The Oregon Committee Process

Every state has its own ideas about how to move children from foster care to adoption.  The State of Oregon uses the committee process because they believe we need to focus on finding families for children rather than children for families.  It’s a good process for kids because it means the caseworker and his or her supervisor get to choose the prospective families from as many home studied families as possible, the families get good and fairly complete information about the child, and the committee usually has three great families to find the perfect fit.  The greatest difficulty is that it does tend to be hard on families.  Here’s how the process works:

1.  When the decision is made to move the child or sibling group to an adoption track, the caseworker (CW) begins recruiting families by putting together a bulletin which he or she sends in to the DHS Central Office in Salem.

2.  Central Office sends out all the new bulletins to everyone on their list and posts the new bulletins every Friday.  The bulletins can then be posted on websites, like ours or Northwest Adoption Exchange, on the same day.  Agencies that have a hard copy notebook receive the bulletins by mail and add them to their book.

3.  People, like you, find the child’s bulletin, online or in the notebook, express interest to their adoption worker (AW) at your agency, and their AW contacts the CW to get more information.

4.  The CW reviews the home studies that come in – sometimes there may be as many as 60-70 of them – to find families that seem appropriate and able to meet the child’s needs.

5.  The child’s CW sends further info to the AWs of appropriate families.  It may include any of the following: an Adoption Child Summary on each child that includes background information about how the child came into foster care, whether he or she has been in foster care before, and information about his or her biological family; Psychiatric evaluation or mental health assessment, medical records, and treatment notes; Individual Education Plan (IEP) or Individual Family Service Plan (IFSP); and any other records or evaluations that seem appropriate to the CW.

6.  If the family’s interest continues, it can ask its AW to ask questions on its behalf and arrange to speak with the child’s CW, usually in a conference call.  The family may also have the opportunity, either now or after it has been selected for committee, to speak with the child’s foster parent, therapist or other service providers.

7.  The CW requests a committee meeting.  Sometimes the committee is through the Central Office and sometimes it is Regional.  Either way, the AWs for the three families selected are notified and a date is set.

8.   If one or more of the families lives out of state, Oregon contracts with our agency, A Family for Every Child, to represent the families at committee.  Usually we only represent one family at a committee but occasionally it might be two or even three.  Our task is not to be the family’s advocate but rather their representative.

9.  We also represent our own families, those whose home studies we completed and for whom we advocate.

10.  The home study demonstrates that a family is a safe and healthy place for any special needs child to grow up.  Our job at committee is to demonstrate how THAT particular family would be able to meet the needs and be a safe and healthy place for THIS particular special needs child.  Therefore, during the home study, we need to get to know that family as thoroughly as possible.

11.  The committee consists of three members who are usually DHS caseworkers, retired caseworkers, or social workers experienced in the adoption field.  The committee meets for three hours, usually 9-Noon or 1-4 p.m.  Occasionally it lasts longer, but not often.

12.  Committee starts with a presentation of the child by the CW.  Sometimes the child’s foster parent, therapist, court appointed special advocate (CASA), or attorney, is also present and invited to tell about the child as well.  The CW usually brings pictures, or the child’s Life Book, so the committee can view photos.  The goal is for the committee to have a thorough understanding of the child’s identity, personality, and special needs.  The committee members may have questions during this time about the child based on what they hear, read, or otherwise observe.

13.  Once the child has been presented, any representatives for the child, except the CW, are dismissed and the AWs for the families each have a turn telling the committee about the family they represent.  Again, the committee members may have questions for the AW based on what they hear or what they have read in the family’s home study.

14.  The committee members then remark on or list the strengths they heard or read about each family and the concerns they have about each family.  Then they vote.  If the two junior members each vote for a different family, the chair must break the tie with a vote for one of those two families so that we leave committee with a decision.  We nearly always leave committee with a decision about who will adopt the child.

15.  When committee ends, the families receive a call informing them whether or not they were selected by the committee.  The AW who represents each family takes notes throughout the committee, types them, and forwards them to the family, usually the next day.  If a family lives outside Oregon, then at this point our agency will step aside and the family’s AW will work directly with the child’s CW to proceed with the placement.

16.  The CW comes to committee prepared with the child’s files, which are given or sent to the family’s AW.  There is a 7-day blackout period then to give the family an opportunity to review the files more thoroughly with physicians, psychologists, teachers, and whoever else can help the family be certain this is what it wants.  During this time, the CW and AW will work with the family to make a transition plan.

17.  If the family does not already have foster-certification, a plan is made to expedite certification.

18.  The transition plan depends on the child and his or her needs, as well as how far away the family lives.  The committee may have recommendations to make about the transition plan.  Transition focuses on spending time with the child, meeting foster parents, therapists, birth family members, etcetera.  Sometimes, depending on the child’s age and needs, an out-of-state family will then return to their home state while the child takes 1-3 days for goodbye meetings with friends or family.  Then, the CW or the foster parents will fly with the child to the new family’s home and help introduce the child to the home, in order to both endorse the family and ease the adjustment.  Other times, the child may go home with his or her new adoptive parents right away at the end of the transition period.