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Adoption Incentive Payments to The States in 2005
Adoption Incentive Payments FY 2005
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State |
Award |
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$386,000 |
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$64,000 |
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$1,072,000 |
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$3,486,000 |
|
$656,000 |
|
$54,000 |
|
$296,000 |
|
$890,000 |
|
$706,000 |
|
$1,074,000 |
|
$16,000 |
|
$650,000 |
|
$352,000 |
|
$1,978,000 |
|
$34,000 |
|
$130,000 |
|
$68,000 |
|
$56,000 |
|
$176,000 |
|
$494,000 |
|
$328,000 |
|
$306,000 |
|
$88,000 |
|
$210,000 |
|
$32,000 |
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$886,000 | Adoption is big
business especially when it comes to CPS for making sure that a families reunification plan fails so they can move to terminate
of the Best Interest of The Child which only requires the lowest degee of evidence used in a civil trial know as "preponderance
of the evidence."
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Child Protection Terminology
A Must For Every Parent
Glossary
Adjudicatory Hearings – held by the Juvenile/Family Court to determine whether a child has been
maltreated or whether some other legal basis exists for the State to intervene to protect the child. Each State has its own
terms and definitions in the jurisdiction provisions of its law. Depending on the State, a child may be subject to the Juvenile
Court's authority if he/she is abused, battered and abused, abused or neglected, sexually abused, maltreated, dependent, deprived,
abandoned, uncared for, in need of aid, in need of services, or in need of assistance, to name a few.
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beyond a reasonable doubt
adj. part of
jury instructions in all criminal trials, in which the jurors are told that they can only find the defendant guilty if they
are convinced "beyond a reason- able doubt" of his or her guilt. Sometimes referred to as "to a moral certainty," the phrase
is fraught with uncertainty as to meaning, but try: "you better be damned sure." By comparison it is meant to be a tougher
standard than "preponderance of the evidence," used as a test to give judgment to a plaintiff in a civil (non-criminal) case.
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CASA – court-appointed special advocates (usually volunteers) who serve to ensure that the needs
and interests of a child in child protection judicial proceedings are fully protected.
Child Protective Services (CPS) – the designated social service agency (in most States) to receive
reports, investigate, and provide rehabilitation services to children and families with problems of child maltreatment. Frequently,
this agency is located within larger public social services agencies, such as Departments of Social Services or Human Services.
Clear and Convincing Evidence
n. evidence that proves
a matter by the "preponderance of evidence" required in civil cases and beyond the "reasonable doubt" needed to convict in
a criminal case.
Disposition Hearing – held by the Juvenile/Family Court to determine the disposition of children
after cases have been adjudicated, such as whether placement of the child in out-of-home care is necessary and what services
the children and family will need to reduce the risk and address the effects of maltreatment.
Emergency Hearings – held by the Juvenile/Family Court to determine the need for emergency out-of-home
placement of a child who may have been a victim of alleged maltreatment. If out-of-home placement is found to be unnecessary
by the court, other measures may be ordered to protect the child. These might include mandatory participation by a parent
in a drug abuse treatment program or a parenting skills class or regular supervision by a caseworker. These hearings must
be held between 24 and 72 hours of any emergency placement, depending on State law, once an emergency custody order has been
issued.
Family Preservation/Reunification – established in law and policy and the philosophical belief of
social services agencies that children and families should be maintained together if the safety of the children can be ensured.
Guardian ad Litem – a lawyer or lay person who represents a child in Juvenile/Family Court.
Usually this person considers the best interest of the child and may perform a variety of roles, including those of independent
investigator, advocate, advisor, and guardian for the child. A lay person who serves in this role is sometimes known as a
court-appointed special advocate or CASA.
Good Faith – the standard used to determine if a reporter has reason to suspect that child abuse
or neglect has occurred and to assess the basis for a decision to petition the court. In general, good faith applies if any
reasonable person, given the same information, would draw a conclusion that a child may have been abused or neglected.
guardian ad litem
n. a person appointed
by the court only to take legal action on behalf of a minor or an adult not able to handle his/her own affairs. Duties may
include filing a lawsuit for an injured child, defending a lawsuit or filing a claim against an estate. Usually a parent will
file a petition to be appointed the guardian ad litem of a child hurt in an accident at the same time the lawsuit is filed.
