TIME TAKEN TO ACHIEVE ADOPTION FROM PERMANENT CARE

BARNARDOS FIND-A-FAMILY

• Barnardos Australia operates in New South Wales and the ACT. The great majority of the programs are family support programs.

• Find-a-Family offers an integrated service of adoption and permanent family care.

• Children enter the program after final orders are made in the Children’s Court, with PR to the Minister until age 18.

• Strong permanency planning focus, children under age 5 will almost always have a Care Plan “view to adoption”.

ABOUT THE RESEARCH• This research aimed to understand how to achieve

adoption in as timely a way as possible by examining the causes of such delays.

• Adoptions undertaken by Barnardos Find-a- Family NSW over 10 years, between 1/1/2002 and 31/12/2011.

• Work was undertaken in 2012 by Sydney University students, overseen by a reference group consisting of Barnardos senior management.

• A sample size of 53 children was included.

• Both quantitative and qualitative data was examined.

THE 3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1) How long does it take to achieve an adoption?

2) What issues affect the time taken for adoption of children and young people?

3) What practice implications do these findings have for achieving adoption in the most timely manner?

Variables Considered

Age of childCourt delays Contact frequencyBirth Certificate issuesFathers unknownBehaviour Siblings Placement historyCulture GenderCase Manager attitudes

So how long does adoption take?

Comparing children of different ages

1-2 3-4 5-9 10-140

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

551N=5

982N=6

1386N=29

1933N=13

Average number of days from first FAF placement to adoption order by age at

adoption (n=53)

Number of Days

Average

Age at Adoption

Nu

mber

of

Days

What issues, apart from age, affect the time taken to adoption?

NSW Consent Requirements

Each parent of the child

Anyone who has parental responsibility for the child

The child if they are over 12 years of age.

DispensationNSW Adoption Act 2000, Section 67, specifies 4 grounds on which a parent’s consent can be dispensed with:

1) The person cannot be found or identified

2) The person is not capable of considering the question of consent

3) There is serious cause for concern for the welfare of the child

4) An application has been made by authorised carers for the child and the child has established a stable relationship with those carers.

CONSENT STATUS

13%Consent

17%Contest

64%Dispense

Child Consent

6%

Consent Contest Dispense Child Consent

Child Consent Parents Consent

Contest Dispense0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

60N=2

88N=5

338N=9

95N=34

Average time at court

Consent Status

Days

TIME SPENT AT COURT

Contact with Parents

Does the level of contact impact on delays?

Contact with mothers

• 37 children had regular contact with their birth mothers; 12 had no contact.

• Children with contact had their adoption order made, on average, 116 days earlier than those who had no contact.

• Birth mothers who had no contact were more likely to give consent.

• Birth mothers who had contact were more likely to contest the adoption.

No Contact with Birth Father Contact with Birth Father Father Unknown1000

1100

1200

1300

1400

1500

1600

1700

1800

1371N=23 (3 deceased)

1382N=24

1734N=6

Time from FAF placement to Adoption

Contact with Birth Father

Days

CONTACT WITH BIRTH FATHER

DOES A CHILD’S LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY IMPACT?

care care +1 care+20

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

1268N=28

1597N=19

2334N=3

Time from first FAF placement to adoption order by care level

Care Level

Days

TIME TO ADOPTION BY CARE LEVEL

Are there differences in time frames for sibling groups?

intact separated no siblings Split sibling group1000

1100

1200

1300

1400

15001473N=12

1296N=18

1274N=2

1472N=20

Time to Adoption by sibling status

Sibling Status

Days

TIME TO ADOPTION BY SIBLING STATUS

Placement History

Do previous placements impact on delays?

Impact of previous placements

• 40% of children entered FAF from Barnardos; 60% entered via FaCS.

• 4 children had a planned move from short term to permanent care; only 2 children had a placement disruption within FAF.

• There was no significant difference in adoption time frames for these children.

Does culture or gender play a role?

Cultural Factors No Cultural factors1000

1050

1100

1150

1200

1250

1300

1350

1400

1450

1245N=7

1426N=46

Time from FAF placement to Adoption

Cultural Factors

Days

CULTURAL FACTORS

Male Female1000

1050

1100

1150

1200

1250

1300

1350

1400

1450

1500

1370 N=28

1440N=25

Time from FAF placement to Adoption by gender

Gender

Days

TIME TO ADOPTION BY GENDER

Case Manager’sattitudes to adoption?

Family

/bel

ongin

g

Perm

anen

cy

Iden

tity

Nor

mal

ity

Attach

men

t

Full pot

entia

l

Legal

per

man

ence

Securit

y

Cost b

enefi

t

Contin

uity

Stabili

ty0

2

4

6

8

10

12

5

4

3

4

1

2

3

11

1 1

6

Response

Fre

qu

en

cy

Responses (n=40)

Security

Stability

Sense of family/belonging

Normality - No more caseworkersPermanency Planning

Same last name/Identity

legal permanence

Chance to reach full potentialAttachment with carers

Continuity

Cost benefit for agency

What is your understanding of the importance of adoption?

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

1

7

1 1

4

8

1 1

Response

Fre

qu

en

cy

Responses (n=24)

Working with birth parents

Confusing/long process

Rewarding

Important for child

Not as much Case Manager time dedicated as placement thought to be extra stable

Carer challenges

Relatively smooth process

Costly – money wise

What was your experience of the adoption process?

Time

it ta

kes

Crisis w

ork

vs a

doptio

n

Birth C

ertifi

cate

Detai

l of p

roce

ss

"Get

ting it

right"

No

Conce

rns

Adoptiv

e fa

mily

Birth fa

mily

Right f

or C

hild0

1

2

3

4

5

6

5

2 2

4

5

3

1

4

1

Response

Fre

qu

en

cy

Responses (n=27)

“Getting it right”; Gathering information, paperworkTime it takes

Detail of process

Impact on birth family

No Concerns

Balance between crisis work and adoptionRemoval of birth family from birth certificateImpact on adoptive family - pressuresMaking sure it is the right time for the child

What is your biggest concern in undertaking adoption work?

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

5

6

3

6

2

Response

Fre

qu

en

cy

Responses (n=22)

More communication between parties about adoption and adoption process

Need for transparency especially with birth parents

Another specialised adoption team to do work

More Adoption training

Improvement of DoCS process/understanding of adoption

What could be done to improve the adoption process?

Conclusion

Summary of findings

Delays –the significant factors

• Age of child• Court processes• Searches for birth fathers• Single children verse sibling groups

• Culture, gender and previous Barnardos’ placements did not have considerable impact on the process

• Timely decision-making for permanency.

• Identify and locate birth fathers as soon as a child enters placement, regardless of the care plan.

• Greater emphasis on Case Manager training and professional development.

Recommendations

Questions?