Perspectives on Assessment in Adoption

The assessment process in the field of adoption has received scant attention in the literature. This may be a comment on the lack of confidence felt by professionals working in this field, but it all reflects a lack of accountability both to their colleagues and their clients, the prospective adoptive parents and the children being placed for adoption. One of the few studies in this field “Adoptive Screening, new data, new dilemmas” (Brown and Brieland)1 points to the need for a much closer examination of the assessment process, highlighting in particular the way in which social workers may be influenced by their own values as well as by agency criteria. The study goes on to point out that in general “agency practices in this sample reflect substantial caution about placements”. The Child Welfare League of America Standards for Adoption Service: Revised, states that “It is every child's right to have protection. The kind of care that meets his needs and which he would ordinarily be expected to receive from his parents. The family, the community agencies, and the states have responsibilities related to the assurance of this right”. If we take this statement as reflecting the values and assumptions underlying practice in adoption service, obviously the assessment process has a key role to play in protecting the right of children.