Adoption Education

On October 17, 2008, the State of Oregon enacted new licensing requirements for all adoption agencies. These rules in turn will affect all Oregon adoptive families — whether you adopt domestically, independently, internationally or through the state. I will highlight the main areas of interest in this article. (To see the rules in their entirety, click here.) These rules apply to all families who adopt in Oregon and will be in effect with home studies written from April 17, 2009 onward. The state will not approve any home studies after that date that does not meet the new requirements.

For the home study:

• Individual as well as joint interview required.
• Family's home must comply with the DHS Safety Checklist (CF979) which includes requirement for smoke detectors in all bedrooms, posted evacuation plan, safe storage of chemicals, medications and firearms, etc.
• The family needs to have received a minimum of ten hours of training independent of the home study that covers the following: possible short and long term effects of prenatal exposure to drugs, alcohol and poor nutrition; effects of separation and loss; normal child and adolescent development; what research indicates about the potential effect on a child's development of physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, institutionalization, and multiple caregivers; issues related to race, culture and identity; acculturation, assimilation, and, if applicable, the effects of having been adopted internationally; emotional adjustment of adopted children and their families, including attachment and psychological issues of children who have experienced abuse, neglect, or trauma; and in the case of an international adoption, the process and needs of children awaiting adoption.
• Under OAR 413-215-0456, six hours of the above training must be completed prior to the home study being completed. The additional hours will be documented in the family's court report.
• The Coalition of Oregon Adoption Agencies will list classes on their website which meet these standards.
• A post placement visit must occur within the first 30 days following placement for a domestic adoption. In the case of international adoption, the post placement visit is done between one to four months after arrival with all family members present.
• Agencies must provide families with all the necessary documents so that their attorney can finalize the adoption in a timely manner.

There is also a change to the criminal history regulations. All families will submit fingerprints to the DHS Criminal Record Unit along with their criminal history release form via adoption home study agency. All fingerprints will be sent to the FBI for processing. In addition, families must indicate if they have lived outside of the state in the last five years, and, if so, where. Child Abuse Checks will be run for every state that the family has lived in for the last five years. After obtaining the reports, the CRU will send agencies a report indicating whether or not the family is approved for adoption. Agencies will no longer be able to make their own determinations in regards to criminal or child abuse history. This process is now taking approximately six to eight weeks to complete, so please have your clients start this early on so as to not delay their home study.

These new regulations should serve to better prepare families for the realities of adoption and also let them know where they can find resources after their child is in the home. In the past, families who adopt independently have not found a connection for any post adoption services, but often need them. The training will also help families to better understand open adoption and what their responsibilities are with a mediated open adoption agreement. Agencies will be providing families with information about local resources, as well as the existence of a federal tax credit and the importance of prompt finalization of their adoption. The chart below lists resources for families, both in person and on the internet. We will be updating this chart as we find other appropriate classes.