The state of Michigan has been a national pioneer in many aspects of “special-needs” adoption - including mandatory photolisting of adoption eligible children who do not have identified families available to adopt. Though photolisting is required of many of Michigan’s adoption-eligible children, good case work often requires additional child-specific recruitment efforts in order to expose the child to a greater number of potential adoptive families. Additional recruitment efforts may include “Child Waiting” columns in local newspapers, television recruitment features on local newscasts, posters, agency parties, and many more creative opportunities designed to recruit a family for a particular child and to promote the idea of adopting waiting children in general.

This edition of Recruitment News is devoted to helping workers use child-specific recruitment opportunities effectively. Special thanks to the North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC), including Marie Zemler, Coordinator of the Adoption 2002 Support Project at NACAC. Much of the information presented here is reprinted with the permission of NACAC.

When Tracey Frohock handed her husband Ken a description of 10-year old Michael, pictured in the Worcester Sunday Telegram in February of 1995, their lives changed forever. Ken explains, “When I saw the picture, I had no doubt that Michael would be our son.” They called the Massachusetts Adoption Resource Exchange that same day to learn how to bring him home.

As the couple looked at Michael’s face, they “could see happiness and sadness.” As they read of his emotional and academic challenges, Ken – a therapist with a specialty in attachment and bonding – and Tracey – a special education teacher – knew that they were a good fit for Michael’s needs.

Just over a year ago, the power of a photolisting impacted the Frohock family a second time. When they saw Derek and Heather in a waiting child book, they were attracted to the way the siblings were looking at each other and knew “that’s the way a family should look.” Today, the Frohock’s family portrait – including all three children – is a testimony to the joy that child-specific publicity can bring.

Whether the method is a photolisting book, newspaper column, media feature, Internet posting, or matching party, child-specific publicity is the backbone of recruitment efforts for many harder-to-place children. Child-specific publicity has two goals. First – as in the Frohock’s case – it stimulates prospective parents’ interest in a child and results in adoption. Second, and more commonly – it builds public awareness about the need for parents and generates resources for other children in the system.

No hard and fast rules exist about which children to publicize, and some in the child welfare field question the ethics of publicizing specific children at all. For them, photolistings and waiting child features are high-pressure tactics that either violate children’s rights to privacy or mislead prospective families.

At NACAC [and at MARE], we firmly believe that child-specific publicity is a worthwhile endeavor when it allows families to glimpse the unique qualities each child possesses. Nonetheless, we recommend caution when determining which children are prepared to share details about themselves publicly and risk the disappointment of unsuccessful recruitment efforts. Protecting children from further disappointment and victimization is of the utmost importance.

Ultimately state and local workers and/or exchanges – those who know the children best – are and should be responsible for final decisions about which children to publicize and in what fashion. This edition of Recruitment News offers suggestions to assist with those decisions.

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Preparing Children for Child Specific Recruitment

For a child who has been neglected and abused most of her life, finding a permanent family can be one of the most terrifying yet important events she will ever experience. Her worker plays a crucial role in deciding if publicity will be a part of the efforts to find a home for her, and helping to prepare her for the exposure if it is.

Selecting a Child

When selecting children for publicity with the dual goals of family recruitment and heightened public awareness in mind, choose those who are representative of children in care. Publicity for a healthy infant would undoubtedly find a family for the child and inspire lots of calls, but would not generate appropriate resources for other waiting children.

After selecting a child, workers must explore the child’s situation before continuing. Essential questions include:

• Will the child be safe? If a child comes from a violent birth family, public exposure might be risky. If publicity could lead an angry relative to find and endanger the child, the risks outweigh the benefits.
• Are relatives or foster parents adopting? There is no need to publicize children who are already matched with a family! Routinely publicizing children who are going to be adopted by people they know undermines a recruitment campaign. Families respond to publicity because they perceive that children need help. If they are continually respond to publicity for children who are already matched with families, they will ultimately lose interest and tell their friends not to bother.
• Is the child’s current caregiver supportive? Caregivers’ cooperation has a direct bearing on children’s perceptions about public exposure. If the child’s caregiver cannot nurture her during the publicity campaign, select another child – especially for higher-profile venues.
• Is the child ready for placement? Although crises are impossible to predict, a child who is completely unprepared for life in a family setting is not well served by public exposure. Hold off on publicity if the child needs intensive therapy instead of an adoptive home. Nonetheless, placement in a treatment program should never exclude a child from recruitment efforts. If the child needs a family to be involved in a slow transition toward adoption, don’t be afraid to ask for that.

Preparing the Child

A selected child should be developmentally and age-appropriately informed of the benefits and risks of publicity. Share the goals of the exposure – emphasize that the right family may or may not come forward and that the publicity is part of a larger effort to find a home. Preparation must include and honest discussion of what it will be like for the child to see himself on flyers or on television.

