The Dss Adoption Process Essay, Research Paper

PRESENT STUDY

Ecological theories stress the need to understand development in

terms of the everyday environment in which children are reared, a need fervently advocated by Bronfenbrenner, who argues that “much of contemporary developmental psychology is the science of the strange behavior of children in strange situations with strange adults for the briefest possible periods of time” (Bronfenbrenner, 1977, p513). I believe that I will find the DSS adoption process to be very intricate and complex.

In October 1997 Diana Smith and her husband Mark decided that they wanted to add to their family. They explored different options and decided upon adoption. They also decided upon certain criteria. They did not want a newborn baby, but in fact, wanted a toddler. They also decided that since they naturally had three girls, they wanted to adopt a boy. They then decided upon the method by which they would adopt, and that was to be through the Department of Social Services adoption process in their state. Before going any further, Diana and Mark decided to involve their three children (all in either teens or early 20’s and still living at home) in the decision. The girls welcomed the idea and Diana and Mark went to the Massachusetts DSS office, located in nearby Fall River.

There they found out more information on the process as a whole and the possible results. After hearing about the way in which children would be taken into custody by the state the Smith’s refined their needs. They now not only wanted a boy between the ages of 2 and 4, but they also wanted a healthy boy who was born to a mother without a substance abuse problem. The Smith’s also wanted a child who had not been sexually abused. Mark and Diana then decided to become foster parents and only accept those children who met the criteria they had set forth.

The couple started by signing Diana up for a ten week course called the Massachusetts Approach to Partnerships in Parenting (MAPP). Each class then met once a week for three hours, and was given the choice between daytime or evening meetings. Diana worked in the school department during the day and so she chose to enroll in the evening meetings. During this time reference checks and home visits began. In Massachusetts a minimum of two home visits are required. Approval of the Smith’s as foster parents took the average amount of time to complete (average being three to four months).

The Smiths happened to be married, fairly well off, and experienced in child rearing, but the state does not require this of all their foster care providers. DSS accepts persons who are single or married, from all economic, religious, and ethnic backgrounds. Applicants who both own or rent a home are accepted, as are those who either do or do not have children. The only real requirement is that the applicant be 21 years of age and able to provide a safe and healthy environment for a child.

Children who are available for adoption through the Department of Social Services, come from diverse backgrounds and varied experiences. Many have suffered from abuse and neglect. A number of them are with their brothers and sisters, and if at all possible DSS tries not to split them up. Some of the children have been freed by the courts to be adopted; others have court cases still pending and the placement would be known as a “legal risk” until the child is free.

According to an interview with adoption worker, Helen Lorusso, people want Caucasian infant boys more than any other race, age group, and gender of potential adoptive child. “And that boy is requested to have,” explains Lorusso, “no substance abuse of any kind in his background, and no history of sexual abuse.”

“Unfortunately, the type of children most potential parents are looking for,” adds Lorusso, “aren’t the children that we have up for adoption, or they get taken up very quickly when they are up for adoption.”

When the question was posed of whether it made a difference what age the child is, Lorusso responded with, “Of course, of course it matters, usually it is not difficult to find a suitable home for an infant no matter what its race or ethnic background. But remember,” she continues, “our first concern is taking care of that child. He or she has come from an abusive home and that problem needs to be addressed immediately. So we look to place the child in a home that we think suits him or her best. Usually it is possible but our main concern is not that of the foster parents, but of the safety of the child, because the longer that child is in that unhealthy environment, they are not only in harms way physically, but emotionally and psychologically.”

This brings us to the root of the issue. Why would a child be removed from a home in the first place? Lorusso tells us, “Abuse. What happens usually is there is some kind of report of abuse in the home, and it can come from various different sources. But, we must remember that there are many different types of abuse. There is physical abuse, there is mental abuse (which is pretty difficult to prove), and there is sexual abuse. But the most prudent form of abuse is neglect,” Lorusso explains, “basically it is a child that is not safe, and those are the children we are here to protect.” This can cause a bit of a problem once the child is placed in a healthy non-abusive home.

About 3 million children were reported abused or neglected in the United States in 1992 (Children’s Defense Fund, 1994). Maltreated infants and toddlers are more likely to be anxiously attached to their mothers than are children who are not maltreated.

