There is a growing practice of adoption services on the Internet with varying degrees of regulation, depending on whether it is domestic infant adoption, public foster care adoption, or international adoption. Regulation is particularly lacking in domestic infant adoptions, with Web sites connecting prospective birth and adoptive parents,…

Failed adoption is defined as removal of the adoptive child at any time between placement and legal adoption. A study of failed adoptions in a statewide adoption agency found a failure rate of less than 3 percent. Reasons for failure are analyzed and implications for practice are suggested. (Author)

Gay men and lesbians often encounter barriers when they pursue adoption. Adoption workers are expected to make decisions regarding child placement using the best interest standard. However, this decision-making model does not adequately consider intrapersonal, interpersonal, and organizational factors that affect the use of the standard. This…

A pilot project in Montgomery County, Maryland, indicates that youngsters with severe emotional disturbances can be placed successfully in the public schools and can even join the regular classes of their peers. Cost per pupil is high, but may not be greater than the cost of providing separate educational facilities. (Author)

Review of quantitative outcome research on permanency planning for foster children examines extent to which permanency planning resulted in higher rate of placement of children into presumably permanent homes; presumably permanent placement did not result in return of children to foster care; and children whose placements were guided by permanency…

Examines factors related to multiple placement in foster care, using a national study of 4,288 foster children. Results showed 78 percent of the children experienced only one or two placements. Increasing age and time in care, and the child's behavioral and emotional problems increased likelihood of multiple placements. (JAC)

A number of professionals have explored the potential usefulness of computers in social work. Describes a study in which computers were used to determine placements for dependent children and then compares these placements with plans determined by traditional case conference methods. (Author)

Examination of older child adoption in northern California from 1980 to 1984 showed a decreased disruption rate of 10.2 percent, largely attributable to the greater use of foster parent adoptions. Placement in which siblings were together were not exceptionally likely to disrupt. A classification of cases using five variables available at…

Analysis of the findings revealed patterns involving caseworker--family contact, caseworker stability and experience, and caseload ratio. The initially favorable impact of the assets that an agency puts into the service of children placed in foster care diminishes over time. This was indicated by a five-year study involving seventy agencies in the…

Explored a potentially viable, although controversial and little-researched, option for increasing the pool of prospective parents for children in need of adoptive homes: adoptions by gay men and lesbians. Analysis of data suggests gays and lesbians experience considerable obstacles in their efforts to become parents. Implications for practice and…

Describes a continuum of services to families in their homes to prevent the necessity of child placement. Presents four categories of services--general case management, the comprehensive social worker, the in-house team, and the intraagency team--to aid families who demonstrate psychological difficulty and resource deficits. (Author/JAC)

Explores the perceptions of middle-class parents who have placed an adolescent child in residential treatment in a sectarian agency. Identifies two pathways to placement, a long and a short route, and describes psychosocial events, experiences, and family environments that are associated with the pathways. (Author)

Psychoanalytic theory is not sufficient for establishing guidelines for child placement. As a case in point, the authors test the assumptions in the issues of continuity and multiple parenting against available empirical evidence. (Author)

Suggests that systematic provision for the participation of clients in decision making could mitigate a number of longstanding problems in child welfare. Argues that clients' opinions are not, a priori, any more or less subjective than those of child welfare professionals. (Author)