Terms
Adoption: a legal process in which parental rights of a child are granted to adoptive parents.
Adoptee: a person who is legally placed with an adoptive family.
Adoption Agency: a licensed organization that provides services in which to place children with families or individuals who are approved for adoption by the proper authority.
Adoption Agreement
A document in which birth and adoptive parents agree to a plan which outlines the degree of communication between them.
Adoption Plan
Refers to the birthparents' decision to allow their child to grow up in an adoptive family.
Adoption Attorney: a professional who handles the necessary legal functions involved with the placement of children with families or individuals who are approved for adoption. In most instances, attorneys are able to provide additional adoption related services such as re-adoption.
Adoption Certificate / Decree: also known as the Certificate of Adoption, this is the document that is signed by the presiding Judge upon finalization of the adoption. This official document allows for a new birth certificate to be issued for the adopted child by the appropriate authority. This new birth certificate will reflect the child's new information (name, adoptive parents, etc.) and will replace the original birth certificate.
Adoption Facilitator: a person or organization that assists prospective adoptive parents and/or adoption agencies in finding adoptable children. Not all facilitators are required to have a license - it is all dependent upon where they do business. Facilitation is NOT legal in SC; however it is legal is other states.
Adoptive Parent: an individual who is granted parental rights for a child through a proper legal channel.
Refers to the birthparents' decision to allow their child to grow up in an adoptive family.
Adoption Social Worker
A trained professional who counsels birth and adoptive parents regarding adoption and parenting.
Adoption Triad
Birthparents, adoptive parents, and the adopted child(ren).
Apostille: an apostille is used to confirm the authenticity of the signature on a particular document, that the notary is a valid notary for the state indicated, and identifies any seals and/or stamps. It is most often used in countries that are Hague compliant.
At-Risk Placement or Legal-Risk Placement
The placement of a child into a family when birthparents' rights have not yet been legally severed or when rights have been severed but the appeal period has not expired. The degree of risk depends upon the biological parent’s legal situation.
Minimum Risk –the birth mother has signed a relinquishment of her legal rights to the child and the birth father has signed a denial of paternity or the birth father was unnamed due to mother's inability to name him (identity unknown-John Doe)
Moderate Risk – the birth mother has signed a relinquishment and the birth father has not been name due to mother’s refusal to do so or father fails to respond after repeated attempts to locate him.
High Risk – 1) the birth mother has signed a relinquishment and the birth father admits paternity but has failed to follow-through with relinquishment. 2) child entered DSS due to child abuse or neglect 3) parents have legally abandoned child for more than six consecutive months but the termination of parental rights (TPR) has not completed.
Birthparents (also known as birthmother and birthfather) Biological or genetic parents of a child.
Caseworker / Social Worker: individuals that assist birthparents and/or adoptive parents with their adoption process. They are responsible for many things throughout the process such as completing home studies and counseling.
Certification: the process used to legitimately authenticate official documents. This typically requires that a seal or apostille (see above term) be affixed to the document in the manner that is specifically required by law or regulation to confirm its authenticity.
Citizenship and Immigration Service (CIS) formerly the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS): a federal agency that is governed by the U.S. Department of Justice and handles the immigration of all foreign-born persons into the U.S. Before a foreign adoption can even take place, the CIS must authorize the foreign child to be allowed to enter the U.S. for the purpose of adoption. This is done by completing Form I-600 and I-600A.
Closed / Confidential Adoption: an adoption in which neither the adoptive parents nor the birthparents have any identifying information regarding each other.
Consent Form: the legal document signed by birthparents that terminates their parental rights over their child.
Consulate Registration: when a child is adopted internationally, they are required to be registered with the Consulate of their birth country.
Disrupted Adoption
An adoption that fails before or after finalization.
Dissolution
An adoption that has been finalized is later terminated/dissolved.
Domestic Adoption
The adoption of a child who is born in the United States.
Dossier: in international adoption, this refers to a set of required legal documents that are used to process the adoption of a child in its own country by adoptive parents. In some cases, it is used for the adoptive parents so that they may be granted legal custody or guardianship of the child in the foreign court, in order for the child to be brought by the adoptive parents to the U.S. for adoption.
Finalization: the stage in the adoption process when the court awards the Petition to Adopt to the adoptive parents. For international adoption, finalization means that the judge has granted the adoptive family parental rights to the child - the adoption is finalized.
