Displacement or Post-Adoption Placement? A Research Note

The purpose of this research note is to propose the use of the term post-adoption placement, a neutral term, in lieu of adoption displacement, which has negative connotations, to describe a child's entry into foster or group care following adoption. Data from the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) are used to describe 2,642 previously adopted children who entered, and 3,166 previously adopted children who exited public foster and group care in federal fiscal year 2005 to their non-adopted counterparts, 249,562 and 229,409 respectively. The data support the argument that the neutral term is more appropriate because, although these placements can be upsetting, most previously adopted children are reunified with their adoptive parents if their adoptions have not been legally dissolved, or the children are re-adopted if their adoptions have been dissolved.