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Immunity – established in all child abuse laws to protect reporters from civil lawsuits and criminal
prosecution resulting from filing a report of child abuse and neglect. Immunity is provided as long as the report is made
in good faith. This protection also applies to those who make decisions to petition the court. If the basis for the decision
is based on good faith, immunity applies. Depending on each State's law, this immunity may be absolute (complete) or qualified
(partial).
Juvenile and Family Courts – established in most States to resolve conflict and to otherwise intervene
in the lives of families in a manner that promotes the best interest of children. These courts specialize in areas such as
child maltreatment, domestic violence, juvenile delinquency, divorce, child custody, and child support.
Multidisciplinary Team – established between agencies and professionals to mutually discuss cases
of child abuse and neglect and to aid decisions at various stages of the child protection system case process. These teams
may also be designated by different names, including child protection teams, interdisciplinary teams, or case consultation
teams.
moral certainty
n. in a criminal trial, the reasonable
belief (but falling short of absolute certainty) of the trier of the fact (jury or judge sitting without a jury) that the
evidence shows the defendant is guilty. Moral certainty is another way of saying "beyond a reasonable doubt." Since there
is no exact measure of certainty it is always somewhat subjective and based on "reasonable" opinions of judge and/or jury.
Out-of-Home Care – child care, foster care, or residential care provided by persons, organizations,
and institutions to children who are placed outside of their families, usually under the jurisdiction of Juvenile/Family Court.
Petition – a document filed with the court that is used to initiate a civil child protective proceeding.
The petition contains the essential allegations of abuse or neglect that make up the petitioner's complaint about a particular
child's situation. It does not include all of the detailed facts available to the petitioner to support these allegations.
Preponderance of Evidence – the burden of proof for civil cases in most States, including child
maltreatment proceedings. The attorney for CPS or other petitioner must show by a preponderance of evidence that the abuse
or neglect happened. This standard means that the evidence is more credible than the evidence presented by the defendant party.
Protection Order – may be ordered by the judge to restrain or control the conduct of the alleged
maltreating adult or any other person who might harm the child or interfere with the disposition.
Reasonable Efforts – as required by State law, the State child welfare agency must make reasonable
efforts to keep the family together or, if the child has already been removed, to reunify the family. Before a State may receive
Federal financial support for the costs resulting from a child's removal from home into out-of-home care, a judge must determine
that reasonable efforts have been made to keep the family together. Similarly, placement may not be continued with Federal
support without a finding by the judge that such efforts have been made to reunite the family.
Review Hearing – held by the Juvenile/Family Court to review dispositions (usually every 6 months)
and to determine the need to maintain placement in out-of-home care and/or court jurisdiction of a child. Every State requires
State courts, agency panels, or citizen review boards to hold periodic reviews to reevaluate the child's circumstances if
he/she has been placed in out-of-home care. Federal law requires, as a condition of Federal funding eligibility, that a review
hearing be held within at least 18 months from disposition, and continuing at regular intervals to determine the ultimate
resolution of the case (i.e., whether the child will be returned home, continued in out-of-home care for a specified period,
placed for adoption, or continued in long-term foster care).
Termination of Parental Rights Hearing – a legal proceeding to free a child from a parent's legal
custody, so that the child can be adopted by others. The legal basis for termination of rights differs from State to State
but most consider the failure of the parent to support or communicate with the child for a specified period (extreme parental
disinterest), parental failure to improve home conditions, extreme or repeated neglect or abuse, parental incapacity to care
for the child, and/or extreme deterioration of the parent-child relationship. In making this finding, the court is determining
that the parents will not be able to provide adequate care for the child in the future by using a standard of clear and convincing
evidence. This burden of proof is higher than a preponderance of the evidence which is used in civil abuse or neglect cases
where termination is not sought.
