Laws Speed Foster Care Adoptions

It’s easier to adopt a foster child these days, a change experts attribute to state and federal laws that streamlined the process. Specifically, they cite a 1998 state law that records show has helped doubled the number of such adoptions in Ventura County.

Federal money to encourage more adoptions and offer more support for parents has helped, but the biggest change has come from the law that limits the amount of time in which biological parents can regain custody of children admitted to foster care.

“Foster children no longer linger in long-term care when it’s apparent they can’t go home,” said Sally Allen, manager for the county’s adoption services.

Though the law means children get into permanent homes more quickly, critics say it doesn’t give parents enough time to cope with the problems--often drugs or alcohol--that caused them to lose custody.

“To some degree, we were dragging these poor kids along before. But with limited resources of social services, we can’t keep up with what parents need,” said Mary Sullivan, a lawyer with Dependent Family Advocates, a group that contracts with the county and represents parents in court.

When a child younger than 3 enters foster care, the clock now runs out after six months. Children older than 3 wait one year before a judge may legally sever the bond with their biological parent.

In cases in which a parent has already had a child taken away or the child has been abused, the court can immediately start the hearing to terminate parental rights.

Since the law passed, adoptions in Ventura County’s public system jumped from an average of 25 a year to estimated 50. Between 250 and 300 adoptions, an average of five or six a week, take place with children from private and public agencies, said a court spokeswoman.

Social workers look for permanent homes for foster children while also trying to reunite them with their parents, Allen said. That, combined with the shorter time limits, makes it easier for kids to end up in a permanent home. As one of the couples aided by these legal changes, Karen and Kurt Summa of Camarillo said their journey through dependency court had a happy ending.

After nearly two years of loving and caring for Justin, whom they called their son, a judge recently finalized his adoption. It was an early birthday gift for the toddler, who turned 2 just six weeks after the adoption.

Under the previous system, prospective families had to wait years for such a joyous event. And often, while biological parents kept the children on hold, the chances of being adopted diminished, Allen said.

Critics of the new system say it whisks children from their biological family too quickly. Court-ordered anger management classes, or drug and alcohol counseling, don’t always start on time, which means a parent might be close to the deadline before those services begin, Sullivan said.

Social workers, however, say some family ties must be severed in order to protect the long-term well-being of the child. The older a child gets, the less chance he or she has of finding a home, and the greater the risk of emotional damage, said Robin Heins, a 12-year social worker.

Foster care often includes the risk of losing a child to the biological parents, said Diana Caskey, director of the county’s foster care program. But the new laws have lowered that risk.

Now, instead of years worrying if a parent might return from the past to reclaim a child, prospective families may only have to wait 12 months.

For a brief time, the Summas didn’t know whether they’d be able to keep Justin. A judge in their case gave the teenage mother more time before breaking their bond, Karen Summa said.

As the couple waited, they spent many sleepless nights, some that included talk of ending their attempt to adopt him.

The Summas credit new laws with giving Justin the stability he might have otherwise gone without. They are the only family he has ever known.

“He’s a happy and well-adjusted child, said Karen, 40, a senior customer service representative for Advance Motion Controls in Camarillo.

The faster adoptions worry Sullivan, who recently managed three termination of parental rights hearings in one day. She used to do that many in a year, she said.

Los Angeles’ foster care system has a better alternative, she said. There, families have long conferences intended to solve their child-care problems before separation hearings begin.

Sometimes, parents receive more visitation rights while a child remains in foster care, Sullivan said. Not so in Ventura County, where the system leans toward protecting families who adopt foster children.

“It’s nice for the foster family to get a kid clean--no drug-addicted parent hanging around,” said Sullivan, the youngest of 10 children, “But to me, a child who knows his parents, even if it’s crazy Uncle Sam or crazy Mom, is much better off.”

Legislators passed the shorter time limits in the belief that a child can’t wait for a parent to grow up, said Judge Colleen Toy White.

“The only thing we want is for the parent to reunify with the child; that would make us 100% happy,” she said. “But unfortunately, that’s not the world we live in.

“If there’s any indication a biological parent is trying and succeeding, everyone [in court] knows this right away,” White said.

“There’s never a happier day in the courtroom than when you see a parent who complies and gets the child back. You see social workers hugging parents and the child, attorneys hugging each other and congratulating the parent. The second-happiest day is when an adoption occurs and the child gets a home, while they’re still little and have a chance at a stable and productive life.”

In Ventura County, 771 children are in county foster care. Of that number, 349 are reuniting with their families and the other 422 are in long-term foster care.

Some of those children are too emotionally disturbed for adoption or do not want an adoptive family, said Dennis Trenton, adoption supervisor with the county’s Human Services Agency.

The Summas say Justin makes one less child who will grow up in a turbulent foster care system.

The process worked so seamlessly that the couple are preparing to do it again. They have filled out the necessary paperwork and plan to put their name on the adoption list next month.