The Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute was established in 1996 as an independent and unbiased adoption research and policy organization. It works to improve the lives of people touched by adoption by offering lawmakers reliable information for improving adoption laws, working to remove barriers that impede adoption of children into permanent families, researching policies and practices that impact adoption and promoting ethical standards for adoption professionals.

“We are very pleased to be partnered with The Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, a premier policy and advocacy group” said Jeanne Howard, co-director of Illinois State’s Center for Adoption Studies. “The support from the Donaldson Institute helps us to continue our research into critical adoption issues. That research benefits the adoption process here in Illinois and will help the Donaldson Institute fulfill its mission of providing reliable adoption information on the national level. Through this affiliation we can influence adoption policy and practice nationwide.”

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.