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The Adoption Industry{secti
WHAT Industry? | BIG BUSINESS: $1.4 Billion | Adoption Affects Millions | CONSUMER DEMAND | The Industry Admits COERCION | Today's "Modus Operandi"
WHAT Industry?
Like any other industry, adoption is fueled by consumer demand. In this case, the demand of infertile couples to obtain other women's children, and who are often willing to pay from
$25,000 to $50,000 for that child.
BIG BUSINESS:
Adoption Services Valued At $1.4 Billion
Report by Nancy Ashe Copyright © 2001
About.com, Inc.
"An industry analysis of Fertility Clinics
and Adoption Services by Marketdata Enterprises of Tampa, FL, has placed a $1.4 billion value on adoption services in the
US, with a projected annual growth rate of 11.5% to 2004. According to a report from PR Newswire, this is the only analysis
of this business sector ever undertaken.
Some details:
- In 1999, there were 138,000 US adoptions;
- There are 4,500 adoption services providers in the US,
which include 2,000 public agencies, 2,000 private agencies, and 500 adoption attorneys;
- The number of attorneys involved in adoption has doubled
over the past 10 years;
- Gross income for small agencies can come to $400,000
per year, and $10+ million for large agencies.
- Much of the present and future growth is attributable
to the rise in international adoptions.
Marketdata's analysis places adoption costs between $15,000 - $30,000, and describes adoption as 'complex, and stories
of unscrupulous operators abound in this loosely regulated field.' "
From "About.Com: About Adoption"
Reprinted with Permission of Author |
Adoption Affects Millions
There are approximately 6 million adoptees in the United
States. We can extrapolate that there are usually 4 of parents involved in each adoption (two natural parents and two dopters).
This increases the number to 24 million people involved in Adoption. Add siblings, stepparents, facilitators, grandparents,
aunts, uncles, and it is not illogical to conclude that there are over 100 million people in the United States involved in
Adoption.
There are costs involved in the original adoption - usually
fees paid by adopters to a "third party" who acts as a broker. Examples of some fees are:
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Religious Agencies: A few hundred dollars to
$10,000.00 or more
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Non-denominational Private Agencies: $10,000
to $20,000
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Independent [Private] Adoption: A few thousand
dollars to $50,000 but may be higher if there are extremely high medical bills.
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Public Agencies: None to minimal. There may
be attorney fees to finalize the adoption
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International Adoption: $5,000 -$20,000 to
the agency plus transportation and lodging fees.
This is why there are entrepreneurs who make their livelihood
convincing young parents to relinquish their babies - it is a profitable business. These "baby brokers" include: adoption lawyers  maternity homes (often operated by charities and churches) "facilitators" government social workers commercial and "non-profit" agencies
Consumer Demand
Like all industries, the adoption industry is driven by
consumer demand. This demand was recognized as far back as 1953:
"... the tendency growing out of the demand for babies is to regard unmarried mothers as breeding machines...(by
people intent) upon securing babies for quick adoptions." - Leontine Young, "Is Money Our Trouble?" (paper presented at the
National Conference of Social Workers, Cleveland, 1953) {quote courtesy of Karen WB}
". . . babies born out of wedlock [are] no longer considered a social problem . . . white, physically
healthy babies are considered by many to be a social boon . . . " (i.e. a valuable commodity..). - Social Work and Social
Problems (1964), National Association of Social Workers. {quote courtesy of Karen WB}
" Because there are many more married couples wanting to adopt newborn white
babies than there are babies, it may almost be said that they, rather than out of wedlock babies, are a social problem. (Sometimes
social workers in adoption agencies have facetiously suggested setting up social provisions for more 'baby breeding.')" -
Social Work and Social Problems (1964), National Association of Social Workers. {quote courtesy of Karen WB}
The Industry Admits Coercion:
When unmarried motherhood was considered shameful to the
family, it was easy to convince parents to ship their unwed daughter to maternity homes (assuming that marriage had been ruled
out) and adoption lawyers:
"Parents embraced the idea of maternity homes partly because in the postwar
decades, parents themselves needed protection as much as their erring daughters... If the girl disappeared, the problem disappeared
with her." - Rickie Solinger, "Wake Up Little Suzie."
