REFORM Talk Statement on Disruptions and Road Map to WHOLE Reform

Beginning on Monday, September 9, 2013, Reuters published their 18-month investigation into international adoption dissolutions. We will refer to them as disruptions as that is the word most commonly used by adoptive parents who initiate them. Both underground and aboveground disruptions that are discussed by parents online were reported. Adult adoptees who were abused after their re-homing were interviewed along with the sending and receiving parents.

Responses have been intense, such as:

Emotional diatribes, calling adoptive parents who disrupt   http://www.xojane.com/issues/people-are-using-the-internet-to-trade-in-their-adopted-children “scumbags.”

REFORM Talk Challenge: Police, adoption agencies and social services do not help parents in these situations. It is not their problem. Access to competent mental health providers who understand international post-placement issues and can effectively communicate with a child who barely knows English just doesn’t exist. In the face of ZERO assistance, people choose the lesser of the two evils. The worst route would be to abuse, kill or neglect to death the child. The Hana Williams case illustrates the worst route. Try focusing the anger at those that placed the child and didn’t offer help—the adoption industry.

Adam Pertman of Donaldson Adoption Institute: http://adoptioninstitute.org/media/20130910_rehoming_release.php calling for law enforcement to deal with adoptive parents in need of disrupting.

REFORM Talk Challenge: He means arresting and prosecuting adoptive parents, not the agencies involved in criminal deception, trafficking, and other ethical lapses responsible for the adoption in the first place. This is the knee-jerk response to protect the industry. He does not even question how a child would be placed with unprepared parents because that would point to an industry failure. He does not point to lack of post-placement support because that would be hard to solve. It is easier to blame those adoptive parents with his feigned shock. By the way, he claims in a PBS interview  http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/nation/july-dec13/adoption_09- 11.html that he has never heard of this network. He has seen disruption data and knows Yahoo groups was involved. Just.Stop.Lying.

 

Adoption attorneys wanting to talk about the “good” adoptions: http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/dont-forget-the-successful-adoptions-b9996048z1-223382711.html

REFORM Talk Challenge: There always has to be the cry for “balance”. Balance has no place here. Good adoptions don’t need reform. This is another ploy to protect the industry and the sainted name of Adoption. It doesn’t require a study to know why there are failed adoptions either. We will address the specifics needed below.

Wasatch (one of the agencies that re-homes and pastes children’s information all over a public Facebook group) https://www.facebook.com/secondchanceadoptions  wanted to explain that THEIR rehomings are fabulous.

REFORM Talk challenge: Wasatch knows about this underground network. They ask for help FROM IT! They and the other few agencies that used to do this (All Blessings) used the network to recruit PAPs! Stop the hypocrisy and stop spreading children’s personal information all over Facebook. It is a pedophile magnet and it disrespects the dignity of these children. You are advertising them like puppies for sale. It is sick and unprofessional.

Talk radio hosts who are supported by adoption industry dollars http://www.creatingafamily.org/blog/re-homing-after-adoption-disruptions/. Not surprisingly, they didn’t want to believe the numbers yet were unable to prove the numbers or scope wrong with any data.

REFORM Talk challenge: Nightlight Christian Adoptions just happened to sponsor the show that they did on disruptions in 2012. The irony is that they placed Inga who was featured in the expose. The whole show propped up the industry and did not highlight the needs pre or post-placement

Holt, one of the oldest and allegedly “best” agencies”:  http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2013/09/tough_adoption_standards_are_e.html.

REFORM Talk Challenge 1: Holt , as usual, likes to talk about how they are one of the oldest agencies. “Tougher standards to clamp down on disreputable, unethical practices that threaten to reduce or even eliminate foreign adoptions “ is all about keeping their business open. Plus, they cheer the Hague Convention. So why do they have Haiti, Ethiopia and Uganda programs? And the pioneers of South Korea adoptions…they still place from there but that is not a Hague country.

