In late December, the
Senate confirmed
Rebecca Jones Gaston as commissioner of the Administration on Children, Youth, and Families within the Department of Health and Human Services. While she has many opportunities ahead of her in this role, she will undoubtedly be faced with the challenge of arranging HHS’s child welfare priorities. Among these will be finding ways to strengthen family preservation services, support child welfare systems, and continue implementation of the Family First Prevention Services Act.
Along with these issues, Commissioner Jones Gaston should also take into consideration recent results from the
largest survey of adoptive households ever
that point to a clear way
HHS
can support children and families in the United States: Providing post-adoption support to those who are affected by adoption.
One of the most compelling findings from this research was the extent to which adoptees need therapeutic services, including mental health services, after their placement. For example, over 27% of parents who adopted from foster care reported their child had a diagnosed attachment disorder. We also documented a huge increase in medical special needs in private adoptions.
Given the frequency with which therapeutic services are needed, it is critical that we ensure support is available for families after adoptive placement.
In recent years, HHS has taken steps to help meet these needs. Just this year, a new,
free training curriculum
was released to help prepare and develop foster and adoptive parents for their roles. Crucially, this curriculum does not only have training for those before placement, but also
provides access to resources after their placements
. We should be seeking to prepare families for lifelong learning and growth rather than assuming we can cram everything parents need in a tidy training program before adoption.
The department has also funded
an initiative
to train mental health service providers in
adoption
competency. This is important because not enough therapists understand the unique dynamics faced by adoptees and adoptive families.
However, as good as these actions are, they are not nearly enough. There are still many parts of our country where families don’t have access to the therapeutic services their children need. Parents often struggle with locating, paying for, and maintaining service provisions for their children.
Too often, we view support for adoption as simply getting children and families matched and then finalizing the legal process. Instead, we need to view support for adoption as encompassing assistance before, during, and after the placement.
That is exactly what the Department of Health and Human Services should do in 2023.
Currently, most states only offer post-adoption support to families if the child was placed from the state foster care system. This needs to change. Because HHS provides guidance, support, and significant funding to state child welfare systems, it is in a position to influence states’ post-adoption support services. The department also spends millions every year on projects designed to support the child welfare system.
The department’s influence and funding should be used to encourage states to broaden support to include all families formed through adoption — regardless of a child’s previous foster care involvement. HHS can likewise ensure the projects they fund include support for all types of adoption.
Commissioner Jones Gaston has an opportunity to create lasting improvements in the lives of children and
families.
By focusing on post-adoption support services, we can make sure the families we help form through adoption stay together, and that the children in these families have the services they need to be healthy and succeed in their relationships, education, and future careers.
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Ryan Hanlon is president and CEO of
National Council For Adoption
(NCFA).
