Ky.gov
Effective: 12/3/2010

13.34 Adoption Disruption

Legal Authority

Introduction

The decision to remove a child from an adoptive family prior to the legalization of the adoption is made with the same seriousness and forethought that is given to removing a child from his birth family.​

Practice Guidance

  • The planning conference includes the following participants: 
    • Adoptive parents; 
    • Recruitment and certification (R&C) worker or private child placing (PCP) provider if a PCP foster parent adoption; 
    • R&C supervisor; 
    • Service providers, if applicable; 
    • Service region administrator (SRA) or designee (optional); 
    • Former SSW (optional); and 
    • Child, when appropriate.

Procedure

The SSW:
  1. Provides services to the child if disruption issues arise and focuses on the following: 
    1. Providing counseling for the child to understand the reason the adoption disrupted, including allowing the child to enter feelings and information about the disruption in their lifebook; 
    2. Alleviating self blame and working toward increased self-esteem; 
    3. Helping the child to identify any growth experiences as a result of the placement; and 
    4. Assessing the child’s readiness for another adoptive placement and the type of adoptive family the agency should seek for the child; 
  2. Notifies the Adoption Services Branch manager at central office in writing within four (4) working days, upon consideration of the issue of disruption, to plan a conference for addressing the following issues: 
    1. Issues of concern in the placement; 
    2. Resources that have been used; 
    3. Other resources that may be helpful; 
    4. The pros and cons of continuing the placement; 
    5. If the placement continues, identifying additional services and resources to be used; 
    6. When disruption is the plan, discussing the placement alternatives and updating the presentation summary to reactivate the child in the family and child matching process; and 
    7. When siblings are involved and separation of siblings is being considered by anyone, policy regarding separation of siblings is followed (SOP 13.9 Sibling Relationship Decisions).

Documents

Revisions