ADOPTION TERMS, page 3

Mental retardation

Impaired or incomplete mental development characterized by an IQ of 70 or below and characterized by significant functional limitations in at least two of the following skills: communication, self-care, home living, social/interpersonal skills, use of community resources, self-direction, functional academic skills, work, leisure, health, and safety. Onset usually occurs before age 18. More than 200 specific causes of mental retardation have been identified. Degrees of severity reflect the level of intellectual impairment:

• Mild Mental Retardation - IQ level 50-55 to approximately 70
• Moderate Retardation - IQ level 35-40 to 50-55
• Severe Mental Retardation - IQ level 20-25 to 35-40
• Profound Mental Retardation - IQ level below 20-25
   

MEPA

Acronym for Multi-Ethnic Placement Act of 1994.
 

Multi-Ethnic Placement Act

A federal law enacted in 1994 and implemented through State policy. The Multi-Ethnic Placement Act of 1994 , as amended, P.L. 103-382 [42 USC 622] prohibits the delay or denial of any adoption or placement in foster care due to the race, color, or national origin of the child or of the foster or adoptive parents and requires States to provide for diligent recruitment of potential foster and adoptive families who reflect the ethnic and racial diversity of children for whom homes are needed. The 1996 amendment, Section 1808 of P.L. 104-188, Removal of Barriers to Interethnic Adoption, affirms the prohibition against delaying or denying the placement of a child for adoption or foster care on the basis of race, color or national origin of the foster or adoptive parents or of the child involved [42 USC 1996b].
 

Non-identifying information

Facts about the birth parents or adoptive parents that would not lead to their discovery by another person.
 

Non-recurring adoption costs

One-time adoption expenses, which, through the provisions of the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980, may be at least partially reimbursed by States up to a maximum limit of $2,000 to families adopting children with special needs. Allowable expenses for this reimbursement benefit can include the cost of a home study, adoption fees, court costs, attorney fees, physical and psychological examinations, travel to visit with the child prior to the placement, and other expenses related to the legal adoption of a child with special needs.
 

Occupational therapy

The science of using everyday activities with specific goals, to help people of all ages prevent, lessen, or overcome physical disabilities.
 

Open adoption

An adoption that involves some amount of initial and/or ongoing contact between birth and adoptive families, ranging from sending letters through the agency, to exchanging names, and/or scheduling visits.
 

Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD)

A recurrent pattern of negative, defiant, disobedient, and hostile behavior toward authority figures that persists for at least six months. This disorder is characterized by frequent occurrence of at least four of the following behaviors: frequent loss of temper, tendency to argue with adults, refusal to obey adult rules or requests, deliberate behaviors to annoy others, spiteful and vindictive behavior, being touchy or easily annoyed by others, being angry and resentful, use of obscene language, and a tendency to blame others for mistakes or misbehaviors. Symptoms are less severe than those associated with Conduct Disorder but sometimes indicate the early stages of Conduct Disorder (CD) and may sometimes lead to the development of Antisocial Personality Disorder during adulthood.
 

Orphan

A minor child whose parents have died, have relinquished their parental rights, or whose parental rights have been terminated by a court of jurisdiction.
 

Orphan (international adoption definition)

For immigration purposes, a child under the age of sixteen years:

• whose parents have died or disappeared or
• who has been abandoned or otherwise separated from both parents or
• whose sole surviving parent is impoverished by local standards and incapable of providing that child with proper care and who has, in writing, irrevocably released the child for emigration and adoption.

To enter the United States, an orphan must have been adopted abroad by a U.S. citizen or be admitted to the to the United States for the purpose of adoption by a U.S. citizen.
 

Orphanage

Institution that houses children who are orphaned, abandoned, or whose parents are unable to care for them. Orphanages are rarely used in the United States, although they are more frequently used abroad.
 

Parens patriae

Legal term that defines the State's legal role as the guardian to protect the interests of children who cannot take care of themselves. For example, in an abuse or neglect case, this concept is used to explain the State's duty to protect minor children who lack proper care and custody from their parents.
 

Passive registries

Type of reunion registry system. Passive reunion registries require both parties to register their consent for release of information before a match can be made. Once a match occurs, both parties are notified. These systems depend on both parties registering, a match being found, and the follow-up notification by a registry administrator.
 

