Adoption is a process that is difficult for those involved, emotionally wrenching, and legally complex. Often a social worker has a role in this process and serves a number of purposes for the benefit of the woman who is giving up a child, for the welfare of the child, and for the support of the adoptive parents. When a woman makes the difficult decision to give up her baby, the social worker can serve a role as counsellor, nurturer, agent, and facilitator. An examination of certain situations can show the types of service a social worker performs in the adoption process.
Adoption research is a procedure followed in child welfare work. Earlier in this century, there were calls for research to assist in moving toward a scientific basis for child placement. However, the reality that has developed has not fulfilled this hope. The reason research in adoption has failed is the same reason that adoption itself has succeeded, and that is the near-ideological commitment of adoption administrators, advocates, and practitioners. Barth (1994) notes that adoption has been facilitated greatly by social workers but that certain aspects of the process never change because social workers have particular biases and preferences which color the choices they make. He states that adoptive placements have been affected by shifts in the perceptions of social workers, who at different times in recent decades have held strong preferences for adoptive parents who were married, middle-class or above, infertile and resolved about it, the same race as the adopted child, the same religion as the adopted child, seeking a child just like the adopted child, educated, younger than 40, and kin. While each of these conditions has some merit, their use in an inflexible way has undermined their value. Adoption requires the development of a permanent adoption plan, the termination of the biological rights of the parents, the placement of the child in a preadopt...