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Thinking About Adoption?
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The Adoption Resource Library contains recomended books and articles by adoption professionals, birth parents, adoptive parents and adopted children, who share their unique insights.
Adoption Without Fear
James L. Gritter James Gritter, a social worker who was a pioneer in the transition from closed to open adoptions, gathers the stories of seventeen couples who tell of their experience with open adoption, ranging from occasional contact, to sharing the birth experience, and their lives beyond. While each relationship has its unique qualities there are also many common threads in these emotion-filled and often complex family stories. Published 20 years ago, this book still has relevance for families today.
Out of the Shadows: Birthfathers' Stories
Mary Martin Mason Based on in-depth interviews, this book profiles a diverse group of men "who have fathered a child whom they are not parenting" including, but not only, through adoption. Common issues emerge in their often painful stories: grief, regret and shame, damage to self-esteem and subsequent relationships, and lasting feelings for the child. Besides the emotional cost to the birthfather, Mason also examines the impact of shutting out birthfathers on adoptive parents and children.
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Special Needs FAQWhat is Spence-Chapin’s experience with special needs adoption?Spence-Chapin has been in existence for 100 years, offering innovative and quality services to all members of the adoption community. We have been helping families adopt babies with special needs for 15 years and we have a solid understanding of the needs of those children and the qualities needed by adoptive families to successfully parent them. We are proud that professionalism, integrity, and compassion are hallmarks of Spence-Chapin’s domestic special needs program.
Do you place only infants?Yes. Although we will occasionally place a toddler, the great majority of our placements are of babies who are under 5 months of age.
Do all babies placed by the Special Needs Program have serious issues?Families should assume that the answer to this question is “yes”. Some of the infants we place are born with known handicapping conditions. The other group of infants placed by the Special Needs Program is at significant risk for cognitive, psychiatric or medical disabilities. The program is not a good fit for families wishing to adopt an infant with relatively minor or easily correctable problems.
How many infants does the Special Needs Program place a year?On average, we place 20 babies a year. Spence-Chapin Services assists any woman living in the New York City area who wishes to make an adoption plan for her infant with special needs. The number of yearly placements, therefore, varies accordingly.
Are the infants on your “Waiting Baby” page the only infants for whom you are seeking families?No. We often have several other infants as well. Before adding a baby to our “Waiting Baby” page, we seek potential matches from among those families who have completed our Pre-Application Form and have forwarded their home studies to us.
I have seen a baby on your website and would like more information. How do I proceed?Please complete our Client Pre-Application Form and indicate your interest in the comments section of the form. If you have completed this form previously, please e-mail asap@spence-chapin.org to let us know of your interest in a specific child. Please note that due to the volume of inquiries which we receive, we share detailed information regarding a baby with only those families who appear to be a potential match for that baby, based on birth parent preferences.
Who takes care of your waiting babies while a permanent plan is being made?Infants are cared for by Spence-Chapin Interim Care Families. The babies are not part of the public foster care system.
Do infants placed by the Special Needs Program receive adoption subsidy assistance?Infants who are born in New York with a serious handicapping condition are eligible for subsidy assistance from New York State. New York infants with less serious conditions and those who are at risk for difficulties in the future, are not eligible for subsidy at the time of placement. In some instances, if a child’s condition worsens after placement, it may be possible to apply for subsidy assistance. Babies who are born in New Jersey are eligible only for subsidy assistance that is available in the adoptive family’s home state.
Can families who live outside of New York adopt through the Special Needs Program?Yes! The program is structured to enable placement with families living throughout the United States. We ask prospective adoptive parents to obtain home study and post placement services from a licensed, not for profit agency in their community. Given that we are unable to place with every family who contacts the program, we strongly recommend that families utilize their home study documents to continue to pursue placements through other placement resources.
How can I identify an agency in my community that can assist me with my home study?Go to www.childwelfare.gov. Click on National Foster Care and Adoption Directory, search for “Private Adoption Agencies” in your state.
Our family has a home study from our local Department of Social Services. Can we use this home study for a placement through the Special Needs Program?Most public agencies will not release a home study for the placement of a child who is not part of a public (governmental) child welfare system. If you have a D.S.S. home study, please discuss this question with a supervisor from your agency to see if placement of a child voluntarily surrendered to a private, not-for-profit agency is possible. Please also be aware that you will need a licensed child placing agency to provide post placement supervision services if an Special Needs Program placement is made.
I’ve sent my home study and Client Pre-application Form to the Special Needs Program and have not been contacted about a possible placement. Why is this and what should I do now?If you have not been contacted by an Special Needs Program social worker, it is because we have not yet been able to make a potential match for your family with a waiting baby. Every family who has sent us a home study is considered open and active. The Special Needs Program social workers do continue to review each family’s material in an effort to make a match with current babies. Unfortunately, we are not able to place with all waiting families. We urge all families to network with other placement resources to maximize the opportunity to be matched with a child.
What is the fee for a placement through the Special Needs Program?There are no fees to families unless and until a placement is made. Adoption fees for this program are heavily subsidized by the agency so that monetary constraints do not prevent the best placement for an infant.
In addition to Spence Chapin’s fee, what other costs are typically incurred with an Special Needs Program placement?Families will need to be at the agency for approximately six hours on the day of placement. Transportation to and from Manhattan will be an expense as will hotel costs for those who opt to stay in the city the night before or after placement. Payments to the family’s local agency providing home study and post placement services will be an additional cost. Adoption finalization fees, paid to a family’s attorney, generally run between $1,000 and $2,500. Later, those families who need to finalize their adoption in Manhattan will incur travel and hotel costs. At the time of the initial discussion about a specific baby, the Special Needs Program social worker will be able to tell a family whether the adoption of that child would entail a New York finalization or finalization in a court local to the adoptive family.
Does a family need to come to New York to receive placement of a baby?Yes. Most families come to New York the evening before placement or take an early morning flight on placement day. Placements take 4 to 6 hours, enabling a return home late in the afternoon.
If we live outside of New York State and are matched with a baby, how long must we wait for Interstate approval of the placement?Interstate documents are filed by Spence-Chapin as soon as a match is made. Approval for the placement is received within 10 business days. Families then come to New York for placement and are free to return home the same day.
How do you match babies with families?The Special Needs Program Client Pre-Application Forms are completed by prospective adoptive families. Each form is reviewed by department social workers in conjunction with a review of the family’s current home study document. Together, these provide a preliminary sense of possible matches between waiting babies and families. These matches are based on the unique needs of each baby, an adoptive family’s comfort and experience with these needs, and requests by birth parents regarding desired adoptive family characteristics. Preliminary and non-identifying information regarding possible potential families is then shared with the birth parents with the goal of ascertaining their interest in each potential family. Those families who appear most likely to be a match for a particular baby are contacted by telephone and provided with details regarding the baby’s social and medical history. Additional information regarding the prospective families is often requested at this point. After considering the implications of the information provided by the agency, adoptive families who wish to move forward toward a possible placement create a photograph album and a letter to be shared with the birth family. The birth family is then given more specific information regarding each potential adoptive family as well as the album and letter. Utilizing these different sources of information, the birth parents decide which family is the best match for their baby.
How much contact do birth and adoptive families have following placement?The majority of the Special Needs Program placements follow an open adoption model. Birth and adoptive families meet on the day of placement and, generally, exchange surnames, e-mail addresses and telephone numbers at that time. Families then maintain direct contact on a schedule that has been mutually agreed upon prior to placement. Many birth families are hopeful that yearly visits can be arranged.
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