Paternity testing

Genetic testing that can determine the identity of the biological father. Paternity testing can be done with or without access to the biological mother.
 

Permanency planning

The systematic process of carrying out (within a brief, time-limited period) a set of goal-directed activities designed to help children live in permanent families. This process has the goal of providing the child continuity of relationships with nurturing parents or caretakers and the opportunity to establish lifetime family relationships.
 

Photolisting book

A publication that contains photos and descriptions of children who are available for adoption.
 

Placement date

The time at which the child comes to live with the adopting parents.

 

Post-institutionalized child

Children adopted from institutional, hospital, or orphanage settings. The term is used to describe an array of emotional and psychological disturbances, developmental delays, learning disabilities, and/or medical problems resulting, in part, from their stay in institutions.
 

Post-legal adoption services

Services provided subsequent to legal finalization of the adoption. There are primarily four types of post-legal service providers: social service agencies, private therapists, mental health clinics and self-help groups.
 

Post-placement supervision

The range of counseling and agency services provided to the adopted parents and adopted child subsequent to the child's adoptive placement and before the adoption is legally finalized in court. Social worker reports of this required supervisory period are forwarded to the court.
 

Post-reunion issues

A range of feelings from euphoria to despair possible after the reunion of birth relatives. Family members in reunion may feel a "let down" or a range of feelings including guilt, anger, jealousy, confusion or happiness that may be related to completion of the reunion process and the beginning of a process whereby family members do or do not negotiate an ongoing relationship.
 

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

A condition in which victims of overwhelming and uncontrollable experiences are subsequently psychologically affected by feelings of intense fear, loss of safety, loss of control, helplessness, and extreme vulnerability and in children the disorder involves disorganized or agitated behavior.
 

Prenatal substance exposure

Fetal exposure to maternal drug and alcohol use which can significantly increase the risk for developmental and neurological disabilities. The effects can range from severe (neurological damage and growth retardation) to minor (resulting in normal outcomes). Infant and child long-term development depends not only on the prenatal exposure (type of drug, amount, length of time of use), but on factors related to the child's own biological vulnerability and environmental conditions.
 

Psychological parent

A person, though perhaps not biologically related to a child, whom the child considers as his parent; sometimes called a "de facto" parent.
 

Putative

Generally regarded to be true.

 

Putative Father

Legal term for the alleged or supposed father of a child.
 

Putative father registries

Registry system that serves to ensure that a birthfathers' rights are protected. Some states require that birthfathers register at these facilities, while other states presume that he does not wish to pursue paternity rights if he doesn't initiate any legal action.
 

Reactive attachment disorder

A condition with onset before age five, resulting from an early lack of consistent care, characterized by a child's or infant's inability to make appropriate social contact with others. Symptoms may include failure to thrive, developmental delays, failure to make eye contact, feeding disturbances, hyper-sensitivity to touch and sound, failure to initiate or respond to social interaction, indiscriminate sociability, self-stimulation, and susceptibility to infection.
 

Relinquishment

Voluntary termination of parental rights; sometimes referred to as a surrender or as making an adoption plan for one's child.
 

Residential care facility

A structured 24-hour care facility with staff that provide psychological services to help severely troubled children overcome behavioral, emotional, mental, or psychological problems that adversely affect family interaction, school achievement, and peer relationships.
 

Residential treatment

Therapeutic intervention processes for individuals who cannot or do not function satisfactorily in their own homes. For children and adolescents, residential treatment tends to be the last resort when a child is in danger of hurting himself or others.
 

Respite care

Temporary or short-term home care of a child provided for pay or on a voluntary basis by adults other than the parents (birth, foster, or adoptive parents).
 

Reunification

The returning of foster children to the custody of their parent(s) after placement outside the home.
 

Reunification services

Interventions by social worker and other professionals to help children and their birth parents develop mutually reciprocal relationships that will help them to live together again as a family.
 

Reunion

A meeting between birthparent(s) and an adopted adult or between an adopted adult and other birth relatives. The adopted adult may have been placed as an infant and thus has no memory of the birthparent(s).
 

Ritalin

A commonly prescribed drug that can help to control some of the symptoms of attention deficit disorder. It may have a calming effect and help to improve concentration.
 

