Time-out for the Home Study

Not too long ago, I posted a couple comments to a couple of articles that featured the story of an abused adoptee and the sexually abusive adoptive parent.  Within those comments, I outlined some of the basic requirements needed to foster/adopt in America.

[See:  Let's Review and Let's Review (part 2) ]

I believe everyone studying adoption issues ought to know and understand the basics, because every foundation needs it's fundamental rules and structure, and as I review a few disturbing cases, I hope it becomes painfully obvious to others just how unprofessional and negligent many service providers are within the adoption industry.  What needs to be repeated over and over again, adoption is an international practice.  For the benefit of the adoptable child, those earning a salary through the international adoption industry ought to follow key international laws and guidelines. This is when adoption-matters get complex, because the United States is not one country with one collection of adoption laws.  There are 50 states, each with it's only version of a specific law.  The only thing less confusing is The European Union, and their desire to create universal standards that can be used as a guide to state laws.

In America, in order to become a foster/adoptive parent, one must fulfill a minimum requirement.

Minimum Qualifications Include:

• Are at least 21 years old
• Are single or married or divorced
• Already have children in your home or no children in the home
• Are of any race
• Have sufficient income to cover your financial needs
• Own or Rent your home or apartment
• Have enough room for the child
• Complete proper training requirements
• Pass criminal background checks

This is the first of many minimum qualification rounds, and it helps explain why some adoption agencies produce better adoptive parents for adoptable children. 

The next major step in the adoption process for a PAP is the home-study.

ies are the same, it's critically important to the foster/adopted child what is NOT written on a report is equally as important as what IS found on a social worker's home study report.

If adoption is going to serve the best interests of a child, then we need to uncover, and discuss, the mystereis not disclosed in a back-ground check or home-study report.

Let's begin with the basics.  There are no standard universal rules in adoption-practice. This can get very confusing because there are standards of practice each trained licensed professional social workers must follow, but those standards and scope of practice differ as one goes from state to state.

So let's say the social worker hired to conduct a home study is licensed in Pennyslvania.  If one wants to find-out what standards a licensed SW in the state of PA must follow, one government link will lead to many.  State Board pages provide a wealth of very confusing information.  If I search "State Board of Social Workers" I will find over nine million results.  For "Pennysylvania State Board of Social Workers" the page is titled,  State Board of Social Workers, Marriage and Family Therapists and Professional Counselors.  [An equally good/importnat link is National Association of Social Work Boards. ]

Since Pennsylvania seems to be adoption-agency central, and one of the most notable abused adoptee cases too place in PA, I believe the Pennyslvaia home study is a good example to use for my own unofficial study.

According to a general pay-scale websource, the salary given to a social worker rages as follows:

Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW)	$42,159 - $58,651
Social Worker (MSW)	$35,441 - $48,973
Clinical Therapist	$36,370 - $50,065
Child, Family, or School Social Worker	$42,155 - $59,344
Executive Director, Non-Profit Organization	$54,045 - $83,104
Mental Health Counselor	$34,245 - $43,744
Medical and Public Health Social Worker	$36,297 - $52,114

 

Note the salary difference between the MSW (maximum salary, $48,973) and the LCSW (maximum salary, $58,651); then look at  the salary range for public health SW, (maximum salary, $52,000) and compare that to the salary range for the executive director of a non-profit org.  (maximum salary, $83,104 -- which is misleading since the salary given to the executive director of a non-profit adoption agency can be much much more.  [See:  executive compensations ] 

http://poundpuplegacy.org/node/42177

http://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/f_homstu.cfm

http://international.adoption.com/foreign/international-adoption-costs.html

http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Degree=Master_of_Social_Work_(MSW)/Salary/by_City