Just as a reminder these numbered items from the Oklahoma Adoption Code are listed after the statement: "The purpose of the Oklahoma Adoption Code is to:"
Today item #8 will be addressed. "Ensure that children placed for adoption will be raised in stable, permanent loving families who qualifications for adoption have been properly evaluated in light of the child's needs;"
Comments:
While there are home studies and interviews to work with adoptive parents, what is done to "ensure" these stable, permanent loving families?
What qualifications need to be met and how are adoptive parents "properly" evaluated?
Not only properly evaluated, but how are they evaluated "in light of the child's needs"?
The research I have read on adoption over the past 16 plus years has yet to reveal standardized home studies or interviews, let alone standardized evaluations. We put our children in the public schools through more rigorous testing and evaluations just to determine if they are competent in their skills than we require for people who are assuming the responsibility of raising someone else's children.
Considering the amount of money charged in the adoption of a child, there is surely enough money to support standardization of home studies, interviews and evaluations. But how would parents be evaluated in "light of the child's needs"? Better yet, when a child's best interest isn't heard, how would anyone know what the child's needs are? There are obvious ways to determine if a child needs safety, food, or nurturing just by physically assessing the child. If it stops at the physical assessment how does the child get what he or she might truly needs?
I contend this code actually covers the needs of the adoptive parents specifically. The adoptive parent decides and convinces the caseworker or adoption representative of how loving and stable they are. The unreliable and invalid (testing terminology for lack of standardization) home study and interviews occur with NO further evaluations and a determination is made that the adoptive parent is everything s/he says and the matching of child to parent proceeds.
How should this code read? The purpose of the Oklahoma Adoption Code is to investigate the potential of a family to provide love, stability and permanency for a child who needs a home due to involuntary termination of parental rights. A best interest hearing is required to best assess what the child will need to thrive and benefit from adoption placement.
Your comments and suggestions are welcome. I'm hoping others from the United States will begin to dissect the adoption codes of their state and share. What are your suggestions to make #8 more about the child?
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