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EXTRACTS of Infancia y adopción , number 3, january-june 1998

Foster families, something more than solidarity

Until recently, for a child who had to be separated from his/her biological family there was no other source of protection than institutionalization, with all the psychological and emotional deficits it implied. Precisely in order to mitigate these deficits, the figure of the foster family appeared in an attempt to base the psycho-emotional development of these children on the personal bounds which define family cohesion. But to talk about fostering is to talk about temporality, contact and return to the biological family, training and selection of the foster family... We will talk about it in the following article and in the various articles elaborated by different professionals specialized in this complex subject.
Although the number of foster families has gradually increased in recent years, still much greater is the number of children who remain in children's homes compared with the number of children who have the opportunity of growing up in a family environment. The latter no doubt repairs two important deficits: one being that of the child's biological family, unable, due to various problems, to offer the necessary care to their children, and the other concerning the very same institutionalization (little space for privacy, for the individual as such, and for the emotional commitment and exclusivity). This does not mean that all children who are in children's homes should go to foster families. These two patterns of children's protection have to coexist necessarily since, while for one specific child the best thing may be is his/her integration in a family unit, for another the best thing may be to remain in a small children's home; it always depends on the child's character, on his/her specific situation, on the relationship he/she keeps with his/her biological family, etc. However, it is obvious that many of the children who remain in children's homes could go to live with foster families and that it would be much more positive for their development at all levels. Indeed, the only requirement is that the number of families prepared to foster one of these little children for whom life has not been at all easy should increase substantially.
 
 
 

Alegría Borrás, the legal side of adoption
Alegría Borrás, a teacher, represented our country at the the Hague Conference on International Adoption. As a result of this Conference, in May 1993 the so-called The Hague Agreement on International Adoption appeared in a large number of countries, Spain being one of them. In this interview, Alegría Borrás, one of the highest authorities in our country on private international law, tells us about these changes, as well as on some gaps that still remain in the present Spanish legislation on adoption. These are some of her statements:
"Simple adoption is problematic, specially when the child moves to another country, when here we do not have a concrete legal mechanism for transformation. People are faced with many problems; it is understood that this kind of adoption is equivalent to a preadoptive fostering or that it is only a reason for excluding the proposal of adoption by the public authority... that is to say, a series of matters that only present problems... I have always said that it would be positive to have a mechanism to articulate these formulae. For instance, in relation to the very same Hague Agreement, there is the subject concerning the fact that adoptions, although simple, if they establish some specific bounds even when there is no absolute break with the family of origin, then, there should be an automatic acknowledgement of them. Indeed, we cannot carry out an automatic acknowledgement of a simple adoption because we do not have this mechanism and we also do not have a mechanism for transformation. Our legislation should have this legal mechanism for transformation; this would make things much easier."
"With the system of the The Hague Agreement, the situation is much easier since with it, if the previous procedure has not been carried out, the mechanisms for acknowledgement do not work. For this reason, what cannot happen in the case of a child coming from a state belonging to the The Hague Agreement is that the child arrives here without having completed the previous formalities. With it I mean, and I think that this is very important because it is still not working well enough, that between states participating in The Hague Agreement, the previous suitability rapport is not a requirement that can be easily rectified, because it is a part of the previous procedure. This means that this child cannot be documented, that this child cannot leave his/her country, that he/she cannot come to Spain as the requirements of the Agreement have not been complied with, this adoption is not acknowledged and cannot be rectified. The subsequent suitability rapport and, therefore, the possibility of coming here, as well as all the problems that this is causing can in effect only happen when the Agreement is not applied."
 
 
 

WORKSHOP ON INTERNATIONAL ADOPTION

In answer to the increasing demand and sensitizing of the citizens concerning international adoption, last November the General Direction of Social Action, the Minor and the Family of the Labour and Social Affairs Ministry organized November last the first Workshop on International Adoption on a state level, addressed to technicians and professionals. During the workshop around 300 people registered and more than 30 speakers evaluated the various and complex aspects which make up the present situation of adoption.
The training and the selection of adopting parents, the national and international legislative framework, the view of the countries of origin, the Collaborating Agencies for International Adoption (Entitades Colaboradoras de Adopci-n Internacional, ECAI), the collected experiences in various European countries, the role of the consulates, the experience of adopting parents and adopted children... Each and every one of the different aspects related to adoption were dealt with on the 5, 6 and 7 of November last in Madrid during a workshop that was intense and interesting. The European countries, with a tradition of more than 20 years in international adoption, were surprised by the increasing number of Collaborating Agencies for International Adoption that are being authorized in our country. Various foreign speakers openly expressed their worries as regards this subject, warning the Spanish administration about the serious problems that could derive form it. Some months after the Workshop, and while new agencies are being authorized, Mar'a Teresa Mog'n, General Director of Social Action, the Minor and the Family, affirms in some declarations to our magazine: "It is true that the increase of these agencies has been fast, that is to say, that in a very short period of time many have appeared. The concentration of various ECAI in some countries is also true, in Latin America as well as in Eastern Europe. For this reason, we consider that it is necessary to keep on working in conjunction with the Public Administration and the ECAI to introduce elements for a future realignment of the situation.".
 
 
 

'THE CHILD WHO HAS LIVED IN INSTITUTIONS. EFFECTS ON HIS DEVELOPMENT"

Conference given by Carmen Amorós, clinical psychologist.

Among the various activities carried out in Barcelona by ADDIA during 1997 there was the conference on the various aspects related to the institutionalization of children. Carmen Amorós A., clinical psychologist with experience in the field, was the person responsible for establishing the required dialogue with the parents participating in the conference and orientating them in relation to how institutionalization in early childhood may have an effect on the child's development.
>From the beginning of the Conference, Carmen Amorós made it clear that the experience of institutionalization depends on the functioning of each specific institution, on the people of reference the child may have had in this institution and on the quality of the relationship that he/she may have established with these persons, in addition to the specific features of each child and the length of time this lack of permanence implied in living in an institution may have lasted.
To the question of whether there are behaviors that may be generalized to all institutionalized children, Carmen Amorós answered "no", for there are not only very different working patterns in the many institutions, but also because each child is different and has his/her own capacity to tolerate frustrations and to recover from difficult experiences and as is his/her own capacity to forgive and to begin a relationship. Thus, each child metabolizes, elaborates, in a distinct way, life experiences. What is observed is a clear tendency in the institutionalized children to ask for a family.