Form I-600 and Form I-600A Visa Petitions: standard forms used to request that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (CIS) (formerly the INS) categorize an orphan in a foreign country as an immediate relative of its intended adoptive parents, in order to issue a visa to that child, allowing it to enter into the U.S.
Hague (Hague Convention on International Adoptions): an international agreement that includes over 35 countries, including the U.S., that set standards and procedures to protect children involved in inter-country adoptions. It is also set up to protect the interests of their birth and adoptive parents in the participating countries. The agreement is designed to discourage "black markets" and to ensure that inter-country adoptions are completed with the best interests of the children in mind.
Home Study: the in-depth review prospective adoptive parents must go through to be able to legally adopt. A home study typically includes evaluations of the adoptive parents' relationship, inspections of their residence, parenting ideals, medical history, employment verification, financial status, and criminal background checks.
Identifying Information: information regarding birthparents, adoptive parents, or an adopted child that discloses (or could possibly lead to the discovery of) the identity of any of these individuals. Examples of identifying information are last name, address, phone number, date of birth, or social security number.
Independent Adoption
An adoption where the child is placed directly with the adoptive couple, usually through an attorney or intermediary, without pre-adoption counseling for the birthparents or the adoptive couple.
International Adoption Specialist: a medical professional that is experienced and familiar with children who are orphaned and/or abandoned. For international adoptions, most U.S. pediatricians don't know what is common for a child that has spent time in an orphanage or institution.
International / Inter-Country Adoption: the adoption of a child by adoptive parents of another country. In the U.S. this refers to U.S. citizens adopting children from Russia, China, Ukraine, etc.
Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC)
A law that requires written notice of the intention to place a child from one state for adoption or foster care with a family in another state.
Non-Identifying Information
Information which allows the members of the adoption triad to know something about each other, but does not directly identify them to each other. First names, physical descriptions, occupation, education, personality characteristics, hobbies, interests, and religious affiliation are examples of non-identifying information.
Open Adoption
An adoption plan in which identifying information about birth and adoptive families is openly shared, and there is ongoing contact after placement occurs.
Orphan: a child in a foreign country who has no living parents, or whose parents have disappeared or abandoned the child. In order for a child to be able to be brought into the U.S. for the purpose of adoption, the child must legally be an "orphan."
Orphanage: institution in a foreign country where children are placed because they are orphaned, abandoned, or their parents are unable to care for them.
Petition to Adopt: in the U.S., this is an official document that is filed with the court to commence the act of adoption.
Photolisting: any form of publication that includes photos and/or descriptions of adoptable children.
Placement: describes the point in time when the child goes to live with his/her legal adoptive parents.
Placing Country: in international adoption, this refers to the country where the adoptive family resides and where the child resides once the adoption is complete.
Portfolio: prospective adoptive parents often write a letter of introduction for birthparents. It usually includes family photos and discusses their lifestyle, hopes, religion, and any other topics they feel a birthparent might want to know about them.
Post-Placement Supervision: upon placement, a caseworker will be assigned to complete post-placement supervision of the adoptive family. The caseworker will visit the home several times during a set period of time (according to state requirements) to determine if adoption of the child was in the "best interests of the child."
Re-Adoption: when adoptive parents go through the process of adopting a foreign child in the U.S. after it has already been finalized in the foreign country. This is in order for the child to obtain a U.S. birth certificate, showing the adoptive parents to be the legal parents.
Relinquishment: when a birthparent voluntarily surrenders his or her parental rights to a child. The parental rights are typically transferred to an agency, rather than directly to the new adoptive parents.
Revoke Consent: the decision by a birthparent to rescind their consent for the termination of their parental rights.
Semi-Open Adoption
An adoption plan where there is planned communication, spelled out in a written agreement, that takes place between the adoptive and birthparents while the child is growing up. The agreement and subsequent communication are arranged through a third party, a mediator, who is sensitive to issues of both families.
Sending Country: in international adoption, this refers to the country where the adoptive family adopts their child from.
Special Needs Adoption
This phrase refers to children who have physical or emotional challenges, who are older children, or who are members of a sibling group or a racial minority (as defined by the federal government).
Termination of Parental Rights (TPR): when birthparents sign a consent form to terminate parental rights to their child. This ends all legal rights and responsibilities of the birthparents for that child.