REFORM Talk Challenge 2: Holt also touts their post-adoption services. If you go to that part of their website http://www.holtinternational.org/adoptees/ you see that they offer adoptee camps and heritage tours. The FAQs are about searches. Where are your resources to help families in crisis?

Though they do not engage in two unrelated-at-once placements like many of the agencies who have children disrupt do, they do not come down hard on their fellow agencies. Like the police Blue Wall of Silence, allowing colleagues to continue to do things that are bad for children in the long run doesn’t solve the problem.

REFORM Talk Challenge 3: Holt also seems to pretend that Hague accreditation is going to weed out bad agencies. Nightlight Christian Adoption is the agency that placed one of the children in the expose and they are Hague-accredited. Torry Hansen used Hague-accredited WACAP. Hague accreditation will do NOTHING to stop disruptions.

NACAC feigned shock that disruptions occur http://www.icontact-archive.com/-muTXAz3b2HHCZWTlPomcUY3asOCkMq0?w=2 while calling on law enforcement as the answer.

REFORM Talk Challenge: Like their Donaldson brethren, they like to take grants and generate paperwork and talks where adoption professionals can pat each other on the back. Well we have some ideas for real reform for you below. Let’s see some action.

Bethany http://blogs.christianpost.com/every-child/internet-child-exchange-lost-children-17866/ proclaims its own greatness in post-placement support–heck they even baked a Guinness-World-record-sized cinnamon roll to prove it ! We hate to burst their hypocrisy bubble:

• Can you say 2 dead Chinese adoptees in Tennessee Emma Mei Alvey and Kairissa XingJing Mark and

• Dead Korean adoptee placed to Indiana – Chalie Kyrie and

• Dead Russian adoptee placed to New Jersey- Viktor Matthey and

• Abused adoptees of Ethiopian adoptive parents Barbours of Pennsylvania .

REFORM Talk Challenge: You have a huge conglomerate that has money and influence in the media and legislatures. Of all people, you have the ability to lead the way to help the adoptive family with training and assistance. With this many deaths, your focus needs to be on helping the families that have been formed. You too need to shed your non-Hague countries of Uganda, Ethiopia, Haiti and Ghana. These are in place for your cash flow, which might be good for your inflated executive salaries (see here ) but certainly isn’t good for the adoptee, birth. or adoptive families.

Former JCICS director Maureen McCauley Evans who tried to mount the moral podium in the Hana case while defending AAI’s actions http://lightofdaystories.com/2013/09/12/to-npr-pbs-news-media-dont-ask-me-dont-quote-me/#comments would rather have adoption industry commenters interviewed. It is lost on her that Nora, Inga, and Quita ARE adoptees who are recounting their experiences and their adoptive parents who used the system would have the most salient things to say. Why would people who have not experienced this be interviewed? It is the lack of post-placement policies her former politically-connected group has continued that has led to this decades-old crisis. Disruption is not a new crisis. It just has now come out of the shadows so adoption agencies and finally can’t keep ignoring it. By the way, JCICS has known about this network too. They also have done NOTHING.

REFORM Talk Challenge: Reform needs to take place first at the agency level. You have a conflict of interest and a reputation you are trying desperately to preserve. Instead of promoting ideas that help agencies only, focus on what agencies are not doing.

Why isn’t any entity condemning Facebook for continuing Way Stations of Love? Is it because Wasatch also does the same thing?

We are tired of the “APs are all awful people who should go to jail,” “the focus of all reforms should be on adoptive parents,” “adoptees are demon-possessed creatures who are all so messed up so who could blame their parents to disrupt,” and “most adoptions are wonderful” responses.

Where are the thoughtful responses that look at the root causes of disruptions?

