I am an adoptee whose adoption went through this agency in the 1960's. Back then it was considered one of the best agencies to adopt from. They were selective about the adoptive parents they chose, and were considered pros in their field. Based on what I was told by my birthmother, with whom I reunited many years ago, they gave her excellent and unbiased counseling so she felt sure of her decision to place me for adoption.
That reputation changed over the years. The counselling for birthmothers seems to have disintegrated over time. I personally know one first mother who was picked up from the psych ward, driven to court to sign her relinquishment, and then returned. It seems rather funky to call that a legal relinquishment. Also, this mother had paid them a few hundred dollars to do her search, and they never found, even though her son was in a local suburban phone book. Once this mother went public in the newspaper about her story, CAS closed its search program to birthparents. Coincidental? Maybe. But thankfully, her article led her son to her.
Now on the other end of the story... back when I was searching, CAS
Philadelphia had a decent (if paternalistic) search program in place to
help adoptees and birthparents who wanted to initiate contact. They
required three-way consent of your adoptive parents, your birthparents and you before they would attempt contact. At the time I was underage and my adoptive parents' approval was probably needed, but let's hope they didn't try this with legal adults... I don't know what their policy was. As it turned out, I did not use their services and found my birthfamily on my own.
But now and for the past several years, Children's Aid Society of
Philadelphia has very little post-adoption support. There is just one part time social worker putting in one night a week on searches so people wait forever. For all the years of booming adoptions and income, shame on this agency for not supporting the very people it placed.
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I am an adoptee whose
I am an adoptee whose adoption went through this agency in the 1960's. Back then it was considered one of the best agencies to adopt from. They were selective about the adoptive parents they chose, and were considered pros in their field. Based on what I was told by my birthmother, with whom I reunited many years ago, they gave her excellent and unbiased counseling so she felt sure of her decision to place me for adoption.
That reputation changed over the years. The counselling for birthmothers seems to have disintegrated over time. I personally know one first mother who was picked up from the psych ward, driven to court to sign her relinquishment, and then returned. It seems rather funky to call that a legal relinquishment. Also, this mother had paid them a few hundred dollars to do her search, and they never found, even though her son was in a local suburban phone book. Once this mother went public in the newspaper about her story, CAS closed its search program to birthparents. Coincidental? Maybe. But thankfully, her article led her son to her.
Now on the other end of the story... back when I was searching, CAS
Philadelphia had a decent (if paternalistic) search program in place to
help adoptees and birthparents who wanted to initiate contact. They
required three-way consent of your adoptive parents, your birthparents and you before they would attempt contact. At the time I was underage and my adoptive parents' approval was probably needed, but let's hope they didn't try this with legal adults... I don't know what their policy was. As it turned out, I did not use their services and found my birthfamily on my own.
But now and for the past several years, Children's Aid Society of
Philadelphia has very little post-adoption support. There is just one part time social worker putting in one night a week on searches so people wait forever. For all the years of booming adoptions and income, shame on this agency for not supporting the very people it placed.