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Louisiana's Efforts to Eliminate Geographic Barriers
One State's Effort to Eliminate Geographic Barriers
The Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 (ASFA) included a number of measures designed to improve the speed and permanency of placements for children served by the child welfare system. One of the tenets of ASFA is to reduce geographic barriers to adoption.
Louisiana, like many states, had been reluctant in the past to place children in other areas of the state, much less the nation. North Louisiana workers, located in the "Piney Wood's" Bible belt, often felt placement in the big city of New Orleans would not be safe, while New Orleans workers felt there would be too much cultural shock for their children to have to learn to live in a rural northern or southern Louisiana community. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that placing children for adoption in other states was a serious concern. There was also a bias against using private providers, as the belief was that private agencies did not know how much effort and support was needed to place a special-needs child.
Louisiana was able to overcome these barriers and work toward many of the goals established in ASFA by employing several different strategies, many concurrently, that all lent themselves to a change in staff attitudes and philosophy. Following is a listing of some of the initiatives and effective strategies Louisiana used to increase the number of finalized adoptions.
ASFA Work Group
In early 1998, the Louisiana state child welfare office set up an ASFA work group that continues to meet at least monthly. All sections of ASFA were divided into "mapping logs," with staff assigned to monitor and ensure completion of each mandated task. Each sentence in the law was broken down to ensure every point was implemented or identified for further clarification. The work group is made up of administrative staff, with input from the judicial system, the Court Improvement Project, and Louisiana State University Law Center. This group provides the administrative support to the Louisiana Adoption 2002 project.
The Aoption 2002 Plan
As all states were required to do under ASFA, Louisiana developed a five-year Adoption 2002 plan. In the first year (1997-1998), state office staff developed a plan to take stock of the current situation, identify the barriers to adoptioom and develop strategies to overcome those barriers. A state office 2002 work group was formed of staff from all programs. Group members with field experience in adoption (although this may not have been their current program assignment) met with each of the 10 regions and went over statewide and regional statistics to establish a baseline. The regions were asked to meet with their communities, identify barriers to adoption, and, once identified, develop regional strategies. The state office also met with community participants and identified specific statewide barriers and strategies. The Louisiana Adoption 2002 plan was created as a composite of the 10 regional and statewide plans.
At the start of the 2002 project, regions were asked to predict their adoption finalization numbers for the next five years. Some regions were reluctant to forecast these numbers, fearing they would be held to their projections. These fears were assuaged by explaining that the forecasts were to be used only as a planning tool to show how many children could be placed and finalized if identified barriers were removed due to specific strategies.
The second year involved a two-step process modeled on the Texas "Hustle" project. The process, called the "Louisiana Two-Step," focused on finalizing foster parent adoptions and finding homes for all children who did not have an adoptive resource. The state office emphasized that it would provide any help it could. All the regions were visited again and the plan was reworked, statistics reviewed, issues discussed, and report made.
The third year of Adoption 2002 again involved taking stock of regional and statewide statistics and discussing the overall plans. A preliminary reading of adoption records facilitated staff's understanding of what constituted adequate documentation of efforts to place a child in an adoptive home. Examples of excellent documentation were highlighted and suggestions were made for additions or clarification needed in other documentation efforts. It was emphasized that only proper written documentation would stand up to an audit.
Mandating Listing on FACES
In July 1998, the first Louisiana child was listed on FACES of Adoption, a nationwide web-based photo listing book and adoption information service. The state office had been deliberating whether to use this resource because of concerns that they might be making at-risk children accessible to perpetrators in cyberspace. While the state was considering and reconsidering, officials discovered, when match referrals started coming in, that a Louisiana child had been listed on FACES due to a court order. In February 1999, the state office required that all children without an identified adoptive resource be listed on FACES. In 1998, there were 22 placements through FACES, all out of state. In 1999, 62 children were placed through FACES, with 22 placed out-of-state and 40 placed in Louisiana.
Exchange Meetings
In 1998, Louisiana began statewide exchange meetings for regional adoption specialists and home development staff and the private adoption agencies contracting with the state to place special-needs children.
National trainers are brought in to give advanced adoption training, as well as to provide some placement basics. Each region presents available children and families, and private agencies present families looking to adopt. The Lafayette region had already been making some out-of-state placements and was able to provide information on the oprocess during these mettings. The staff explained the purchase of service provess and the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children, shared packets of sample memoranda and forms, and openly discussed both the benefits and problems they had encountered. Information on how to use a private agency family, both in and out-of state, and the protocol for the use of FACES, was also covered.
Staff, who know the children well, had found it hard to approve placements where they themselves did not feel comfortable. The exchange meetings, nowver, offered an opportunity for adoption specialists, home developers, and private agency staff to network and start building relationships. Talking together, having coffee, or going out for dinner goes a long way in building trust.
Joint Adoption Training of Private and Public Agency Staff
Louisiana also decided to include in all adoption trainings, where possible, staff from private agencies and other adoption professionals who work with Louisiana's children as well as offering MAPP-GPS training to private adoption agency staff involved in placing special-needs children.
Expansion of Purchase of Services
Louisiana also expanded its purchase of service contract system. Several contracts with out-of-state agencies were developed to recruit for specific children. Contracts were developed with Louisiana adoption agencies to provide general recruitment. A reimbursement contracting system for child-specific placements, which breaks payments into several stages, was developed with private agency input. Depending on the individual needs of the child, payments may be made for recruitment, home study, placement, supervision, and finalization. The contracts are funded through the Title IV-B, Part 2, Adoption Promotion and Support.
Governor's Reception for Adoption Month
In November of 1999, a reception was held in the Governor's Mansion in Baton Rouge to celebrate National Adoption Month and to honor the adoptive parents and children whose adoptions were finalized during the 199-1999 fiscal year. The event proved to be an excellent media event, and interviews with families from all regions were downloaded to the local TV stations for airing that evening.
Louisiana Adoption Advisory Board
Louisiana also continues to contract with the Louisiana Adoption Advisory Board Inc. (LAAB) to put on a statewide adoption conference. This advisory board was developed through a 1990 Adoption Opportunities grant. LAAB functions as a specific intervention and benefit for special-needs adoptive families. The board includes all members of the adoption triad, along with adoption professional. Its members work with the state library system to purchase adoption related books, maintain a website containing adoption information and a listing of events that address special-needs adoption at www.laab.com, and develop publications and projects. One such project, "Poster Kids," creates life-size color pictures of children available for adoption. Each poster has "tear offs" on the back with information on the child. The project was recently assumed by the state, so now all children have a poster for recruitment purposes, if needed.
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