Traditional Agency Adoption
An adoption where an agency identifies and brings together birthparents, children, and adoptive parents.
Visa: indicates that an application that was filed by the adoptive parents has been reviewed by a Consular officer of the country's embassy or consulate, and that the officer has determined that they are eligible to enter the country for a specific purpose.
Waiting Child
A child waiting to be adopted.
Waiting Families
Families waiting to adopt a child.
SPECIAL NEEDS DEFINITIONS
Abandonment - Desertion of a child by a parent or adult primary caregiver with no provisions for continued childcare nor with any apparent intention to return to resume caregiving.
Abuse - Many of the children waiting for adoptive families are victims of sexual, physical, and/or emotional abuse. Sometimes past abuse is not immediately known and may be revealed later. Abuse can leave children with emotional and behavior problems that need to be worked through with the help of knowledgeable professionals. The degree of abuse and the impact it has on the child vary greatly.
Abuse and Neglect - Physical, sexual and/or emotional maltreatment. Child abuse and neglect is defined as the act or failure to act resulting in imminent risk of serious harm, death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse, or exploitation of a child by a parent or caretaker who is responsible for the child's welfare. Abuse and neglect are defined in both Federal and State legislation. The Federal CAPTA legislation provides a foundation for States by identifying a minimum set of acts or behaviors that characterize maltreatment. This legislation also defines which acts are considered physical abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse maltreatment.
Adjustment Disorder - The development of emotional or behavioral symptoms such as depression, anxiety, sleeping problems, inappropriate conduct, etc. - in response to an identifiable stress event that are more intense than one would expect from such a stressor.
Alcohol-Related Birth Defects - Physical or cognitive deficits in a child which result from maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy, including but is not limited to Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FASD) and Fetal Alcohol Effects (FASD).
Attachment Disorder - The inability of a child to form significant emotional connections with other people. Children who have experienced abuse and neglect, even when very young, will sometimes find it difficult to form significant ties. While they may be very charming, their relationship to others may be superficial. Lying, being out of control, lack of conscience development, and the inability to maintain direct eye contact are among the signs of attachment disorder.
Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) - A child with ADD is not hyperactive but may have many of the following difficulties: Concentration problems, difficulty following directions, difficulty completing tasks, easily distracted, loses things, and overly messy or overly neat.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) - A disorder that involves problems with attention span, impulse control, and activity level. Typical behaviors include: fidgeting, difficulty remaining seated, distractibility, difficulty waiting for turns, difficulty staying on task, difficulty playing quietly, excessive talking, inattention, and engaging in physically dangerous activities without considering consequences.
Bipolar Disorder - A mental illness characterized by cycles of mania and depression. During manic periods, individuals may seem very happy and be hyperactive. In severe episodes, psychotic symptoms may also be present.
Boarder Babies - Infants abandoned in hospitals because of the parents' inability to care for them. A high percentage of these babies are born HIV-positive or drug-addicted.
Bonding - The process of developing lasting emotional ties with one's immediate caregivers; seen as the first and primary developmental task of a human being and central to the person's ability to relate to others throughout life. Bonding is often confused with attachment.
Cerebral Palsy - A non-hereditary condition resulting from brain damage before, during, or after birth. Children with cerebral palsy lack muscle control in one or more parts of their bodies or may experience speech and language difficulties, depending on the area of the brain damaged. Individuals with cerebral palsy can possess very normal mental functions.
Conduct Disorder - A condition characterized by a strong unwillingness to meet societal norms or expectations.
Cognitive Delays - Delays in the customary development of a person's ability to process information or think logically or analytically.
Developmental Disabilities - Often used to describe a variety of conditions, with implications ranging from mild to severe. It is usually used to describe any condition or disorder - physical, cognitive, or emotional - that interferes with a child's normal progress.
Disrupted Adoption - Occasionally, an adoptive family "disrupts" or severs an adoption. When this happens, the child returns to foster care and reenters the SC DSS program.
Emotional Behavior Disorder (EBD) - Children who are diagnosed with emotional or behavioral disorders have an established pattern of behavior characterized by one or more of the following:
• Severely aggressive and impulsive behaviors.
• Severely withdrawn or anxious, depression, mood swings, pervasive unhappiness.
