Campus Location

Abilene Campus (Residential)

Date of Award

5-2018

Document Type

Thesis

Department

Social Work

Degree Name

Master of Science

Committee Chair or Primary Advisor

Wayne Paris

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the existing state of parent-child adjustment post-adoption of adults that have adopted children through New Horizons. A total of 46 parents who adopted a child from New Horizons between September 1, 2016, and August 31, 2017, were contacted and 14 parents participated. The participants were asked to answer demographic questions, a Strength and Difficulty Questionnaire, a Parental Stress Scale Questionnaire, and questions about services via a phone interview. The study found that there was a direct relationship between the age of the child at the time of adoption and internalizing problems. Approximately 25% of the participants stated there was no follow up after the adoption was finalized, and only half were aware of the services that were available to them. The Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire revealed that over half of the children fell within the Abnormal range for externalizing behavior. Parental stress did not appear to be high, however correlations were found between parental stress, the child’s level of adaptation, and impact score from the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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