How to Adopt > Glossary - A to C

Adoption Glossary - A to C

ADD
Attention Deficit Disorder
ADHD
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
AFCARS
Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System.( AFCARS) is a system for collecting data on children in foster care and children who have been adopted. State child welfare agencies are responsible for reporting to the federal government on children in the state's foster care system, and on children who have been adopted under the auspices of the state child welfare agency.
ASFA
The Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 (ASFA) is a federal law which was established to promote the safety, permanence, and adoption of children in foster care. ASFA amends the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980 by taking further steps to promote the safety and permanence of children who have been abused or neglected.

The law limits the amount of time a child may stay in foster care by establishing shorter timelines for determining when children in foster care must have a plan for permanency. The law states that permanency court hearings must be held for children no later than 12 months after they enter foster care. The law also states that termination of parental rights proceedings must be begun for any child who has been in the care of a state agency for 15 out of the most recent 22 months. Exceptions may be made to this requirement if the child is in the care of a relative or for other compelling reasons.

ASFA also promotes interstate adoptions by prohibiting state agencies from denying or delaying a child's adoptive placement when an approved family is available outside of the child's jurisdiction. All 50 states have passed new legislation to comply with ASFA.
acting out
When describing a child's behavior, acting out refers to expression of emotions, particularly feelings such as anger, sadness, through actions as opposed to words. Behavior which may be appropriate to younger children, such as a throwing a temper tantrum, may fall into the category of acting out for an older child. Children who have been sexually abused may engage in sexual acting out behavior.
addendum
An addendum, also called an update, is a brief addition made to a homestudy to bring its contents up to date, and keep the homestudy current and usable.
adoptee
A person who joins a family through adoption. An adoptee may be an adult who was adopted as a child.
adoption
A permanent, legally binding arrangement through which a person, usually a child or teenager, becomes a member of a new family. In this arrangement, persons other than the birthparents assume all parental rights and obligations. The birthparents no longer have these rights and obligations and are no longer the legal parents of the child.
adoption agency
An organization that is licensed to prepare families to adopt children and/or to place waiting children with adoptive families.
adoption assistance agreement
An adoption assistance agreement is an arrangement for providing assistance to families who adopt children with special needs who are in the custody of a state or county department. In addition to financial assistance (subsidy), it may include a service subsidy to cover needs such as respite care or medical equipment. An adoption assistance agreement should be completed and signed prior to finalization.
adoption assistance programs
State and federal programs that provide financial and medical assistance to help parents care for children with special needs.
adoption benefits
Benefits to employees who are adopting a child or children, offered by some employers. They may include adoption information and referral services, paid or unpaid leave time, and/or financial reimbursement.
adoption certificate, adoption decree
An adoption certificate may also be called an adoption decree. A legal document issued by the court upon finalization of an adoption that certifies a child has been adopted, the adoption has been finalized, and the adoptee is the legal child of the adoptive parents.
adoption exchange
An adoption exchange is an organization that assists in matching children in need of homes with parents wishing to adopt. As a rule, exchanges do not approve families for adoption, have children in their custody, or place children. However, they work closely with agencies that do these things, and perform other support and resource services, such as maintaining web sites featuring photolistings of waiting children. Families may register themselves or have their worker register them with one or more exchanges. Many exchanges are run by state governments, while others are run by non-profit organizations.
adoption petition
An adoption petition or intent to adopt petition is a brief document which gives identifying information about the adoptive parents and the child to be adopted. This, together with the adoptive parents' homestudy, is filed with the court to initiate adoption proceedings.
adoption plan, individual plan
A particular set of plans birth parents makes for the adoption of their child. "Making an adoption plan for a child" is a positive alternative to phrases such as "giving up a baby" or "putting a child up for adoption."
adoption triad
The three major people in an adoption: birth parent, adoptive parent, and adopted child or adult adopted person. The term "adoption triad" has generally replaced the less positive "adoption triangle." "Adoption circle" may also be used.
adoptive parent, adoptive family
A person or persons who become the permanent parents through adoption, with all the social, legal rights and responsibilities of any parent.
advocacy
Active support, defense, arguing for a cause, idea, or policy. As a prospective adoptive parent, you are encouraged to become your own advocate as you are navigating your way through the adoption process, acquiring the skills and knowledge to be an active participant in moving the process along. These advocacy skills will continue to be valuable after placement, to ensure that the adopted child receives needed services, such as medical care and appropriate educational placement.
affidavit
A legal document in which the party who makes it swears that the information contained in the document is true and correct to the best of his or her knowledge.
age out
Aging out," aging out of the foster care system" refers to a young person reaching the age of 18 or 21 depending on state regulations and therefore no longer considered eligible for adoption. Plans are usually made is to prepare the youth for independent living.
agency, adoption agency
An organization that is licensed to prepare families to adopt children and/or to place waiting children with adoptive families.
agency adoption
An adoption that is arranged by a public or private adoption agency, as opposed to an independent adoption or private adoption, which may be arranged by an adoption lawyer or other facilitator.
amended birth certificate
The document, issued after a child has been adopted, reflects the adoptive parents as the child's parents.
Apgar scores
Apgar scores or Apgars are the results of a series of brief tests given to newborn infants. Five areas are tested, with two points given in each area. For an infant in good condition, the highest possible score is ten. The areas tested are heart rate, respiration, muscle tone, reflexes and color. Scores are generally taken at one minute and five minutes after birth.
approved
A family approved to adopt is one that has completed the homestudy process and for whom the homestudy document has been written or updated, signed, and dated within the past year (or other period specified by the state in which the family lives).
available
Refers to a waiting child is currently in need of an adoptive family and ready to begin the adoption process as soon as a family is located. Many in the adoption community prefer the more positive terms "waiting child" or "child in need of a family."
