Adoption News

What About International Adoptions When Agencies Have Little Or No Information

In some countries, particularly where children have been institutionalized since birth in orphanages, full medical records may not be available. Translation problems, cultural differences, and differences in medical systems can make it difficult to interpret the information that is available. In some instances there may be no information at all regarding a child's social and medical history. Some intercountry adoption facilitators provide a summary of a child's health and social records rather than the full record.16 Agencies can only guarantee that the information they do have is disclosed. Most agencies avoid liability for wrongful adoption in international situations by clearly communicating in writing the limitations (in quantity and reliability) of information made available to them. How can agencies ensure families understand the impact of background information?Some adoption professionals suggest social workers implement practices to help prospective families develop an understanding of the possible impact of a child's history, particularly with children adopted from foster care. One such practice involves the social worker, at the time a child is first presented to a family, providing the family with a written description of the critical events of the child's life (such as abuse/neglect or removal from birth parents). The adoptive family is then asked to write down their thoughts on the following questions:

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	Did You Know?
	Children can be adopted from other countries Adopting children from all over the world has become something U.S. residents and citizens have been doing more and more when starting or expanding their families. Over 20,000 inter-country adoptions are taking place per year in addition to the more than Most adoptive parents are two parent families Most adoptive parents are two parent families aged 31 to 40. A growing number of parents are aged 41 to 49. Most parents attended or completed college. Adoption assistance is available Monthly or one-time only subsidy payments to help adoptive parents raise children with special needs. These payments were initially made possible by the enactment of the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980 (P.L. 96-272) which provided Federa