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Abstract

This exploratory study, conducted in Washington, D.C. and New York City, sought to examine foster youths' views of adoption, permanency, and adoption recruitment. Using data collected from focus groups with foster youth, ages 11 to 19, the study raised three important findings: (1) foster care experiences influence youths' perceptions of adoption; (2) youth have concerns and fears about adoption; and (3) youth expect autonomy and want to feel empowered. The study's findings suggest that child welfare agencies and caseworkers may have more to do in terms of educating youth about adoption and other permanency options.

Introduction

As of September 30, 2005, 513,000 children were in the foster care system. A significant portion (40 percent) of these children were teens. During this year, 5,750 children age 13 or older were adopted from the foster care system. To contrast, nearly 25,000 youth were emancipated from the foster care system this same year (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 2006). Child welfare officials report few families are interested in adopting older youth, and many caseworkers do not actively seek adoptive placements for teens because the youth are unsure or hesitant about being adopted (Geen, Malm, and Katz 2004). At the same time, prior research conducted with adolescents who have been adopted shows that adopted foster youth are generally happy they have been adopted (Wright and Flynn 2006).

In 2007, Urban Institute researchers conducted five focus groups with a total of 34 foster youth age 11 through 19 in New York City and Washington, D.C., over several months. The teen participants were living in various placement settings—kin and nonkin foster homes and group homes. When surveyed, nearly all of them had a permanency goal of independent living. In the focus groups, the teens were asked about permanency, adoption, and recruitment activities. The focus groups evolved from our earlier work on recruitment and retention of adoptive parents in which we heard from child welfare caseworkers that older youth were not always interested in adoption and often refused to participate in recruitment activities; yet, we had not previously talked directly with youth. This brief presents information from the 2007 focus groups to provide insights into foster youths’ perceptions of permanency, adoption, and recruitment.

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The nonpartisan Urban Institute publishes studies, reports, and books on timely topics worthy of public consideration. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute, its trustees, or its funders.

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