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Adoption Studies Gains Permanence
Dr. Jeanne A. Howard and
Dr. Susan Livingston Smith
On February 17, the Board of Trustees granted the Center for Adoption Studies permanent status as a center at ISU. The Center for Adoption Studies, housed in the School of Social Work, was established in 1998 as a result of a cooperative agreement between the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) and ISU. The research center’s co-directors—Jeanne A. Howard, Associate Professor of Social Work, and Susan Livingston Smith, Professor Emerita of Social Work—were honored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services with the Adoption Excellence Award in the category of Applied Scholarship and Research in 2000. Permanence will allow for the composition of an annual research report, assistance to child welfare workers nationally in developing adoption policy and practice, and development of national and state funding sources.

 

The Center is staffed by Professors Nina Hamilton and Diane Zosky from the School of Social Work, PhD Candidates from Psychology Anne Howard and Kristal Shelvin, and BSW candidates Shanna Blair and Camelia Hackney.

While not becoming involved in individual adoption processes, the Center for Adoption Studies provides leadership and resources in the development of post-adoption services in Illinois and in the development and dissemination of knowledge to advance adoption practice; facilitates the ongoing operation of post adoption services in Illinois; serves as a repository of information on adoption research, policies, and practice throughout the nation; and provides timely responses to Departmental inquiries for information on specific adoption-related issues.

The Center assists the Illinois DCFS by conducting research which informs adoption policy and practice. In addition, the Center’s staff maintains several ongoing research initiatives, such as: the Analysis of Adoption & Guardianship Preservation Services, through which the Center collects non-identifying data on the thousands of families who are served by Adoption & Guardianship Preservation Services in Illinois; the Study on Adoption Disruption which interprets whether the efforts of the Adoption and Safe Families Act to promote an increase in adoption has resulted in less careful adoption preparation and practice and, as a result, an increase in the rate of adoption disruption; and the Evaluation of Respite Care Services, which is evaluating a 3-year Adoption Opportunities grant received by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services for the development of respite care services to adoptive families at a high level of need for this service.

The Center’s staff develops curricula, serves on advisory councils and planning workgroups, and provides training for adoption professionals. For example, the Center acts as a training center for the staff of the Adoption & Guardianship Preservation Program across the state of Illinois; seeks to develop a curriculum which outlines the model of intervention (knowledge base, skills, and techniques) comprising best practice in adoption preservation work through the “Best Practice in Adoption Preservation” project; and offers a developing library of information on adoption, adoption related issues, and adoption policy across the U.S. 
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