Publications for Professionals

The National Resource Center for Recruitment and Retention of Foster and Adoptive Parents at AdoptUsKids (NRCRRFAP), along with the other AdoptUsKids partners, has developed a number of valuable resources to enhance and support the efforts of States, Tribes and Territories in recruiting and retaining foster, adoptive, relative and kin parents.

These publications are available for free in PDF format below or in print by sending us an order form (73 KB PDF). Please read our publication ordering policy for more information.

General Recruitment Toolkits and Resource Guides

Match more waiting children with adoptive families by making the most of your recruitment and retention efforts using these toolkits and resource guides.

• Characteristics of Successful Recruitment Practitioners (298 KB PDF)
  • Highlights qualities many effective recruiters have in common
• Five Things You Can Do to Improve Customer Service-Phone Interaction with Families (285 KB PDF)
  • Suggests simple steps for improving customer service as you interact with current and prospective foster, adoptive and kinship families

• Practitioner’s Guide: Getting More Parents for Children from Your Recruitment Efforts (2.7 MB PDF)
  • Summarizes promising practices for keeping families involved from the first time they contact your agency to the time a child is placed with them
  • Points you to websites and other sources of emerging thinking on the subject of recruitment to placement

• Finding a Fit that Will Last a Lifetime: A Guide to Connecting Adoptive Families with Waiting Children (374 KB PDF)
  • Helps build your skills to match waiting children with adoptive families
  • Shares what families, youth, caseworkers and researchers have learned to be the most effective ways of bringing waiting children and families together

• Lasting Impressions: A Guide for Photolisting Children (615 KB PDF)
  • Provides tips and worksheets on how to take photos and write descriptions for photolisting children in print or online
  • Shares best practices on how to prepare a child, their caregiver and others for the photolisting experience

• 2009 National Adoption Month Recruitment & Marketing Toolkit (1 MB PDF)
  • Suggestions for working with the media to raise awareness about adoption
  • Sample press releases that you can personalize for your community
  • Ideas and tips for planning special events to celebrate National Adoption Month
  • Suggestions for generating community support for waiting children
  • Strategies for preparing your agency’s response when prospective adoptive parents contact you

Targeted Recruitment Tips and Resources

• Nuestra Familia, Nuestra Cultura (Our Family, Our Culture): Promoting & Supporting Latino Families in Adoption and Foster Care (1.7 MB PDF)
  • Offers specific tips and techniques for overcoming challenges and increasing effectiveness in working with potential foster or adoptive parents of Latino heritage
  • Draws heavily upon the experiences and suggestions of Latino foster and adoptive parents, Latino youth who are in foster care or who have been adopted and bicultural, bilingual child welfare professionals

• Working with African American Adoptive, Foster and Kinship Families (3.6 MB PDF)
  • Provides tips for becoming more culturally competent and being able to partner more effectively with prospective and current African American foster, adoptive and kinship families

• Finding Common Ground: A Guide for Child Welfare Agencies Working with Communities of Faith (2.9 MB PDF)
  • Shares the art and science of building effective partnerships with communities of faith for the purpose of recruiting and supporting foster and adoptive families
  • Highlights wisdom and lessons learned from successful faith-based targeted recruitment initiatives

• Wherever My Family Is, That's Home! Adoption Services for Military Families (1.5 MB PDF)
  • Provides a roadmap to make quality and timely adoption services readily available for military families
  • Focuses on what adoption agencies and military personnel can do to prepare and help military families on their journey to adopt children, including their relatives’ children, from foster care

Interstate Adoption Guides and Checklists

• Dollars and Sense: A Guide to Achieving Adoptions Through Public-Private Contracting (762 KB PDF)
  • Provides information to help make the purchase of interjurisdictional adoption services truly work
  • Serves as a starting point on purchase of service for States and Counties and the private agencies they work with

• Interstate Compact for the Placement of Children (ICPC) Checklists
  • ICPC Receiving State Checklist (762 KB PDF)
  • ICPC Sending State Checklist (466 KB PDF)

Research and Government Reports

• Barriers and Success Factors in Adoption from Foster Care: Perspectives of Families and Staff (1.2 MB PDF)
  
  
  
  

  This report (video presentation to the right) presents findings of two research studies conducted by Dr. Ruth McRoy's research team at the University of Texas at Austin Center for Social Work Research. These studies included the same participants spanning the first five years of the AdoptUsKids project (2002-07). Findings from the two studies focused on:

  • Barriers experienced by a nationwide group of families seeking to adopt children from the U.S. foster care system
  • Factors that contribute to successful adoption outcomes for families adopting children from foster care

You can also read our full report to Congress about these studies or watch a video presentation of the report.

Free, Personalized Consulting Available

We can provide free, personalized consulting services to States, Tribes and Territories to help increase the effectiveness of your recruitment and retention efforts. Find out more about our training and technical assistance.

If you have any questions about these publications and services or need additional information, please contact us at 1-888-200-4005 or professionals@adoptuskids.org.