We at REFORM Talk strongly disagree with the content and the scope of the above statements. The system described in this series formed because the adoption industry has NOT dealt with post-adoption issues. They have not reined in the poor placement practices.They don’t want to be connected with failures because it would hurt their business. The modern international adoption process does NOT have the child’s interests in mind. We are at a point in which special needs children are referred to PAPs that don’t even have completed homestudies or the funds to pay for the adoptions. Preparation and vetting is a rubberstamped afterthought. The adoption industry is putting forth this process and it has to stop.

Do we as an adoptive community want to ensure that international adoptees get their needs met, or should the current crapshoot placement practices continue (new and not improved but with more adoptive parent arrests  )? How would the latter help adoptees?

WHOLE reform will not be realized by using tweezers to fine-tune. WHOLE reform will require a sledgehammer and bulldozer to the current process and some cajones to get it done.

Many thanks to Crabbina and Reformatina for helping me assemble this detailed way forward. Also, a giant hat tip to Litigatina for detailing some critical reforms that we have included below. The following is a two-pronged roadmap addressing the kind of pre-placement and post-placement reforms that are desperately needed.

The pre-placement and post-placement measures need to occur simultaneously as these concepts tie together. Cherry-picking one concept on either side to reform is not an option. Tracking disruptions without changing placement practices does nothing. Having Medicaid as a safety net in absence of proving financial stability in preplacement still would put children at risk.

The concepts below have been developed from the decades of experience that we bring to the table as well as analyzing the  171 disruptions we captured between Oct 2010 and Dec 2012.

To recap the disruption reasons from all 3 summaries:

*The lead reason is attachment.

*The second most common reason is other mental health disorders/behavior. PTSD and ADHD are commonly among those.

*The third most common reason is a medical condition.

*Sexually acting out, the child didn’t want to be adopted/be in US, FAS and violence round out the main reasons.

If the following were to be implemented, this true, shared responsibility will help adoptees and their families.

 

