heterosexual. Statistics show that, at a minimum, 5 to 10 percent of children and youth in care are LGBTQ. The numbers are likely much higher due to the parental abuse, neglect, and rejection too often experienced by LGBTQ children and youth. Unfortunately, many LGBTQ youth are in care solely because of their family’s reaction to their sexual orientation or gender identity. Many LGBTQ youth in foster care are also members of minority groups whose cultures often support only traditional heterosexuality. The prejudice, family rejection, and mistreatment experienced by LGBTQ youth —or those who are perceived to be LGBTQ— have a tremendous negative impact. Statistics shows that 20 to 40 percent of homeless youth are LGBTQ and that LGBTQ youth face higher rates of suicide and suicide attempts than their heterosexual peers. For LGBTQ foster children and youth, discrimination, neglect, and mistreatment by peers, foster families, caseworkers, and other agency staff compound the problems facing many foster youth, resulting in higher risks of health and mental health problems, school failure, homelessness, and suicide. LGBTQ children and youth have a right to live in an environment that is safe, understanding, and supportive of their needs. Policy and Practice Recommendations 1. Programs and services for LGBTQ children and youth — Immediate measures must be taken to ensure the safety of LGBTQ children and youth in care. Agencies should work to:
NACAC strongly opposes the use of conversion or so-called reparation services that are designed to involuntarily change the sexual orientation of youth. 2. Non-discrimination policies — States, provinces, tribes, and public and private agencies must adopt and enforce explicit policies prohibiting any discrimination based on the actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, or HIV/AIDS status of children and youth in foster care, foster or adoptive parents and other members of their household, and child welfare staff. 3. Parent and staff training — To ensure that non-discrimination policies are effective, all foster/adoptive parents, child welfare staff, child advocates (such as guardians ad litem, children’s attorneys, and CASAs) should be required to participate in training that addresses:
*“Transgender” refers to individuals (regardless of their sexual orientation) whose appearance, characteristics, or personal gender identification differs from their biological gender or traditional gender stereotypes. Native and Aboriginal Children in Foster Care, Guardianship, and Adoption NACAC recognizes that children and youth of Native American tribes, First Nations bands, and recognized aboriginal communities have an inherent right to continued and positive contact with their tribe or band. Such contact is in the child’s best interest. All child protection and child welfare decisions should be made by officials of tribes, bands, or recognized aboriginal communities. In the rare cases when this is not possible, decisions must be made consistent with the cultural norms of the tribe or First Nations related to child rearing. NACAC strongly believes that all native children and youth deserve culturally competent permanency options. Policy and Practice Recommendation Federal, state, and provincial laws should be adopted that are consistent with the principles stated above. NACAC encourages tribes and bands and other governmental (state, provincial, federal) organizations to collaborate to achieve children’s best interests. State, provincial, and federal governments should provide indigenous governments and organizations with adequate and sustained resources to ensure that indigenous children and their families receive equivalent benefits under laws impacting their safety, permanence, and well-being in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. NACAC believes that openness is in the best interest of adopted persons. Open adoptions are one effective way to reduce the complications that adoptees face. By definition, adopted children are connected to both the family into which they were born and the family into which they have been adopted. Since those two families now belong to an extended family kinship network, open adoptions provide a greater potential for the families to work as allies on behalf of the well-being of the children. Openness in adoption includes a range of options from no contact (confidential) to mediated (sharing non-identifying information through an agency intermediary) to ongoing fully disclosed adoptions (direct, identified contact) between birth and adoptive families. Examples of openness in this range include:
Practice Recommendations NACAC recommends that agencies and families pursue as much openness as possible, taking into consideration the best interests of each child on a case-by-case basis. Considerations for limiting openness should focus primarily on the child’s safety and well-being. Research demonstrates that openness is most successful when all parties involved believe in the value of the connection. As a result, agencies and workers should work with birth and adoptive parents and the adopted person to explain the value of openness and to work out the most helpful adoption arrangement that is as open as possible. NACAC believes, and decades of research affirm, that children and youth fare better in families than in orphanages. Families are best suited to advocate for their children, teach them about culture, care for them when they are sick, and support them into adulthood. In families, children learn family skills, including how to parent the next generation of children. Institutions can never provide for children’s mental and social health the way that families can. Research clearly demonstrates that institutions frequently produce adverse psychological effects that may affect people throughout their lives. In addition to the psychological harm done to children and youth, institutions are extremely expensive and create unnecessary financial burdens. Yearly care in an institution costs at least four times as much as foster care. The harmful effects of institutionalization for vulnerable children and youth do not only occur in places called orphanages. Today, orphanages may take many forms, and use many names: residential educational facilities, residential academies, boarding schools, and children’s homes. Regardless of the name, NACAC is opposed to the placement of foster children and youth in any congregate care facility that limits family involvement, isolates children and youth from their communities, does not focus on family preservation and permanency planning goals, and does not provide appropriate treatment. Long-term custodial care in orphanages for poor or abused children and youth is too costly, both in human and financial terms. Practice Recommendations NACAC believes that a child or youth in foster care should only be placed in an institutional setting when such a placement will meet a specific need for intensive residential treatment services that cannot be provided in a family setting. Residential treatment should engage parents or a person closely connected to the child or youth, plan for post-treatment support, be time-limited, and have a goal of preparing the child or youth to return to a family. Tax dollars need to be directed to programs that find permanence for children and youth, either through effective family preservation or through adoption or other permanent family based solutions. NACAC acknowledges that the foster care system needs reform and improvement. While there is room for additional creative solutions, NACAC believes there is a need for commitment to improving the system and implementing comprehensive best practices. NACAC strongly recommends that child welfare policy makers look to birth, foster, and adoptive families to meet the needs of vulnerable children and youth. Child welfare practice should be guided by the principle that children and youth do best in families. Permanency Planning/Continuity of Relationships NACAC recognizes that each child is an individual and therefore each situation requires careful evaluation, looking at the best interests of each child. In all placements, consideration of a child’s well-being must be paramount. The family should be selected based on the child’s needs and acknowledgment that age, race, and cultural considerations are necessarily important, as is appropriate input from the child. Agencies must prepare families to cope with the child’s physical, mental, learning, cultural, and emotional needs. Each adult who becomes a caretaker for a child should have a strong commitment to parenting the child, with an emphasis on developing a life-long relationship. Practice and Policy Recommendations Permanency planning must begin before a child |