Where Have All Our Children Gone? Examining Documentation Standards for International Placement
Felicity Sackville Northcott, PhD, Director, Arthur C. Helton Institute for the Study of International Social Service, ISS-USA
Jamie Rae Harvey, ISS-USA Intern MSW Candidate, University of Maryland at Baltimore School of Social Work
 

Article

The US Department of States’ records indicate that international adoptions by American citizens have increased by more than 140% since 1995. While data is readily available for the number of foreign children entering the country, there is little accurate data on the number of American children exiting the country for international placement (for adoption, foster care or family reunification). The discrepancy in data illustrates that current methods of tracking international placements of American children are inefficient and also raises questions about the practical aspects of these placements. Was a comprehensive home study, including background checks, completed by a professionally trained social worker? What percentage of children who have international placement options available to them were placed outside the US? Do cases involving an international placement take longer and cost more to resolve? International Social Service-United States of America Branch, Inc. (ISS-USA) is one of the few agencies able to provide the type of international social services necessary to assist in these cases. However, the lack of data at the local, state and national levels on the number of American children relocating overseas for adoption, foster care or family reunification prevents ISS from accurately quantifying the current situation.

ISS-USA received approximately 300 requests for international social work services in both 2006 and 2007. From these cases, we wanted to determine how many involved a request by a US resident for an international home study and how often American children were placed abroad. Although ISS-USA, in collaboration with ISS partnering branches, bureaus and correspondents, collected detailed information about the requested homes studies, there is no data available regarding the final outcome of the cases. In most cases, the services of ISS-USA were not needed beyond the average 10.5 months of case activity; the cases closed (internally) before the court reached a resolution.

In 1982, the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) implemented the Voluntary Cooperative Information System to collect cumulative data on children in foster care and special needs adoptions from state child welfare agencies. However, intermittent reporting practices produced poor quality data. As a result, the addendum of section 479 (Title IV-E) to the Social Security Act required DHHS to establish a national data collection system. The system proposed, Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS), instituted uniform methodologies and definitions. To ensure consistency, intercountry adoptions were defined as “those that occur in another country or those adoptions that are finalized in the US after the foreign child has been brought into the country for the purposes of adoption.”¹ Unfortunately, the definition fails to include any language regarding the international adoption of American children. Without consistently measuring intercountry adoptions of American children, statistics vary from 300 to 800 annually.² There is no corresponding data for intercountry placement of American children.

On December 12, 2007, the assistant secretary of state for consular affairs formalized the US ratification of the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption. On April 1, 2008, the US will become a full member. Section 96.43 of the Hague Convention requires comprehensive data collection on the total number of intercountry adoptions undertaken by the agency annually in both convention and non-convention cases.³

Despite the implementation of new legislation, there still is no consistent method of collecting data on the number of children who have potential intercountry placements, on whether those placements are being considered and on whether the child is actually being placed outside the US. Although ISS-USA is made aware of and offers assistance in a small percentage of these cases, ISS-USA does not have the ability or the mandate to collect national data. Ultimately, there is a need for legislation requiring consistent collection of data at the local, state and national levels that provides the following:

• Demographic information on children in the child welfare system, including country of origin, language(s) spoken, immigration status, immigration status of primary caregivers and all options for permanency within and outside the US
• Measures taken to explore the viability of international placements and to monitor the placement whether the child is within or outside the US
• The length of time it takes to achieve permanency—from removal to placement—and the relative or average cost per case for international placements

We need to understand the scope of the problem this paucity of data can cause so that we can make appropriate decisions on how to best serve children who leave the US for adoption or other placement. Having this information will help us prepare the children, assess their well-being and link them with services in their new country. We must amend the current documentation standards and identify the weaknesses at the intersection of migration and child welfare in order to understand the extent of the issue so that, ultimately, we can ensure the best interests of all children entering and exiting the US.

Endnotes

¹Department of Health and Human Services, (2008). Administration for Children and Families: Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System; proposed rule.

²Hamwi, M. (2006). Sending Babies Abroad. Retrieved on January 15, 2008 from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_kmnew/is_200611/ai_n16943036

³Council on Accreditation, (2007). Temporary Hague Convention Accreditation Standards. Retrieved on January 22, 2008 from http://www.coanet.org/files/Hague StandardsTemp.pdf
 

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