A recent Canadian study vividly shows the need for adoptive families to have access to post adoption services.
The North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC) regularly shares information with Adoption STAR, and an e-mail that came from them in late January of 2015 featured a study that may be of interest to adoptive families.
As per NACAC, “In December of 2014, the Adoption Council of Canada released the findings of a study on adoptive families’ needs. Based on the survey responses from parents in British Columbia and Ontario, the study found:
- About two-thirds of parents could not access needed services. They cited long waits and restricted eligibility as barriers they faced.
- More than half needed more support as a caregiver of a child or children with serious challenges.
- Almost half experienced a lack of public and professional understanding of their families.”
Here is a link to the study: SUMMARY of MAIN SURVEY FINDINGS
Adoption STAR has shown its support of post adoption services in a variety of ways over the years. Most recently (and perhaps most obviously), the agency opened a post adoption support department called Family STAR. If you’re an adoptive family and you haven’t checked out Family STAR yet, please do so by reviewing their website and/or Facebook page:
http://www.family-star.com
https://www.facebook.com/FamilyStarServices?ref=br_tf
Adoption STAR and Family STAR understand the importance of post adoption services, in that research clearly proves accessing post adoption services equates to better outcomes for adoptive parents and adoptees alike. Don’t hesitate to reach out to Family STAR to discuss your post adoption needs. While no one can deny the “service void” that exists for post adoption support, Adoption STAR and Family STAR are proud to be taking active steps to address the need in any way they can.