The Numbers Are In - During Fiscal Year 2000 (October 1, 1999 - September 30, 2000), 2,775 adoptions of children from foster care were finalized in the state of Michigan. This represents a 15% increase from the previous fiscal year! Following are some additional statistics regarding those adoptions:

AGE			FAMILY TYPE
0 - 5 years	1,243 (45%)		Relative	1,021 (37%)
6-9 years	808 (29%)		Foster Parent	1,504 (54%)
10 - 12 years	453 (16%)		Recruited Family	250 (9%)
13 + years	271 (10%)
RACE			AGENCY TYPE
African American	1,374 (50%)		POS (Private)	1,545 (56%)
Caucasian	1,143 (41%)		FIA (Public)	1,230 (44%)
Other	258 (9%)

Placed with at least one sibling   1,537 (55%)

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The All-New Zone Review

by Kirsta Grapentine and Barb Manegold

2,775 adoptions were finalized in the state of Michigan during fiscal year 2000. This record number represents a 15 percent increase from the previous year – and should be a source of pride for adoption professionals throughout the state. But for every child adopted, there is another child who waits for a permanent family. Surprisingly, the children who wait are often young - under age 10 - and already have an identified family. They are literally just waiting to be adopted.

With that in mind, the Michigan Family Independence Agency began a review process in 1996 to determine why children who have identified families are not being adopted in a timely manner. Known as "Zone Reviews," the process utilizes Zone offices - the administrative link between FIA’s central office and the various local offices - to determine why children have not been adopted.

Case that are regularly reviewed fall into one of two categories:

• Cases for which the permanent custody date is greater than six months and no documentation has been submitted to the MARE office showing the progress toward adoption; and
• Cases, which have been on "hold registration" status longer than one year past permanent custody, and for whom MARE has not received an Order Placing Child (PCA 320).

Until recently Zone Reviews were performed once every quarter, with an average of 550 cases being reviewed each time. Lists of cases were produced by the MARE office, sent to the FIA Adoption Division, and then forwarded to the various zone managers. The Zone offices then distributed the reviews to their various counties, where individual case forms and supporting documentation were filled out and sent back to the Zone office. Zone offices reviewed and signed off on each case, and forwarded review forms back to the MARE office. Once received by MARE each case was updated, given a new extended due date, and compiled into a master report that documented why children were not achieving adoption.

The merits of the zone review process were many: cases deemed to be of concern were regularly reviewed and accounted for; barriers to adoption began to be identified; and updated documentation was forwarded to the MARE office. However, the zone review process was often misunderstood by some agencies that viewed it either as a "punishment" for not having completed an adoption in a timely fashion, or felt it was an unnecessary "hoop to jump through" when working on cases that were already complicated and time consuming. For the Zone offices there seemed to be barely enough time to complete one set of reviews before beginning the next – and not enough time to be pro-active on cases that might really need attention.

The Zone Review process has itself has recently gone through a review in an effort to make the process more manageable, meaningful, and "user-friendly." The biggest change is that Zone Reviews will now be performed only twice per year, which means most cases will only be reviewed once a year. The second major change is that although all reviews will be sent from and returned to the Zone offices, zone specialists need only to focus on cases of concern. That is, zone specialists will not have to "sign off" on all cases under review, just those that have been "red-flagged" as needing special attention. These "red flag" cases would include:

• cases for which documentation has never been sent to the MARE office;
• cases for which there has not been a referral to the adoption unit;
• cases in which a goal change has been suggested but never enacted;
• cases in which a child needs recruitment but has never been photolisted; and
• cases in which past reviews repeatedly indicated that adoption was imminent, but the adoption petition has still not been filed.

Each January and July, the MARE office will create a list of "overdue" and "expired hold" cases for the previous six-month period. As with the current Zone Review system, reviews will be distributed to the field through the Zone office, updated by their care agency, and sent back to the Zone office. The Zone specialists will then simply forward the review forms back to the MARE office for processing and updates. In turn, the MARE office will "red flag" those cases of special concern and return them to the Zone offices for individual review and possible follow up with the care agency. In this manner, Zone offices can assume a more pro-active role of assisting with cases, and not simply monitoring large numbers of cases.

When You’re Reviewed . . .

Don’t panic! Contrary to popular belief—an expired hold and subsequent zone review is not a bad thing. No monetary sanction or physical pain is involved. It is simply a pro-active effort on the part of FIA to make sure that all children with the goal of adoption are accounted for and adopted in as timely a manner as is possible.