• Severely disordered thought processes manifested by unusual behavior patterns, atypical communication styles, and distorted interpersonal relationships.
• Inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relations necessary to the learning process with peers, teachers, and others.
•Failure to attain or to maintain a satisfactory rate of educational or developmental progress that can not be improved or explained by cognitive, sensory, health, cultural, or linguistic factors.
Emotional Disabilities - Some children, due to their past history, genetics, or both, must cope with emotional difficulties in their daily living. These children may require special therapeutic school programs and special living arrangements. The school programs usually have varying levels.
Educable Mental Retardation (EMR) - Mental retardation affects people in different ways. Some have educable retardation, meaning they can be educated and trained for future responsibilities. EMR classes and programs help them achieve a level of independence. Roughly 85 percent of those with retardation fall into this category.
FASD - Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Fetal Alcohol Effect - Conditions that result from alcohol use by the birth mother during pregnancy. Children born with FASD or FASD can have organic brain damage, low birth weight, birth defects, mental retardation, and learning impairments in varying degrees.
Guardian ad Litems - People who are appointed by judges to speak on behalf of the best interests of a child whose case is in juvenile court. Duties include reading court documents, visiting the child in the foster home, and consulting with social workers, teachers, doctors and family members before making a report to the Court about the child's situation.
Impulse Control Disorder - A mental disorder characterized by an individual's recurrent failure to resist impulsive behaviors that may be harmful to themselves or others.
Individual Education Plan (IEP) - A plan drawn up by a child's special education teacher and other parties that outlines specific skills the child needs to develop as well as learning activities that build on the child's strengths.
Learning Disabilities (LD) - Some children find learning in regular classrooms difficult. Children with learning disabilities may be of average or above average intelligence, but have difficulty learning, sorting, and storing information. LD classes may be recommended to help them achieve their potential in school.
Mainstreamed - In school, when a child is moved to a regular classroom from a classroom where he or she receives extra help or special services.
Motor Skills - A person's ability to use large and small muscle groups. Gross motor skill refers to use of large muscles in activities such as running or jumping. Fine motor skills refer to the small muscle coordination required for things like writing or buttoning a shirt.
Neglect - The failure of parents to meet the basic human needs of their children. This may include situations where children have been abandoned, or where there was a lack of care and support due to a parent's chemical use, other or situations where parents neglected or refused to provide the child with proper food, clothing, shelter, nurturing, education, or medical care.
Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) - A disorder characterized by behavior such as frequent loss of temper, a tendency to argue with adults, refusal to obey adult requests, deliberate behaviors to annoy others, spiteful and vindictive behavior, use of obscene language, and a tendency to blame others for mistakes. Symptoms sometimes indicate the early stage of conduct disorder.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) - PTSD develops when a child experiences, witnesses, or is confronted with an extremely traumatic event. This could include actual or threatened death, serious injury or a threat to the physical integrity of self or others. For children, sexually traumatic events may include developmentally inappropriate sexual experiences or the threat of same to the child or others. These incidents cause the child to experience intense fear, helplessness, or horror. The child may also exhibit various physical symptoms related to this disorder.
Pre-Natal Drug Exposure - Cocaine or other drugs used during pregnancy can significantly increase the risk of damage to the child's nervous system. Children exposed to drugs in-utero may appear stiff and rigid, have prolonged and piercing crying episodes, are easily over stimulated, and face an increased risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Long term effects are uncertain.
Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) - A condition resulting from an early lack of consistent care, characterized by an inability to make appropriate social contact with others. Symptoms include developmental delays, lack of eye contact, feeding disturbances, hypersensitivity to touch and sound, failure to initiate or respond to social interaction, indiscriminate sociability, self stimulation, and susceptibility to infection.
Residential Care - Structured live-in treatment for children with emotional and/or behavioral difficulties. This residential treatment may last several months or up to a year, depending on individual needs. It generally includes a school component.
Sexual Abuse - It's estimated that 90 percent of those defined as children with special needs have been sexually abused. This includes both boys and girls and even extremely young children.
Therapeutic Foster Home - A home where the foster parent or parents have received special training in dealing with a wide variety of children, including those who are moderately or severely disturbed, delinquent, mentally retarded, or medically fragile. Parents in therapeutic homes are also supervised and assisted more than parents in regular foster homes.
