Infant Adoption Awareness Training Program
Guidelines
On October 17, 2000 the U.S. Congress, under Public Law 103-310, amended the Public Health Services Act to authorize specific activities pertaining to Infant Adoption Awareness (title XII, Subtitle A). The legislation requires the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to award grants to adoption organizations to develop and implement programs to train the designated staff of eligible health centers in providing adoption information and referral to pregnant women on an equal basis with all other courses of action included in nondirective counseling for pregnant women. The term "eligible health centers" means public and nonprofit private entities that provide health services to pregnant women. The legislation also requires the Secretary to establish a set of best-practice guidelines to which the DHHS-funded training programs will adhere in providing training to staff of eligible health centers.
In response to these legislative requirements, the Department of Health and Human Services has developed the following "best-practice" guidelines to be followed by recipients of cooperative agreements in developing curriculum and providing training to implement the Infant Adoption Awareness Training Program (IAATP). This "best-practice" guideline is critical for attaining the primary IAATP goal- enhancing the ability of health center personnel to provide adoption information and referral on an equal basis with all other courses of action included in nondirective counseling for pregnant women.
Consistent with the intent of the legislation, these guidelines were developed in consultation with 29 experts in the fields of adoption, child welfare, health services, medicine, law, and adoption counseling, as well as adoptive parents.
Guidelines Specific to the Infant Adoption Awareness Training Program
Training Goals- The training will impart up-to-date and accurate information about adoption, including the various types of adoptions (e.g., closed adoptions and adoptions involving varying levels of "openness" with respect to the amount of contact or information exchanged between adoptive parents and birth parents).
- The training will be consistent with applicable State law, imparting information on the legal issues pertaining to adoption, including the rights of the birth mother and father.
- The training will impart information to the trainees about the Multiethnic Placement Act/Interethnic Placement Act (MEPA/IEP), particularly as it relates to the circumstances under which a birth parent may or may not choose adoptive parents for the child.
- The training will impart information to the trainees about the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), and particularly will explain that organizations that work with birth parents on adoption will ascertain as soon as possible whether a child is or will be subject to ICWA prior to proceeding with the adoption process.
- The training will impart information about how family members and the birth mother's community may impact her pregnancy decision process.
- The training will impart information about the role of the birth father in the pregnancy decision.
- The training will impart information about various adoption services available within the community and how to assess the quality of those services and their appropriateness for a particular woman.
- The training will impart information on adolescent development and the differences between counseling adolescents at varying ages and counseling older women.
- The training will impart information about the psychological and emotional reactions such as shame, grief, loss, guilt, and depression that the birth mother is likely to experience throughout the decision-making process as she considers various pregnancy options, as well as the emotions the birth father is likely to experience.
- Trainees will increase their awareness of their attitudes and biases pertaining to adoption so that they are able to present the adoption option in an objective, non-biased manner.
- Trainees will increase their sensitivity, understanding and skills regarding the influences that both a birth mother and birth father may experience from family, peers, and community.
- Trainees will improve their basic counseling skills, including cultural competence, listening, building rapport, recognizing someone in crisis, being empathetic and treating clients with respect.
- Training participants who will counsel pregnant women will be skilled in non-directive counseling to ensure that adoption information, and information about other pregnancy options, is presented objectively, without bias or judgment.
- Consistent with State and Federal law, trainees will increase their knowledge of adoption and adoption procedures so that they are able to present accurate and up-to-date information during counseling consistent with State and Federal law.
- Training participants will increase their knowledge of available adoption-related referral resources and how to assess the quality and/or appropriateness of these resources.
- Trainees who will counsel pregnant women will have basic case management skills, including the ability to assess service needs and make appropriate referrals.
- The training curriculum will include interactive exercises that promote skills development, such as role-playing and discussions of potential responses to various scenarios.
- The training curriculum will include exercises, such as attitude awareness activities, that promote awareness of personal biases, prejudices, and negative attitudes and how they impact the provision of adoption information, as well as information on other pregnancy options.