Pressure from society, churches, parents, maternity homes,
hospitals etc. - plus the virtual non-existance of welfare for young single mothers - virtually guaranteed that a young woman
raised to respect authority would surrender her baby. As well, social workers were convinced that unwed equalled unfit, that
that they were doing their moral duty in convincing (forcing/coercing) young women to surrender:
" Unwed mothers should be punished and they should be punished by taking
their children away." - Dr. Marion Hilliard of Women's College Hospital, Toronto. Daily Telegraph (November 1956) {quote courtesy of Karen WB}
" The fact that social work professional attitudes
tend to favor the relinquishment of the baby, as the literature shows, should be faced more clearly. Perhaps if it were recognized,
workers would be in less conflict and would therefore feel less guilty about their "failures" (the kept cases)." - Social
worker Barbara Hansen Costigan, in her dissertation, "The Unmarried Mother--Her Decision Regarding Adoption" (1964) {quote courtesy of Karen WB}
" The caseworker must then be decisive, firm and unswerving in her pursuit
of a healthy solution for the girl's problem. The "I'm going to help you by standing by while you work it through" approach
will not do. What is expected from the worker is precisely what the child expected but did not get from her parents--a decisive
"No!" .... An ambivalent mother, interfering with her daughter's ability ... to surrender her child, must be dealt with as
though she (the girl's mother) were a child herself." - Marcel Heiman, M.D. in "Out-Of-Wedlock Pregnancy In Adolescence,"
Casework Papers 1960. {quote courtesy of Karen WB}
Governments had (and still do have) their own incentive
for encouraging the adoption industry. Every baby surrendered by an unemployed unsupported single mother means one less welfare
recipient. An example: if a single parent is eligible
for welfare until their child was 7 years old, a government saves $35,000 (7 x $5,000 annually) in welfare payments each time
its social workers obtain a surrender. Federal governments also encourage adoption by providing cash bonuses to states for
every adoption completed.
"To the
Province generally the great advantage and economy of the Adoption Act can be realized when it is stated that many
of the children before their adoption were costing five and six dollars a week for maintenance." - 35th Report of the Superintendent
of Neglected and Dependent Children (Ontario, 1928)
Today's Modus Operandi
As divorce rates rose in the 70's and 80's, single parenthood
lost its stigma, women no longer experienced the same societal/family pressure to surrender, and the number of babies surrendered
in the U.S. and Canada began falling. Consumer demand has, if anything, risen dramatically, as women who have postponed children
for careers are now finding themselves infertile (see the April 15, 2002 Time magazine article "Making Time for a Baby"). According to Adoptive Families magazine, "For every healthy newborn available, there are now almost forty potential
parents searching." ("Love for Sale," Adoptive Families).
With money to be made from desperate "Family Builders,"
the industry has had to come up with new ways of obtaining its commodities. They have done this through modern marketing and
advertising tactics.
- Adopters have now formed "consumer groups." Pressure from these consumer groups on government has
led to laws changing to vastly decrease the time period in which a woman can revoke her surrender or consent to adoption.
- Adoption lawyers are promoting the legal idea that,
if a child is placed in an adoptive home even before the adoption in consented to, the adopters have the right to retain that
child against any challenge from the natural parents (see the "Children's Rights" page by the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys).
- The Internet has increasing numbers of websites
set up to encourage women to "place" their children. Agencies and lawyers fund these websites by purchasing advertising space
on them.
| "Adoption was created to
provide homes for orphans. These by definition are children without parents. Car crashes, war, natural disasters. It
was never created to provide children to 'poor infertile couples'. When did the wires get crossed? I guess when someone started
making money. Children are not a commodity!!!! Get a puppy."
- An adoptee
"Follow the money" - Deep Throat |
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