December, 2003/
January, 2004

MARE is Expanding!

by Nancy Berger

Most adoption exchanges around the country are the “center of activity” – that is, families who are interested in waiting children in those states contact their state exchange for more information about children, rather than contacting the child’s worker directly. According to other state exchanges, this allows for children’s workers to focus their energies on finding the most appropriate family for a child, rather than fielding dozens of phone calls from families who may not be appropriate, or are not approved for adoption. It also allows the exchanges to intercept families who are not currently studied and approved, and provide them with more information about adoption, including referring them to agencies that will help them with an adoption assessment.

In February, 2001, MARE initiated a “pilot project” to assess the viability of the MARE office intaking all inquiries about waiting children on the Exchange. The project was tested using the MARE website (www.mare.org), and included children listed with five specific agencies:

These five agencies were chosen because of the number of children they serve (approximately one-quarter of children listed on the Exchange).

When a family is interested in a child listed with one of these five agencies, they complete an online form based on whether they have an approved homestudy/Family Assessment, they are in the process of having a homestudy/Family Assessment completed, or they do not have a homestudy/Family Assessment. This online form is emailed to the MARE office, where the information is then disseminated to the child’s worker, the family’s worker, and the family. Both the family’s worker and children’s worker are asked to make contact with each other to gather more information and explore the possibility of a placement. MARE then follows up with all parties three weeks after the initial inquiry.

The pilot project allowed MARE to gather data in certain areas, including how timely workers contact each other; whether families are appropriate; and whether children are still available for adoption.

The process has empowered families and their workers to pursue adoption of waiting children. The fact that 21 placements have occurred to date – as well as numerous placements between inquiring families and children who were not a part of the pilot project — shows this has the potential to help children move into permanent families.

As of December 1, 2003 – almost three years after the pilot project was initiated – 2,347 families have inquired about children listed on MARE’s website. Of those families, 53% (1,251) indicate they have an approved homestudy/Family Assessment, and 9% (204) indicate they are in the process of having a homestudy/Family Assessment completed. The remaining 38% (892) are Michigan families that indicate they do not have a homestudy/Family Assessment. These families were provided with more information about adoption, including referral to an agency that could complete an assessment.

Of the 1,455 families that inquired that either have a homestudy, or are in the process of completing an assessment, 64% (936) are from Michigan, and 36% are from outside of Michigan.

These families inquired about 467 specific children, for a total of 2,566 inquiries (some families inquired about multiple children; a few families inquired repeatedly about the same child).

Where Do We Go From Here?

Starting on January 15, 2004, all inquiries about children listed on MARE’s website will come through the MARE office. The MARE book, however, will remain in its current form – listing the worker’s name, agency and phone number for each child.

Families – or family’s workers – will continue to complete an online form to inquire about a specific child or children. MARE will continue to follow up on these inquiries three weeks after the inquiry is initially received. MARE will also begin a second round of follow-up letters, six weeks after the initial inquiry is received (and three weeks after the first follow-up letter is sent). This will allow us to continue gathering information about the status of the child, the family, and the possibility for placement, as well as give us the opportunity to intercede in any problematic areas.

What Does All This Mean?

Hopefully, implementing this process will have several positive outcomes:

  1. Children’s workers will have more time to investigate studied and approved families, rather than spending time fielding phone calls from families for whom they have no information.
  2. Families will feel empowered to take control of their adoption process, by inquiring about children they are interested in – instead of waiting for their workers to do that for them.
  3. Family’s workers will be able to let their families have more control of their adoption process, and will also have more time to develop strong relationships with the children’s workers.

If this process goes smoothly (and we don’t doubt there will be bumps, perhaps evens potholes, along the road!), the next phase of this project will be to change over the MARE book itself. While we are interested in moving forward with this process, we must be certain it is what is best – for Michigan’s waiting children.

If you have any questions, or need further clarification about this process, please do not hesitate to contact Nancy Berger at (517) 783-6273 or email her at nberger@mare.org