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From Freedom Fighters to Fathers and Mothers
Adoption and the Military By Alina Kelly
Challenging the Adoption IndustryDixie van de Flier Davis, executive director of The Adoption Exchange, an adoption agency in Aurora, Colo., says there is a need to better educate her colleagues in agencies who have not placed children with military families and who may be unfamiliar with the benefits. She says there is often a lack of understanding of military culture by adoption agencies.
Some social workers have preconceptions related to negative stereotypes about the structured nature of a military environment. "Children who have experienced chaos in their lives, such as those who have been moved from one foster home to another, do well in a structured environment like the military," says van de Flier Davis.
This observation is echoed in a National Adoption Information Clearinghouse bulletin. The bulletin states that the structure often found in military families can benefit children who have not had much structure in their lives or those with attention deficit disorder, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder or attachment disorder.
Since mobility is a way of life in the military, many military adoptions involve multiple agencies and multiple jurisdictions. "We need to better collaborate across geographic jurisdictions and use more common sense instead of worrying about 'administrivia,'" says van de Flier Davis. "We need to focus on doing the right thing."
Progress has been made in recent years to help guide families through interjurisdictional challenges. Books have been published specifically addressing many of the issues facing military families. Agreements have been made among agencies and the military to provide Internet links among their respective Web sites to assist families and improve communication.