Where Are We Now?

Abstract

Little research on adoption disruption has been conducted in recent years, particularly with large populations and multivariate methods. Utilizing administrative data on 15,947 children, this study examines adoption disruption in a large state child welfare system in the United States in the three years leading up to and the three years following the passage of ASFA (Adoption and Safe Families Act), a federal law that mandates speedier movement to termination of parental rights and adoptive placement when parents do not make acceptable progress. Through a Cox proportional hazards model, the risk and protective factors associated with disruption are identified. Overall, the risk of disruption was 11 percent less for placements occurring after 1997. Among factors associated with higher risk were older age of the children entering foster care and placements with up to four siblings. Included in factors associated with a lower risk for disruption were racewhite children were at a lower risk than African Americans; relative home; and being placed with four or more siblings.