Adoption in Louisiana - Essay Example

Adoption in Louisiana Adoption is a system where a certified person takes over the parenting role of another person, thus permanently transferring and assuming all the responsibilities and rights from the biological parents. Adoption is different from guardianship and foster care of the minors as it is designed to cause a permanent change. It therefore requires societal recognition, either religious or legal. In other words, adoption is taking a person into one’s family and raising them as one’s own child, through legal means.

The adoption system allows the adopted children to have a lifetime emotional and legal connection with a family. Different states have different adoption regulations in the US (Child Welfare Research Institute, 2012). In the state of Louisiana, several conditions determine the qualification of an individual as an adoptive parent (FindLaw, 2012). These include the conditions that the individual must be 18 years and above, are single, divorced, or married, rent or own adequate housing for another child, be financially stable, be in good mental and physical health (Adoption Media, 2012).

Other conditions include having adequate transportation (Department of Children and Family Services, 2012). Louisiana laws, agency policy, and the Bureau of Licensing stipulate some regulations for certification of foster parent (Louisiana State, 2006). These include completion of MAPP/GPS pre-service training (7 sessions), submission of application for certification, state police and FBI criminal record clearance, State Central Registry for Child Abuse and Neglect clearance, physical and medical examination for communicable diseases, fingerprints for all adult family members, agree to non-corporal punishment (Adoption Media, 2012).

Additionally, an individual must provide five non-related referees, agree to meet the requirement of completing 15 hours of annual in-service training, interview to all members of your family, participate in individual home study, and their home must meet health, fire safety, and environmental requirements, as well as a one-year-and-a-half home residency (FindLaw, 2012). Louisiana State laws allow qualified individual to adopt any child or adult, but there are special procedures for adult adoption (Adoption Media, 2012).

These include completing the Model Approach to Partnership in Parenting (MAPP). A resident citizen in Louisiana may also adopt a child from any other state apart form Louisiana, or even country (Adoption Media, 2012). Nonetheless, this requires the use of adoption agencies that must be registered in Louisiana. The state of Louisiana has approximately 1,219,799-child population. Fifty four percent of the children are white while blacks account for 42%. Black children command 62% of foster care children while whites occupy 35%.

The average age of adoption in Louisiana is approximately 5.9 years (North American Council on Adoptable Children, 2012). Children above this age have significantly diminishing chances of adoption as their age deviate further up. On average, these children may have been in foster care for about four years (North American Council on Adoptable Children, 2012). This improved in 2007 to three years before the finalizing of the adoption. About 280 youth aged out of foster care without a legal, permanent family in 2007.

Of the adopted children, 73 percent were by the foster parents and another 21 percent by family relatives. African Americans leads the number of children waiting adoption, with 45% already adopted compared to 53% of Caucasians. Still in the same year, 2007, 46% of children went home from foster care, with 30% going to live with relatives. Only 13% (429) were adopted (North American Council on Adoptable Children, 2012). The adoption process normally takes between six to twelve months, with a thirty days statute of limitations to challenge.

ReferencesAdoption Media. Adopting in Louisiana. Retrieved on Feb 11, 2012, from http://domestic-infant.adoptionblogs.com/weblogs/adopting-in-louisiana Child Welfare Research Institute. Public Programs for Children. Retrieved on Feb 11, 2012, from http://www.childwelfare.com/Louisiana.htmDepartment of Children and Family Services. Child Welfare. Retrieved on Feb 11, 2012, from http://www.dss.state.la.us/index.cfm?md=pagebuilder&tmp=home&pid=197FindLaw. Louisiana Adoption Laws. Retrieved on Feb 11, 2012, from http://law.findlaw.com/state-laws/adoption/louisiana/ North American Council on Adoptable Children.

Louisiana Adoption Facts. Retrieved on Feb 11, 2012, from http://www.nacac.org/policy/statefactsheets/LA.pdf