All States, the District of Columbia, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Puerto Rico have statutes or regulations requiring background investigations of prospective foster and adoptive parents and all adults residing in their households. In most States, the background investigation includes a check of Federal and State criminal records. Most States also require checks of child abuse and neglect registries. States may deny approval of a foster care license or adoption application if any adult in the household has been convicted of a disqualifying crime or has a registry record of substantiated or founded child abuse or neglect.

Every State permits transfer of guardianship authority over a child from a parent to another adult when the child has no other parent available to assume responsibility for care and custody of the child. A traditional guardianship provides for the care of a child in the event of the parent’s death or permanent disability and is generally regarded as a permanent transfer of custody and authority from the parent to the guardian.

One recent approach to transferring custody is facilitated through standby guardianship laws. Many States developed these laws specifically to address the needs of parents living with HIV/AIDS, other disabling conditions, or terminal illnesses who want to plan a legally secure future for their children. Approximately 26 States and the District of Columbia have made statutory provisions for standby guardianships.

Adopting a stepchild is the most common form of adoption. A stepparent who adopts agrees to become the legal parent and be fully responsible for his or her spouse’s child. After the stepparent adoption occurs, the noncustodial parent (the parent not living with the child) no longer has any rights or responsibilities for the child, including child support.

Many State legislatures have enacted legislation to address infant abandonment and infanticide in response to a reported increase in the abandonment of infants. Beginning in Texas in 1999, “Baby Moses laws” or infant safe haven laws have been enacted as an incentive for mothers in crisis to safely relinquish their babies to designated locations where the babies are protected and provided with medical care until a permanent home is found. Safe haven laws generally allow the parent, or an agent of the parent, to remain anonymous and to be shielded from prosecution for abandonment or neglect in exchange for surrendering the baby to a safe haven.

Every State, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands have statutes providing for the termination of parental rights by a court. Termination of parental rights ends the legal parent-child relationship. Once the relationship has been terminated, the child is legally free to be placed for adoption, with the objective of securing a more stable, permanent family environment that can meet the child’s long-term parenting needs.

Since its founding in 1974 by adoptive parents, the North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC) has been dedicated to the mission that every child deserves a permanent family. Through education, support, parent leadership capacity building, and advocacy, NACAC promotes and supports permanence for children and youth in foster care in the United States and Canada. Some of NACAC’s core activities include empowering parents to support one another as they raise children adopted from foster care; working with policymakers, administrators, and grassroots advocates to reform the foster care system and improve outcomes for children and youth; and disseminating information that will help child welfare professionals and adoptive families better support vulnerable children.

This publication, funded through a grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts, was written for NACAC by Madelyn Freundlich, with assistance from NACAC staff members and consultants Mary Boo, Janet Jerve, Joe Kroll, Josh Kroll, Jennifer Miller, Christina Romo, Gina Russo, and Jeanette Wiedemeier Bower.

New Jersey Referral Resources for Adoption

Commissioned by the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption
Conducted by Harris Interactive

More than 104,000 children in the United States are waiting in foster care to be adopted by permanent, loving parents. These youngsters, who are on average 8 years old, typically remain in temporary situations over three years before being placed with “forever families.” The Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980 aimed to promote adoptions of waiting children by requiring states to provide subsidies to adoptive parents. These subsidies, at a median of just $485 a month, help families meet the basic needs of their children and may include amounts to help pay for critical services such as healthcare, therapy or tutoring to address their children’s physical, mental, cognitive and developmental challenges.

Published by:
Adoption Institute.org

The number of youth who age out of foster care has risen steadily over the past decade, even in the wake of increased efforts to achieve permanence for all children in foster care.
For far too many youth, aging out of care results in homelessness, work instability, and a lack of stable, loving relationships with adults. These grim facts are even more heartbreaking because we know these youth could have found a permanent family, if only they had been given the chance.
Younger foster children have a much better chance of finding a permanent family. Once waiting children in foster care are nine or older, they are much less likely to be adopted.  About 43 percent of waiting children are nine or older, but 72 percent of those who are adopted are under age nine.  The average age of children when they are adopted from foster care is 6.6 years, while the average age of waiting children is 8.2 years. The average waiting child has been in foster care for more than three years.  Every day that a waiting child remains in foster care, his chances of being adopted decrease.

Published by:
North American Council on Adoptable Children