Pre-placement	Post-placement
Agency/Adoption Industry Purposely first on the list, agencies control the placements and are paid enormous sums for them. The buck should stop here. Open disclosure of every program detail, terms, conditions and fee the minute any PAP makes an initial inquiry Copy of the plain language contracts, the agency procedures, access to administrative state laws for child welfare all attached to the very first contact email with an ample time frame for prospective clients to review and get screened by an attorney in advance of any meeting with an agency worker New Timeline of process: Background checks and financials to qualify to even get an application.  2. Preadoptive licensing and training.  That can be done online for a very small investment of time or even free through the state sometimes.  3.  Actual home study preparation which more specifically identifies if a PAP can handle special needs or behavioral problems.  4.  More specific training once the PAPs know the low points of disruption and other issues that might arise Disallowed to perform private homestudies. This should be done by federally-standardized and trained social workers that don’t have a conflict of interest in the outcome. Disallowed to place from Non-Hague countries (people may be surprised how many countries will decide that they need standards) Children referred must first be verified by US government to be adoptable to block bait and switches Only licensed agencies or attorneys allowed to be involved in referring/giving information about adoptable children Children’s information not allowed to be shown to any person who does not have approved homestudy Will be  required to not sign on more than 50% more PAPs than estimated number of placements that year Honestly represent child history or pay for all needed services post-adoption if found to mask known history Not allowed to take part in deciding which children in foreign country will be placed Must assess discipline techniques of PAPs in depth Not allowed to run orphanages or participate in termination of parental rights or harvest No Quid Pro Quo meaning providing “family preservation” in return for referrals Must actually travel to the countries with programs to vet orphanages and facilitators as well as supervise referrals. Follow our 5 step business standard process https://reformtalk.net/2011/09/29/adoption-reform-idea-applying-international-business-standards-to-international-adoption-process/ Fees paid for accreditation must be transparently displayed in literature and website “international fee” must be completely broken down and in literature and website no adoptions should be finalized overseas. All should be finalized at a minimum 6 months after coming home with social worker visits to check on progress before finalization	Agency/Adoption Industry Entities like Donaldson Institute and NACAC should set up immediate hotlines for adoptive parents and children staffed by crisis specialists. Agree to have yearly in-home visits until age 18. NO WARNING should be given about these visits to ensure that nothing is hidden and an accurate assessment can be made If a placement does not work FOR WHATEVER REASON, the agency must take custody of the child and if the agency closes whichever agency assumes the files is now responsible. The children would receive support of state social services Postadoption seminars and training Since no adoption finalized overseas, 6 months of social worker visits
Adoptive Parents Trained minimum of 50 hours with requirements specific to special needs. All to have training on trans-cultural, language issues, learning issues, PTSD, eating issues, discipline techniques and surviving neglect. Training in CPR and recognizing closed head injury (one of most common reason for death of adopted child) would be required. Training as applicable to transracial, specific, preexisting medical conditions Must have documented PRIOR to travel: which doctors, dentists, psychologists would be willing to treat child- docs would sign waiver –similar to form I-601  http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/i-601.pdf that HIV adoptees had to have prior to 2010 Must declare the schooling options PRIOR to travel. If homeschooling, must agree to outside supervision and testing to verify that the children are receiving a proper education and are not being “hidden” away and abused If total number of children under age 18 exceeds 8, then family must become licensed group home within their state Never allowed two or more unrelated children placed within 6 months–that includes adding new domestic/foster care children as well as internationally adopted children Require exemption with justifiable reason for adopting out of birth order Place a two-year hold on the adoption if the PAP mother becomes pregnant Not allowed to look at specifics of available children until homestudy is complete Nonagency personnel sharing foreign children information will be prosecuted for falsely acting as social worker–new federal law regardless of taking money or not	Adoptive Parents Accept in-home visits each year until child is 18 Use pre-identified health professionals or work with social worker Attend post-adoption seminars and training Finalize adoption in US, accept social worker visits and receive all necessary documentation for child
Governments/social services Federal standardized training for social workers Take over homestudies Require multiple homestudies over a period of several months with “homework” to ensure that PAPs not only do the necessary research and reading, but truly understand the issues and have the resources in place to help their adoptees if needed	Governments/social services Track all adoptions and all disruptions (work with agencies doing yearly inhome visits) Take over yearly home visits and assistance if agency goes out of business Regulate international disruptions Adoptees should have the same access to Medicaid for RTC or for other safety net issues that children adopted through foster care receive while either in custody of adoptive parent or in agency custody due to failed situation State social services must be available to all adoptive families without fear of legal ramifications for doing so. Respite care access
Infrastructure-Medicine; Mental Health, Education Training and adding practitioners Cross-training Education-addition to IEP categories specific to complex adoption issues	Infrastructure-Medicine; Mental Health, Education Access to dental, medical, mental health, respite care, wraparound services Expand services Support that Adoptees should have the same access to Medicaid that children adopted through foster care receive

 

Two More Exposés needed

Related to disruption and bad outcomes, there are two more exposés needed. The first one is on the entity that we have logged the most disruptions from in the past two years: Reece’s Rainbow. Implementing our two-pronged approach would eliminate all the issues that we have seen with this organization and this would be easily shown if a real investigation by media and Attorney General of Maryland (where the headquarters is located) would occur.

Secondly, one of the most taboo subjects needs to come out of the shadows—adoptees who are not disrupted but kicked to the curb at age 18 without any adoptive parent support. They suffer the same issues as those that age out of foster care without support. Homelessness and joblessness are critical issues in this population.  We briefly mentioned this deep in the Joshua Alexander Salotti story (Teen Russian adoptee who returned himself  to Russia) , update 4 says “The climax came when Josh befriended another Russian adoptee. A Russian news story that quoted both young men said Josh asked the Salottis if his friend could live with them when the friend and his adoptive family parted last October. When they said no, the two teens lived outside.”

This aging out of international adoptees needs to be investigated.

Lastly, as with all of our proposals, this is a living document. Please let us know if you have other ideas, corrections, or want to debate on the specifics.

REFORM Puzzle Piece