Category: Adoption from Foster Care
Download the PDF Version Adoption on Capitol Hill As we look to the new Congress, the National Council For Adoption team is ready to educate and advocate for our policy priorities. Thos...
Download the PDF Version Did you know that 30% of the children currently in the U.S. foster care system are waiting to be adopted? This equates to more than 100,000 children, with 27% h...
With proper financial planning, adoption can be an affordable option for many families. Whether you're interested in adoption grants or loans, the list below includes some of the resources availa...
Download the PDF Version Addressing infertility as part of educating, orienting, and assessing prospective adoptive parents is an ongoing part of my clinical practice in adoption. Whi...
From job titles to case files, the word "permanency" carries a heavy weight for all involved in the child welfare system. To fully grasp the significance, we must define "permanency" and the option...
Across the United States, there are more than 108,000 children and teens waiting for permanency with a loving, nurturing family. Get the facts and resources you need to decide if adopting a waiting...
History and Impacts The Adoption and Safe Families Act, better known as "ASFA," is considered by many to be the most significant child welfare system reform legislation of the 20th century. Pri...
The vast majority of children who are placed for adoption from foster care are eligible for an adoption subsidy/assistance. It is also possible that a child who is not in the foster care system (so...
PDF Version 1. Applying after the adoption is finalized. Families should wait to have a signed subsidy agreement before proceeding to finalize the adoption. It is very rare to have an...
PDF Version There are different types of adoption assistance that families may receive. Children can qualify for state or federal subsidies, and each state has discretion regarding the ...
Three Shifts to Bridge the Gap Between Birth Families and Adoptive Families for the Adoptees We Love Adoption creates a split between a person's biology and biography, and openness is an essent...
Introduction While numerous health organizations, including the Centers for Disease Control, emphasize the importance of family history in assessing patients' health risk, resources on how medical ...
Thanks to the participation of over 4,200 adoptive parents, NCFA collected an expansive volume of data through our 2021 survey. In our new report, we highlight some of the key findings of our analy...
ALEXANDRIA, VA (June 21, 2022) - National Council For Adoption was proud to present the 2022 Warren and Mary Alice Babineaux Award to Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, Indiana Department of Chil...
Adoptions that take place across state lines often involve the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC), an important legislative agreement to facilitate interstate child welfare rela...
Kinship adoption, in one form or another, has been around for centuries. And yet there is a significant lack of training and resources on how to support families navigating this pathway to permanen...
In this practical introductory guide to Dr. Bruce Perry's Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics, learn how adoptive parents and professionals can implement the wisdom of the NMT, particularly The S...
An increasing number of adoptive families are single parent households where children have found permanency and are thriving with a Mom or Dad only. To learn how to best support these adoptive fami...
Postadoption depression. It's more common than you may think, but it can be an uncomfortable thing for adoptive parents to talk about. Left unaddressed, postadoption depression, sometimes referred ...
One in 700 babies in the United States is born with Down syndrome, the most common occurring chromosomal condition. Individuals with Down syndrome often have cognitive differences, weak muscle tone...
ALEXANDRIA, VA, June 9, 2021 - National Council For Adoption (NCFA) supports the passage of S. 1156 and H.R. 3031, the Adoption Tax Credit Refundability Act of 2021 (ATCRA). The proposed legislatio...
Can military families adopt while a parent is on active duty? Should military families avoid adoption due to deployments and frequent moves? What do adoption professionals need to know and practice...
America's foster care system is in crisis. Despite real efforts to effect change, over 120,000 children remain in the system awaiting a permanent family through adoption. Finding the right families...
Transparent and effective child advocacy requires adoption agencies to weigh important ethical considerations and follow best practices. In this issue of the Adoption Advocate, Jennifer Lanter and ...
What Are Adoption Subsidies? People who are interested in adopting are often worried about their ability to come up with the necessary funds for the adoption process. They may also wonder how they ...
Download PDF At various times throughout the year, we are immersed as a culture in times of annual celebration that are strongly linked to traditions, memories, friends, and family. Whi...