Search

An attempt, usually by birthparent, adopted person, or adoptive parent (but sometimes by volunteers or paid consultants) to make a connection between the birthparent and the biological child.
 

Search and consent procedures

Procedures, sanctioned in State law, that authorize a public or private agency to assist a searching party to locate another party to the adoption to determine if the second party agrees to the release of identifying information or to meeting with the requesting party. If consent is given, the disclosure of information may then be authorized by the court. In some states counseling is required before information is received.
 

Semi-open adoption

An adoption in which a child's birth parents and pre-adoptive parents may exchange primarily non-identifying information. After the child is placed in the adoptive home, contact with the birth family may involve letters or pictures or other communications sent through the intermediary of the adoption agency or the attorney who assisted in the placement.
 

Sexual abuse

The employment, use, persuasion, inducement, enticement, or coercion of any child to engage in, or assist any other person to engage in, any sexually explicit conduct or any simulation of such conduct for the purpose of producing any visual depiction of such conduct; or rape, and in cases of caretaker or inter-familial relationships, statutory rape, molestation, prostitution, or other form of sexual exploitation of children, or incest with children.
 

Sexual abuse symptomology

Indicators and behaviors which suggest that a child may have been sexually abused, including: excessive masturbation, sexual interaction with peers, sexual aggression towards younger and more naive children, seductive behavior, and promiscuity.
 

Special needs children

Children whose emotional or physical disorders, age, race, membership in a sibling group, a history of abuse, or other factors contribute to a lengthy stay in foster care. Guidelines for classifying a child as special needs vary by State. Common special needs conditions and diagnoses include: serious medical conditions; emotional and behavioral disorders; history of abuse or neglect; medical or genetic risk due to familial mental illness or parental substance abuse.
 

Speech and language disorders

Impairments of speech or receptive language. Speech disorders usually involved difficulties with articulation which can generally be improved or resolved with speech therapy, usually requiring treatment over months or years. Language disorders, on the other hand, often result in substantial learning problems, involving difficulty with language comprehension, expression, word-finding and/or speech discrimination. Treatment by a language therapist generally leads to improvement in functional communication skills, although treatment cannot be generally expected to eradicate the problem.
 

Stepparent adoption

The adoption of a child by the new spouse of the birthparent.
 

Substitute care

Any kind of care sanctioned by the court of jurisdiction in which the child does not live with the birth parent.
 

Supplemental Security Income (SSI)

A Federally-funded needs-based disability program for adults and children which provides monthly cash benefits and, in most states, automatic Medicaid eligibility.
 

Surrender

Voluntary termination of parental rights. An action taken by birth parents to voluntarily "make an adoption plan" for a child or "relinquish" a child for adoption.
 

Surrender papers

Legal document attesting to the signator's voluntary relinquishment of parental rights to a child.
 

Surrogate mother

A woman who carries another woman's child by pre-arrangement or by legal contract.
 

System

Often referred to as "the public child welfare system." Refers to the network of governmental organizations providing a range of child welfare services.
 

Termination of Parental Rights (TPR)

The legal process which involuntarily severs a parent's rights to a child.
 

Therapeutic (or treatment) foster home

A foster home in which the foster parents have received special training to care for a wide variety of children and adolescents, usually those with significant emotional or behavioral problems. Parents in therapeutic foster homes are more closely supervised and assisted more than parents in regular foster homes.
 

Tourette's syndrome

A treatable neurological disorder that consists of involuntary "tic" movements or vocalizations that become more apparent under stress. Common manifestations include shoulder-shrugging, neck-jerking, facial twitches, coughing, grunting, throat clearing, sniffing, snorting, and barking. Children with Tourette's often have problems with hyperactivity as well.
 

Traditional adoption

Most often used to refer to a domestic infant adoption in which confidentiality is preserved. Equivalent to a closed adoption.
 

Treatment Foster Home

A foster home in which the foster parents are trained to offer treatment to children with moderate to severe emotional problems; also known as therapeutic foster home.
 

Voluntary adoption registry

A reunion registry system which allows adoptees, birthparents, and biological siblings to locate each other if they wish by maintaining a voluntary list of adoptees and birth relatives.
 

Waiting children

Children in the public child welfare system who cannot return to their birth homes and need permanent, loving families to help them grow up safe and secure.

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resource: National Adoption Information Clearinghouse.