The review process can be quick and painless---the key is to read the review form thoroughly.

• If the child has already been adopted, make sure you attach the OTR (PCA 320) to the review form.
• If the permanency goal has been changed to something other than adoption, make sure a copy of the FIA 5S or approved USP is attached along with the review form.
• If the child no longer has an identified family and needs recruitment (i.e. child needs to be featured in the MARE book), make sure the MARE office receives a child registration form and photo of the child
• If a new family (foster, relative or recruited) has been identified for the child, make sure an updated registration form is attached to the zone review.

In most cases, the family identified with the original hold registration remains the placement of choice. A Zone Review in this case means simply checking the box (or boxes) which best identify the barrier to completing the adoption, a short narrative regarding case specifics, and a projection of when the adoption will most likely be completed. Above all, an expired hold or a pending expiration does not mean that a child needs to be registered for photolisting. Only children who truly need recruitment should appear in the MARE book!

Tracking messages and zone review process can sometimes be confusing. If you are ever in doubt about the status of a case or what documentation is due to MARE and when, contact your MARE case manager, Amanda Lynet, or MARE program director, Kirsta Grapentine for clarification. We are a quick phone call away (517) 783-6273.

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Revised Tracking List Messages

Because zone reviews will now only occur twice a year, MARE has made some modifications to the tracking messages to more accurately reflect the status of each case.

Hold Expired: Case reported for Next FIA Review

This message appears when a Hold (H), Foster Parent (F), or Relative (R) registration was received and either the original six month or zone review extension period for completing the adoption has passed. These children are presumed to be in the process of being adopted and do not appear in the MARE book. This message also appears for cases that have been changed from a Photolisting registration to one of the hold registrations and an Order Placing Child has not been received within six months of the change to a Hold registration.

This message will appear as each case expires. Cases will be reviewed during the next review period which occurs in January and July. No new extended due date is generated with this message.

Case Being Reviewed: New Extended Due Date

This message appears for cases that are currently being reviewed by Zone Managers. Once a case goes for review, a new extended due date of six months is given. Since review periods occur in January and July, the new extended due date will be in either July or January (i.e. if a case receives a message of being reviewed in January, it will automatically receive an extended due date of July).

Case Reviewed: New Extended Due Date

Once a case is reviewed, and any required supporting documentation is received by MARE, the case is given an additional six month extension. In essence this means that cases (that are properly reviewed) are only examined one time per year, unless the zone specialist requests that it be done sooner. If an OTR or goal change is not received by this next extended due date, the Hold Expired message will appear again.

Changes have also been made to the monthly Tracking Breakdown Report:

The column with the heading Hold Cases Being Reviewed reflects cases that have expired and are currently in the review process and have been given a six month extension. The equivalent tracking message is: Case Being Reviewed: New Extended Due Date.

Hold Cases For Next Review are those cases that have recently expired, but will not be reviewed by the zone office until the next review period (January or July). The tracking message equivalent for these cases is: Hold Expired: Case reported for Next FIA Review.

It should be noted that the column heading >1 Year past PC Date indicates the total number of cases that have permanent custody dates of greater than one year. This would include children photolisted in the MARE book, cases where no documentation has ever been received, and hold cases (regardless of review status).

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30 Photos and Videos . . . ALL in One Night!

How does the idea of obtaining updated photos of the children in your care who are listed in the MARE Book and also making short recruitment video clips at the same time - all with assistance of the friendly and competent MARE staff - sound to you? Too good to be true? Well, several metro-Detroit agencies did just that - and in the process obtained photos and video clips of the nearly 30 children who participated in this first-ever mass photo/video shoot!

The idea was simple: work with a few other agencies and invite foster families to bring the children in their care to one location for an evening photo/video shoot. The children were scheduled in 10-minute time blocks to keep things moving along. Pizza, pop, and other refreshments were also provided. In a little over two hours the mission was accomplished and the agencies now had fresh new photos and a powerful video presentation for a special recruitment event they had planned. Hats off to Lutheran Adoption Service, Evergreen Children’s Services, Catholic Social Services of Wayne County, St. Vincent/Sarah Fisher, and Wayne County FIA for their efforts in making the night a great success.

Your agency can do this too! If you would like to schedule a photo/video session for your agency (or join with one or more agencies to do so) we would be happy to work with you. As always, individual videotaping sessions - for more detailed and personalized information - are available and encouraged; however, this alternative is another option for agencies to consider.

Please phone Steve York of MARE at (517) 783-6273 to discuss this or any other video/photo opportunities.