Children’s Rights Addresses Failed Adoptions

Children’s Rights (CR) is a national legal advocacy organization whose goal is to improve and protect the lives and rights of abuse and neglected children across the United States.  CR identifies problems in each state’s foster care system and sets out to address and correct those problems through legal action.  Their current focus for Arizona is to improve physical and mental health care for foster children and increase the number of foster homes in our state. 

CR also produces a quarterly newsletter highlighting important issues addressing the needs of neglected and abused children.  Their Fall 2015, Notes from the Field newsletter addresses situations in which adoptive placements are unsuccessful.  Those of us involved with CASA and FCRB are familiar with stories of disruptions from foster care but, according to “When ‘Forever Families’ Don’t Last,” 10% to 25% of adoptions from foster care fail before they become final.  According to the authors, estimates of how many adoptions fail after the adoption is final is unknown.  Reasons for these failed adoptions include:  lack of follow-up services, unaddressed mental and behavioral health problems, an inability to bond as a family, and aging or sick adoptive parents. 

Children whose “forever families” turn out not to be “forever” add one more negative experience to their lives as foster children.  These children come into care because they are abused and/or neglected by the very people who should love them most often resulting in emotional and behavioral problems.  And, once in care, they experience new and frightening situations -- multiple placements and numerous strangers who move in and out of their lives (case managers, psychologist/psychiatrists, therapists, parent aides…).  Amazingly, some children manage to overcome these exceptional life events to be matched with an adoptive home, only to be disappointed.  From an attachment theory point of view, the devastating experience of anticipating a permanent, loving home only to have it fail is likely to make the children more cautious (or even resistant) to future adoptive placements and, ultimately, less eager to form an attachment to adoptive parents and siblings for fear of losing yet another family. 

“When Forever Families Don’t Last” concludes with recommendations to reduce the probability of disrupted adoptions at any point in time, including:  improved adoptive-parent education about traumatized children, quality mental health services for the children, and effective methods of matching children to families.  Support and guidance during and after the adoption can also reduce failed adoptions.

The article includes reflections from children who experienced a failed adoption.  One child summarized his experience of a failed adoption:  “To be taken away from my adoptive mother felt like a repeat of losing my biological parents again.  I internalized this experience and blamed myself for everything.  I was angry.” 

For more information about Children’s Rights visit www.childrensrights.org.