After Adoption: The Needs of Adopted Youth

Jeanne A. Howard and Susan Livingston Smith

How do children adopted from foster care and their families fare after adoption? The good news is that the majority of children are doing well in their homes, schools, and communities. Yet many children and their families continue to struggle with the legacy of loss and maltreatment that brought them to foster care in the first place. After Adoption examines the experiences of more than a thousand adoptive families to find out how they are functioning years after the adoption. It analyzes the risk and resiliency factors associated with adjustment and examines differences in adoption by kin, foster parents, and those matched with children for the purpose of adoption. After Adoption will help child welfare professionals better prepare parents and children for adoption as well as assist them in developing post adoption services to sustain and strengthen adoptive families.

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