Infants and toddlers who have been maltreated by their caregivers are likely to fall into insecure attachment called “disorganized/disoriented” attachment, in which children show fear of their caregiver, confused facial expressions, and an assortment of “avoidant” and “ambivalent” behaviors (Main & Solomon, 1986). Approximately 80 percent of maltreated infants fit this attachment profile (Carlson et al., 1989).

Once a child has been taken into custody, the Department of Social Services does everything in its power to help parents get on their feet. Usually parents are given a time period of 18 months to improve their situation. The program used is called a Service Plan Agreement (SAP), which is a contract between the biological parent and the courts. There is a list of requirements that the parent must complete, but completing the list of requirements is not enough. A parent must show a want to be a parent and an attitude change. When a parent does not fulfill any of these requirements she/he is then made aware that they can voluntarily surrender their parental rights. If a parent resists, DSS takes measures to terminate parental rights. Either way the child is now released for adoption.

In July of 1998, the Smith’s got a call with a possible child named John. John was a 3 and ? year old causation boy who had been in the system for 3 years. John was of a different ethnic background and had been neglected and abused by both his mother and his grandmother. His father never played a part in his life. John’s mother was involved in a SAP in which she would, amongst other things, get drug testing once a month, go for counseling, find and hold a job, get her own place to live and show that she was able to provide a healthy relationship for her son. She was unable to comply with any part of the agreement, and through she showed feeling when speaking of her son, when provided no accompanying actions. She was given the option to forfeit parental rights and chose to do so.

If a parent voluntarily gives up parental rights, they have a little to bargain with and usually that involves some sort of an agreement to have an “open adoption”. Open adoption refers to the practice of sharing information and maintaining contact between biological and adoptive parents both during the adoption process and during the child’s life. The open adoption movement began in the 1960’s when adoptees sought to abolish the secrecy surrounding adoption records (Purvis, 1997).

By this time the Smith family loved and cared for John a great deal and saw him through the process of his mother giving up her parental rights. But, before she did, she signed an open adoption agreement. The agreement was that she would get one school picture and report of how he was doing and also one supervised visit, once a year until the age of 18. The agreement was also made with the condition that the Smith’s would have to contact her at their convenience and set a time and place at their own convenience. If John’s biological mother were unable to make the meeting no other meeting would be planned for that year. Should the biological mother miss a meeting twice consecutively then the agreement is off.

In order to match the child up with his perspective adoptive parents a study is performed by the Department of Social Services. This is mostly just involving a study of the interaction between foster parent and child. An adoption worker performs it through a series of home visits. In the case of the Smith’s and John, the house was visited once a month.

Once the child has been released for adoption and the perspective adoptive parents have been approved, the rest is paperwork and bureaucracy. The papers to release the child for adoption have been signed. The application for the foster parents to apply to be adoptive parents is filled and approved. Next, paperwork transferring the child from the custody of the state to the custody of the adoptive parents are filled. The change of name forms and double checking of the social security number of the child is completed. The new birth certificate naming Mark and Diana as John’s parents is drawn up. All this paperwork is first put through a series of people at the DSS office and reports of the home studies are added. Next all the paperwork is off to the courts clerks office, and prepared for the hearing. The final portion of the adoption process is seen in the formal court hearing when all the work of the previous months are culminated with the adoptive parents and the judge signing the final adoption papers witnessed by family, friends and court personnel.

The Smith’s took John through this final process and now live happily together. They are no longer involved in DSS, because once the final adoption goes through, the case is closed. John is now a happy 4 and ? year old preschool boy living with his two parents and three sisters.

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and the U.S.S.R. Proceedings of the XVIII International Congress of Psychology, Washington DC. Amsterdam: North-Hollabd.

Carlson, V., Cicchetti, D., & Braunwald, K. (1989). Contributions of the

study of maltreated infants to the development of the disorganized (”D”) type of attachment relationship. In D. Cicchetti & V. Carlson (Eds.), Child maltreatment: abuse and neglect. Cambridge: University Press.

Children’s Defense Fund. (1994). The State of America’s children

yearbook. Washington, D.C: Childrens Defense Fund.

Main, M., & Solomon, J. (1986). Discovery of a disorganized/disoriented

attachment pattern. In T.B. Brazelton & M.W. Yogman (Eds.), Affective Development in infancy. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.

Purvis, A. (1997). Joni, no longer blue. Time, April 21, 101