- The training curriculum will include a component in which birth parents, adoptive parents, and/or adult adoptees present their experiences with adoption.
- The training curriculum will include resource materials that trainees can take with them to refer to when they are providing counseling on pregnancy options and to disseminate to the women they are counseling.
- The training should involve no more than 2 (6-hour) days.
- The training should be conducted by experienced trainers.
- The training should include presentations and opportunities for interaction with professionals from both the health field and the adoption field.
Consultants for Developing Best-Practice Guidelines for the Infant Adoption Awareness Training Program
The fact that these individuals are listed does not imply that they agree with the guidelines in their entirety.
Carol Adlard
Executive Director
Adoption Option, Inc.
Cincinnati, OH 45242
Janice Allen
Executive Director
Catholic Community Services
Baton Rouge, LA 70821
Sue Badeau (Adoptive Parent)
Consultant
Casey Family Programs
Washington, DC 20006
Joni Barardino (Adoptive Parent)
Former Director of health Care Services
National Center for Farmworker Health
Austin, TX 78749
Dr. Frank Bonati, President
Family Health Council
Pittsburgh, PA 15222
Dr. Barbara Cambridge, Professor
Department of OB/GYN
University of Texas
South West Medical Center
Dallas, TX 75235
Meryl Cohen
Vice-President of Education and Counseling
Planned Parenthood of Houston and Southeast Texas
Houston, TX 77004
Sandy Cook
Executive Director
The Children's Home Society of North Carolina
Greensboro, NC 27415-4608
Dr. Tom Curtain
Associate Vice President of Clinical Affairs
National Association of Community Health Centers
Washington D.C. 20036
Howard Davidson, Director (Adoptive Parent)
ABA Center of Children and Law
Washington, D. C.
Phoebe Dawson, Executive Director
New Beginnings
Columbus, Georgia 31906
Maureen Hogan, Executive Director, (Adoptive Parent)
National Adoption Foundation
Washington, D.C. 20036
Barbara Holtan
Executive Director
Tressler Lutheran Social Services
York, PA 17403
Linda Jacobson
Nurse Consultant
Washington State Department of Health
Olympia, WA 98504
Beverly Jones, Director
Fulton County Department of Family and Children's Services
Atlanta, GA 30315
Charles Kenny, President
Kenny and Associates, Inc.
The Right Brain People
Memphis, TN 38134
Jackie Leifer, General Counsel
National Association of Community Health Centers
Washington, DC 20036
Amy Garvin-Liddell
Adoption Supervisor
Children's Home Society
West Palm Beach, FL 33407
Carolyn Hoard
Legislative Director
American Adoption Congress
New Castle, DE 19720
John Levesque, Adoption Director
Maine Department of Human Services
Augusta, ME 04333
Dorothy Mann, Executive Director
Family Planning Council
Philadelphia, PA 19102
Freda Mitchem
Director of System Development and Grant Project Director
National Association of Community Health Centers
Washington, DC 20036
Anne Pierson, Director
Loving and Caring
Lancaster, PA 17601
Patrick Purtill, President and CEO
National Council for Adoption
Washington, DC 20009-6207
Douglas Reiniger
New York, NY 27415-4608
(Member of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys)
Alisa Rulnick
Assistant Director of Standards and Evaluation
Council on Accreditation
New York, NY 10005
Jayne Schooler
Professional trainer and author of several books on adoption
Consultant, Institute for Human Services
West Carrollton, OH 45449
Mary Beth Styles
Former Vice-President and Current Board Member
National Council for Adoption
Centreville, VA 20120
Ada White
Adoption Director
Child Welfare League of America
Washington, DC 20001-2085
Awarded Grants
To view information about current and previously funded grants under this program, go to either:
- ACYF Directory of Funded Grants - for abstracts and contact information for grant awardees starting with FY 2002--use the "guided search", select "year", select "Children's Bureau", and select the Infant Adoption Awareness program.
- Children's Bureau Listing of Discretionary Grant and Competitive Grant Awards - For awardees names and funding levels from FY 2000 and later.
