The Los Angeles Adoption Initiative is a three year effort spearheaded
by the Children’s Action Network,
devoted to placing increased
numbers of children in adoptive homes. It is designed to address
three key areas in adoption; recruitment of adoptive parents, retention
of adoptive parents and support for adoptive families.
The initiative will focus initially on finding homes for the children
legally freed for adoption in Los Angeles County, and put in place
best practices to assure more expedient and stable adoptions with
the goal of affecting systemic change.
It assumes a collaboration between four lead fost/adopt agencies
who will share the additional resources accrued from the initiative
and in turn devote staff and agency time to the initiative’s
goals. The Children’s Action Network will serve as the convener
and coordinator of the initiative.
- To
recruit additional families for waiting children using innovative
community outreach
- To
retain and support adoptive families by providing comprehensive
and ongoing support services.
- A
mobile unit designed to reach into communities with a message
about adoption as well as provide face to face contact with
adoption agencies
- Assessments
and psychological services for children and families
- Home
visits for each new adoptive family
- Post
adoption supports including a hosted chat room and respite care
- Institute
for Black Parenting Holy Family
- Los
Angeles Department of Children and Family Services, Adoption
Division
- UCLA
TIES for Adoption
- Vista
del Mar
- Westside
Children’s Center
The
mobile unit is a vital, unique new way to reach directly into communities
with a message about adoption. The unit will travel to community
fairs and events as well as religious and school gatherings. Sites
will be determined by the four cooperating agencies. When the unit
is in a particular area it will be staffed by the agency that covers
that area. A follow up visit by the unit will always be scheduled
so that families who visited can be recontacted and have a forum
to address their concerns.
In order to know best how to serve the children that have been placed
through this project, the Ties for Adoption team and an itinerant
psychologist will perform a comprehensive assessment of each child
placed in a family. The assessment will identify the services needed
to insure the child is functioning at the highest possible level
so that the family can avail themselves of the appropriate services.
Parents that begin the adoptive process through this effort will
receive the three part TIES training module in addition to the regular
MAPP classes. The participating agencies will collaborate to conduct
the TIES training model
Once parents have completed the adoption process, they continue
to need support. This initiative will provide for a social worker
to go to each adoptive family subsequent to finalization. The home
visitor will help families access the services they need for their
adoptive children.
In order to address questions as they arise and enable families
to access expert advice, a web site will be developed. It will link
to agencies that can provide assistance with issues such as adoption
benefits as well as provide a hosted chat room where an expert on
a particular issue will be available on a bimonthly basis.
|