biological
In the adoption community, the term biological is often used to describe a genetic relationship between individuals. Since all people are actually "biological," many prefer to use other words to describe these relations, such as "birth children" or "children who were born to you" instead of "your biological children."
biracial
An individual whose racial heritage includes two different races. When using this as a descriptive term, it is helpful to indicate what the two races are, e.g. biracial African American/Latino.
birth certificate (amended)
The document issued after a child has been adopted reflecting the adoptive parents as the child's parents.
birth certificate (original)
A certified document, usually obtained only through a government agency, which indicates the birth information of a person including mother's and father's name and the name given to the child at the time of birth, as well as the date and place of birth.
birthfamily, birth relatives
An individual's relatives by birth, as opposed to relatives in the family that adopted that individual. Birth families include extended families as well as birth parents and siblings.
birth order
The order in which children in a family were born. Each child has a place in the birth order (first child, youngest daughter, etc.) and adopting a child or children may change that order.
birthparent, birthmother, birthfather
The parents who gave birth to a child. In the adoption community, these terms usually refers to the parents who gave birth to a child, made an adoption plan for the child and subsequently relinquished the child for adoption.
CASA worker
Court Appointed Special Advocate is trained community volunteer who is assigned to a particular child and speaks for the best interests of a child in court.
CPS
Child Protective Services. A branch of the Department of Human Services, or other similar governmental department, which has responsibility for ensuring that children are protected from abuse, neglect, and dangerous or unhealthful living conditions. When these conditions exist, or when a birthparent is no longer able to care for a child or children, Child Protective Services is responsible for making an appropriate foster care arrangement and continued follow-up.
CWLA
Child Welfare League of America
caseworker
A social worker who is responsible for working on a particular client's (family or dependent child's) case (affairs, needs, circumstances, problems, plans, and general well-being, and the records kept on these).
child abuse clearances
Similar to criminal clearances, this is a method of checking to see if a person has a history of child abuse. This is used as part of the approval process for prospective adoptive parents. In some states there is a central registry where the names of all known child abusers are kept on file. A prospective parent (or employee) must complete a form and submit it to this registry and the registry will send back information indicating that the person is either clear or has a record. These clearances must be updated annually as part of the annual updating of a homestudy.
child assessment, child profile
A child assessment or child profile, also called a social summary, is the written document completed by a child's caseworker which provides comprehensive information about the child, including family history; medical, educational, psychological and educational assessments; history of previous placements; and daily routines. Usually completed before an agency begins to recruit families for a child, it should be made available to any family (or family's worker) that the child's agency is seriously considering.
closed adoption
A closed adoption is an adoption in which no identifying information about the birthfamily or the adoptive family is shared, and there is no contact between birthparents and adoptive parents. The adoptive family usually receives non-identifying information about the child and the birthfamily before placement. In a closed adoption, after finalization, the records are sealed and typically are not available to the adopted child.
concurrent planning
In social work, this term refers to making plans for a child's reunification with the birthfamily, while at the same time recruiting adoptive families as a back-up plan. One way to do this is by placing a child in the home of a foster family or family member who could become the child's adoptive family if the biological parent fails to regain custody. Another is by beginning recruitment for an adoptive family before the child is legally free.
confidential information
In adoption, this usually refers to private information about a waiting child or child's birthfamily, which is not shared with the general public and may be only partially shared with the, adoptive family. Confidential information might include the birth parents last names, addresses, names and addresses of siblings, reasons why the child came into placement, information about physical or sexual abuse, birth parents' history of substance abuse, criminal history, reasons child moved from previous foster or adoptive homes, and in-depth information about the child's disabilities.
confidentiality
Protection of one's personal identifying information, or other information of a personal nature. Adoption agencies may not disclose identifying information about any client to any other source except in special circumstances as described in licensing regulations (such as when there is a child abuse allegation).
consent to adoption
Consent to adoption may refer to a legal document signed by the birth parents to give legal intent to their desire for the adoption of their child, or a document issued by the adoption agency allowing the adoptive family to finalize the adoption after all agency and legal requirements have been met. The consent of the child being adopted may also be needed.
cooperative adoption
An open adoption or cooperative adoption allows for some form of association between the birthfamily, adoptees, and adoptive parents. This can range from picture and letter sharing, to phone calls to contact through an intermediary, and open contact between the parties themselves. Many adoptions of older children and teens are at least partially open, since the children may know identifying or contact information about members of their birthfamilies, or may want to stay in touch with siblings placed separately.
counseling
A process through which a person can receive assistance in sorting out issues and reaching decisions appropriate to their life circumstances. Counseling for adoption should be done by trained, experienced, adoption counselors. Birthparent counseling should involve exploration of all options, including parenting the child, kinship adoption, foster care and various types of adoptions, and should be a part of the adoption of any newborn infant.
criminal clearances
Similar to child abuse clearances, this is a method of checking through the state police department to determine if a person has a criminal record. The state supplies forms and the clearances must be updated on an annual basis. In adoptions, all adults living in a household must obtain criminal and child abuse clearances prior to a child being placed in that home.
custody
The legal responsibility for the care and maintenance of a child. Custody can be awarded by the court to an agency, such as a department of children and youth services, or to an individual. A department of children and youth services may assign this responsibility to another agency (known as a provider agency) while retaining legal custody of a child. Child welfare departments retain legal custody for children who are in foster care or pre-adoptive homes.