A Note from NCFA: Adoption by the Numbers has now been updated! Please visit adoptioncouncil.org/numbers to see the 2022 report. Adoption: By the Numbers National Council For Adoption's Adoption:...
My life changed completely when adoption became part of my story. Adoption encouraged me to become more empathetic, compassionate, understanding, and mature. Adoption led me to a life lived intimat...
Weaving Hope Into Heartache – A Parent’s Perspective If you’re an adoptive parent like me who has had the benefit of training and education rooted in TBRI, then you know how essential Th...
It's not often that you remember exactly where you were when reading a book more than 13 years ago, but I do remember reading a manuscript of Dr. Karyn Purvis' The Connected Child. I was on a...
Updated for Fall 2022 When educators and parents work together to support adopted children in the classroom, great things can happen! But this requires both teachers and parents to be properly inf...
The decision to become a parent brings one of life's greatest joys and carries with it a whole host of commitments and responsibilities to provide for the many needs children have: from the basics ...
View and Download PDF Tricia loved being a mom. When she and Sam married after college graduation, they had dreamed of having a large family. By their tenth anniversary, they had two da...
In honor of National Foster Care Month, NCFA has been sharing voices and perspectives on our blog and social media channels from former foster youth, foster and adoptive parents, and professio...
Uplifting Youth Voices During National Foster Care Month & COVID-19 Entering this new chapter of leadership at the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI), I am excited to enga...
Breaking Jurisdictional Barriers in Older Child Adoptions from Foster Care She scanned the room of the various individuals who came to learn more about adoption from foster care, and after ...
In May, we recognize National Foster Care Awareness Month. In the same breath, we advocate for children in foster care who wait for adoptive families. To many, this duality can be confusing. Foster...
Having followed Tori on social media for awhile, I knew that she would have a unique perspective to share with the adoption community during National Foster Care Month, and she was kind enough ...
Introduction Now more than ever, adoption agency personnel are being asked to help parents understand pediatric medical and mental health complexities. Whether children are adopted internationally,...
NCFA's "Choosing an Adoption Agency" from 2014 has been one of our most popular Adoption Advocates1. It's been recommended as a resource by the Today Show, NBC Dateline, and RESOLVE: The Nationa...
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has released their Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System data for FY 2018, capturing data from October 1, 2017, to September ...
Adoption in the U.S., originally focused on placing healthy infants, has evolved to the point that now the majority of children available for placement either have recognized medical problems or ar...
The decision to begin or grow your family through adoption is certainly life-changing and rewarding. This decision can also bring with it a great deal of uncertainty and emotion. One hundred years ...
Over the past century, transracial adoption in America has become more and more common. In this issue of the Adoption Advocate, Alexis Oberdorfer shares about the history of transracial adoption an...
Feeding and mealtimes are rich with opportunities for families to build trust and attachment, but when things aren’t going well, those opportunities are lost. From hoarding to picky eating, worr...
Words matter so much, especially when we’re speaking about something as deeply personal as adoption. Accurate adoption language can help stop the spread of misconceptions about adoption and reflec...
Curiosity about who we are, where we came from, and our significance in life is universal. Today, opportunities abound to search family history to fill in the missing pieces of the past, whether a f...
Thirty years of research shows that positive interactions between a child and primary caregiver(s) significantly impacts brain development. Studies show that children raised in family-based care (b...
how to adopt Considering adoption? You probably have a lot of questions. How does the process work? Do I qualify? What are the options? How can I afford adoption? Isn't it really expensive? Who d...
Introduction Historically, private adoption agencies were founded to work on domestic infant and international adoptions. As time has passed and new policies and best practices have been establishe...
In recognition of the extraordinary leadership that has resulted in measurable progress towards addressing the crisis our nation faces, with more than 100,000 U.S. children in foster care who need p...
May is National Foster Care Month. In this month's issue of NCFA's Adoption Advocate, Dr. Wayne Sharp lays out the enormous social and economic cost when youth age out of foster care - as approxim...
Family is not about blood, it’s about who is willing to hold your hand when you need it most. –Unknown National Adoption Month: An Anniversary Month of Reflection I’m always grateful that Doro...