One key to successful recruitment is getting workers and children committed to using publicity alongside other techniques until a family is found – with the understanding that months or sometimes years of diligence and patience may be required. Unless the child is unable to understand, always work to secure her cooperation before public exposure. If a child does not feel good about being publicized, the chances for successfully finding and placing her with a family are greatly reduced. Once the child is informed and agrees to participating in the publicity efforts:

• Share samples of previous efforts. Give the child an opportunity to view materials about other children of similar age and background. This can reduce fears, prompt honest questions, and minimize feelings of isolation.
• Discuss realistic expectations. The child must understand that months may pass before the right family comes forward, completes a homestudy, and commits to adopting. Be clear that even if the publicity does not immediately find a good match, it is no reflection on the child’s attractiveness, personality, or lovability. Moreover, it does not mean that a home will never be found.
• Alert adults in the child’s support network. Children may experience anxiety when publicity efforts begin as well as renewed anger at past abuse and fears about adoption. The child’s teachers, therapists, and mentors must be prepared to lend extra encouragement.
• Explore possible reactions. Help the child to understand that neighbors and classmates may see the publicity. Explain that some don’t know much about adoption. Role-play what the child will say in response to positive and negative comments from adults or peers.
• Rehearse what to do or say. If publicity efforts include an interview, rehearse potential questions and answers. Help the child brainstorm ideas about her interests, best qualities, biggest accomplishments, and desire for a family. If possible, make a practice tape and review it together, giving compliments and making suggestions.
• Let the child contribute. Give the child ownership – even a small child can select a favorite location for videotaping or taking photographs. Older children can help with descriptions. If appropriate, ask the child to share the things a prospective family should know.
• Physically prepare the child. Help the child pick comfortable, clean clothes that make him feel confident. Make certain he is fed and rested, avoid scheduling the session during any favorite activities, and select a time when medications are most effective.
• Accompany the child to the session or the event. When possible the person who prepared the child for publicity should be present for support. A trusted adult can reduce the child’s anxiety and advocate for the child should the interviewer or photographer ask any inappropriate questions.

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Child Specific Recruitment: Using MARE Videotaping

As editor of the MARE photolisting book, I see photographs and write short descriptions of anywhere between 25 - 50 children per month. As a case manager, I continually review tracking lists filled with names of hundreds of waiting children. All of these children are very real indeed, but there is nothing quite like meeting a child in person and hearing that child talk about his or her life, interests, and hopes for the future. It keeps me focused on the fact that the waiting children for whom we work are real, every-day children who simply need a loving, permanent family in which to grow.

Earl and Sandra were looking through the MARE book and were drawn to 10 year old Freddy. His likes and interests were similar to theirs, and he had a playful smile. Earl and Sandra were naturally concerned about some of the difficulties listed in Freddy’s description. They felt like they might want to meet Freddy, but were afraid of hurting him if it didn’t work out.

When a potential adoptive family “meets” a child through a recruitment video, the impact can be much more profound and immediate than if that family has only read a MARE book description or child evaluation packet. While these written descriptions are necessary and helpful, a video can often capture a child’s personality and spirit in ways that written words simply can not. Instead of reading lists of impairments and imagining the worst, prospective families and see and hear the child and get a realistic idea of how those impairments or behaviors affect a the child’s functioning. Instead of someone else describing the child, that child becomes his or her own advocate in the adoption process. This is the beauty and the power of a recruitment video.

Another important benefit of the recruitment video is that it allows the prospective parents and child to “meet” in a non-threatening manner without unnecessary pressure for anyone to be “perfect.” If after viewing a video tape the prospective parents decide not to pursue an initial visit, the child is spared the heartache of what could be felt as another rejection. Using recruitment videos also allows the child to “travel” all around the state to meet prospective families without the agency or parents making special travel arrangements.

The benefits of using recruitment videos are many; however, many workers appear to be reluctant to take advantage of this service offered by MARE. It is my belief (and experience) that many workers are intimidated by the idea of appearing on videotape. While I understand how this could be a worker’s initial response, I must emphatically state that it is the child (and not the worker) who is the focus of the videotape. When prospective families view these tapes, they are not evaluating the worker’s “performance,” their attention is focused on the child. It is the worker’s job to facilitate the videotaping process by talking to the child on tape, making the child comfortable, and drawing out the child’s personality and interests. The amount of time the worker appears on the screen is minimal at best. I have participated in taping sessions where the worker is clearly uncomfortable - and the child can definitely pick up on that. I think that it’s also worth noting that these videotapes are not full-scale broadcast productions that are going to be viewed by millions of people on all the major networks. The videotapes are simply additional recruitment tools for workers and agencies to use at their discretion.

Another reason many workers haven’t used the MARE videotaping service is the mistaken impression that it will take too much time and/or effort. In reality, a typical taping session lasts anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour. Good casework will involve some preparation of the child and worker before the day of the taping; however, this need not be a daunting process for everyone involved. MARE has produced an excellent (and brief) videotaping manual to help the worker, child, and foster family prepare for the taping session.

Like anything else, improvement comes with practice. I applaud those workers who have taken the initiative to try the video service and guarantee that your comfort level will increase with each video. For those workers who have not yet tried this service, I sincerely hope that you will make an effort to do so in the future. For a small investment of time, workers can have a valuable addition to their efforts to serve children and families.

For more information or to schedule a taping session, phone Steve York of MARE at (517) 783-6273, ext. 236.

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Interviewing Children

Developmentally appropriate, open-ended interview questions are essential for developing descriptions and recording videos. Learn as much as possible about the child’s history from files, caregivers, and workers – this can prevent seemingly innocent questions from becoming landmines. Then, with topics to pursue in mind, get the child started and search for colorful details. The questions below could help start the conversation:

• What games do you like to play?
• What are your favorite toys, video games, movies, books, television shows, or CDs?
• What is your favorite thing to do outdoors?
• What job would you like to have as an adult?
• What is your best subject in school? What do you like about it?
• Who is your favorite teacher? Why?
• What do you like to eat?
• What chores do you help with around the house?
• What are you most proud of?
• What are you good at?
• What sports do you enjoy?
• What activities do you participate in at school?
• What do you do when you are with your friends?
• If you could have one wish, what would you wish for?
• What could a person learn about you by looking at your room?
• What do you do during vacation from school?
• What holidays do you like to celebrate? What do you do for them?
• What school trips or vacations have you gone on and especially enjoyed?
• If you could visit any place on earth, where would you go? Why?