The Infant of Prague has been in service for over 30 years. Founded by priests and lay people affiliated with the Catholic Diocese of Fresno, it is state and federally funded. The organization is ran by an Executive Board of Directors that oversee it, as it is a non-profit. While this organization helps Central California each county has its own structure; Executive Director, Office Manager, Business Manager and Social Work staff. Its devotion stressed special blessings for children and families (Kertzman, personal intv. 2015). As an agency they are dedicated to serving he needs of children by providing them with healthy families. Though even outside this organization and finding homes for these pure children, the foster care system can face problems in trying to place children. Some of these children come into foster care because they were in some way relinquished by the birth-parent(s) or when the birth-parent’s parental right have been terminated (Kertzman, personal intv. 2015). Terminations can be caused by some type of prior trauma the child has faced. Traumatic events include child abuse and neglect, exposure to domestic violence, community violence, and experiencing the violent death or a loved one, among some others (Dorsey et al. 21:816). It is The Infant of Prague’s duty to provide full service to help aid adoptive parents, birthparents, adoption counseling, and post adoptions services (Infantofprague.org). Adoptive parents program are for those interested in adopting. 99% of placements are infants, and potential parents go through evening and weekend group training. The Birth parent program is a confidential and unbiased counseling that explores all the options a birthparent has before and after giving a child to foster care. They receive direct assistance along with pregnancy education and information. Now the Post adoption program responds to the adult adopted persons who are seeking medical and background information that may not have been made available to them in older or “closed” adoptions (Infantofrague.org). The service of this agency are made to help the people involved. Including counseling for all. According to Kertzman, “The children receive all needed medical and psychological services, as well as receiving a family who will provide a “forever home” for them” (personal intv. 2015). Though traumatic exposure rates for youth in these settings are high overall, with over half the youth reporting some type of abuse. So the organization will give the children in their care various types of counseling: attachment concerns, trauma, grief and loss, depression, and relationship issues. For many children entering the foster care leaves them with a great deal of stress, and adapting to new families could be more difficult for them. The child’s attachment depends upon parental characteristics. According to Smyke (et al), “Various interventions in which changing parents’ behaviors or their state of mind have led to changes in the quality of attachment of the child to that caregiver” (213). Some children are placed with parents that may be too strict and maybe violence is involved. The emotional level of attachment may not be present, therefore leading to violence from the foster parents feeling pressured and underappreciated. Age and attachment do have a correlation when placing children and a success rate. 80% of adoptive parents reported that their children (infant-4yrs of age) had become attached to them within 1 year, and majority reported the children were deeply attached (Smyke et al. 213). Furthermore, The Infant of Prague will address these kinds of problems, and in most cases of adoption there are follow-up services, assistance with finalization, and post finalization counseling (infantofprague.org). Some of the older children have a higher risk
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All potential parents must be live scanned, which is a form of fingerprinting that checks to see if they have any criminal records within the state and throughout the country. Since the Fresno County Department of Social Services is involved in the decision making of where child is placed, they can also send their social workers to make unannounced visits to ensure that the child is in the right “forever home” (Kertzman, personal intv. 2015). These home studies are conducted on the perspective adoptive parent(s). Once completed, a finalization hearing is held and the perspective adoptive parent(s) are named the legal parents of the
All potential parents must be live scanned, which is a form of fingerprinting that checks to see if they have any criminal records within the state and throughout the country. Since the Fresno County Department of Social Services is involved in the decision making of where child is placed, they can also send their social workers to make unannounced visits to ensure that the child is in the right “forever home” (Kertzman, personal intv. 2015). These home studies are conducted on the perspective adoptive parent(s). Once completed, a finalization hearing is held and the perspective adoptive parent(s) are named the legal parents of the