The Donaldson Adoption Institute (DAI) is pleased to announce collaboration with the University of Texas, Arlington on a new research study of options counseling experiences. The study will be conducted by Assistant Professor Elissa Madden, Ph.D., and Dean and Professor at the School of Social Work, Scott Ryan, Ph.D., Madden and Ryan will investigate the decision making experiences of women and men who relinquished their parental rights as well as the context and standards that guide professionals who provide options counseling. Ultimately, DAI will seek to use this knowledge to suggest best practice standards.
DAI recognizes family preservation as optimal and thus it must be central to ethical options counseling. DAI’s previous research demonstrates a significant need to better understand and explore options counseling as it is practiced and experienced in modern day adoptions.
For expectant parents in crisis, the services they receive as they consider their options are critical. The ethical standard of care requires that women and men receive unbiased and non-coercive, comprehensive information on the full range of their options and available resources to give them an understanding of the lifelong impact to them and their families. Only then can they truly give their informed consent. While some professionals have practice guidelines in place that reflect this standard, there are gaps in overall service to expectant parents as they navigate decisions surrounding their pregnancy.
Historically, adoptions were commonly marked by coercive and shame based techniques, particularly related to the engagement of expectant women. Adoption policies and practice have advanced in many ways since then, particularly around more openness in relationships and often improved post adoption services. These measures are not, however, universally implemented and there remains a critical need to explore the nature of options counseling expectant parents receive to insure against manipulation and coercion. Use of the Internet and social media including adoption advertising seeking to attract women in crisis to consider various adoption services, even across state lines where different laws can apply, makes this work more critical than ever.
Most recently, we read the story of a father who has been battling for seven years to have custody of his daughter returned to him after his rights were abrogated in her adoption placement. Although this father’s pain is palpable during media interviews, and undoubtedly the adoptive parents are also suffering, our greatest concern as a society must be for the child who remains in limbo while the courts seek to unravel this complicated situation. Such situations need not happen if best practices in options counseling were fully known, understood and universally implemented.
DAI anticipates release of the completed Options Counseling study in the second half of 2016. This vital work is made possible by the Lynn Franklin Fund, a unique, dedicated source of financing for DAI projects that focus on the insights, experiences, needs and aspirations of first/birth parents and expectant parents considering adoption. The goal of this fund is to ensure that the voices of this too-often-marginalized group are heard in every relevant and practical discussion of adoption-related laws, policies and practices. The Lynn Franklin Fund is guided by an advisory group, all of whose members have a personal and/or professional connection to adoption, including being first/birth parents. Advisors are charged with offering their expertise in steering projects that fall within the Lynn Franklin Fund to ensure that research, advocacy and education in this area is in keeping with the reality of the adoption experience today.
The Options Counseling project is being led by Brenda Romanchik, LCSW, ACSW, CTS, author of “Birthparent’s Book of Memories” and other publications. Brenda is a therapist in private practice specializing in trauma, grief, and depression. She is also adjunct Professor at Wayne State University. For 12 years she served as the Founder and Executive Director of Insight Open Adoption Resources and Support.
The impact of adoption will manifest itself in many different ways throughout a first/birth parent’s life; for many it will be a difficult and complex experience. It is imperative that we seek greater understanding and implement ethical standards in this realm of practice. By focusing research on options counseling, we aim not only to gather information, expand the conversation and change perceptions, but ultimately to safeguard everyone’s rights and wellbeing starting from the first stages of inquiry.
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