Disruption and dissolution are such gentle words for the process by which an adoption is ended, either before or after legal finalization. A child moves out of the adoptive family, back to foster or private care, and a new family must be found. Disruption and dissolution  have the potential for a tremendous amount of trauma for everyone, most especially for the child, who’s already lost his original, first, biological family, and now has lost permanency yet again.

The likelihood of a disruption or dissolution increases when children are older at the time of adoption. When adoptive parents aren’t adequately prepared, are unrealistic about parenting a traumatized child, or fail to access resources for parenting, the odds increase as well.

“The Truth About Preventing Adoption Disruptions” is a new podcast by Add Water and Stir. AWAS focuses on promoting foster care and adoption within communities of color, especially within the African-American community. The main speaker on the podcast is Beverly Clarke, LCSW-C, LICSW, the director of Project Wait No Longer, a program of The Barker Adoption Foundation. Per the website, Project Wait No Longer’s main goal is to find permanent, adoptive families for older children in public foster care. Most of the children are 10–17 years old, but some younger waiting children are part of larger sibling groups (three or more children) who desperately wish to stay together.

The interview with Bev starts about 8 minutes into the podcast. I’ve known Bev for many years, and, as usual, she is insightful and pragmatic. The key here is preventing disruptions, not waiting until too much damage is done.

Disclaimer: I worked for the Barker Adoption Foundation as interim executive director over a decade ago.