A Parent's Guide to Adoption Disruption & Dissolution - DURING
DURING: THE PROCESS - What are the steps of a disruption process?
- What about international adoption?
- How do I prepare my child?
Sometimes, no matter how creative they are or how many possible solutions are tried, parents will arrive at the conclusion that an adoption cannot be safely continued. This decision should be made with the help of the adoption agency, if possible, and with professional input from doctors or therapists.
What are the steps of a disruption process? The agency will take you through the legal steps.
If the adoption has not yet been finalized, the process is quite simple. Papers may be signed declaring that the adoption has been reversed and that the adoptive parents are no longer responsible for the child's welfare. Adoption subsidy will stop as of the day the child moves out. No court involvement is needed for the adoptive parents.
If the adoption has already been finalized, parental rights must be terminated and court involvement will be required. Sometimes, child support payments will be assigned until the child is adopted by someone else or turns 18 years old. I have heard of cases where child support was required past the age of 18 and until high school graduation.
Under no circumstances should a disruption be considered without agency involvement. - Returning the child to the country of birth, if internationally adopted, is morally repugnant, unless the agency has made arrangements for the child to be adopted there by a qualified family or relative.
- Moving your child to the home of another family without agency help is very risky. The new family has no legal rights and will have difficulty obtaining medical care or enrolling the child in school without official adoption papers.
- Moving a child across state lines without the involvement of the ICPC officers of both states is illegal. The Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children is charged with monitoring the movement of all children across state lines when their legal parents will not accompany them permanently.
Some parents may be advised by well-meaning friends not to pick up a troubled child from a shelter, mental hospital, or residential treatment. Refusing to do will probably result in charges of legal abandonment of a child made against the adoptive parents. Even when it is unsafe for other family members to bring a troubled child home, the District Attorney will not approve of disruption by abandonment. Parents are expected to go through proper legal channels.
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next More of this Feature •
Introduction •
BEFORE: Answers to First Questions •
AFTER: Now what? Glossary •
Adoption Disruption •
Adoption Dissolution •
Residential Treatment Related Resources •
Adoption Laws •
Interstate Compact •
Subsidies/Assistance Payments © Rita Laws and Nancy Ashe. This copyrighted article may be printed for private family use and for one-time reproduction in the print newsletters of non-profit adoption support groups and non-profit agencies with appropriate credit to author and web site. This notice must remain with the printed copy. ALL other uses require written permission.
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