1. Tracking Adoption Rate of Children “Available for Adoption”
The data reporting unit provided a powerpoint to leadership as part of our October 11th presentation. This analysis showed that while the raw numbers of children adopted were down from FY08/09 to FY09/10, when taken as a proportion of children in out-of-home care, which also showed a decline over the time period, the proportion of children adopted was actually higher. The next step in the analysis was to identify an appropriate denominator to track the proportion of children available for adoption.
Leadership Briefing
November 1, 2010

2. How many children does Florida have “available for adoption”?
This depends on the definition of “available for adoption.”
Children TPR’d or who have a goal of adoption
7,623
Children with a goal of adoption regardless of TPR status
7,040
Children TPR’d, regardless of goal
3,029
Children who have been TPR’d and have a goal of adoption
2,449
Children who have been TPR’d, have a goal of adoption, and are on the website
780
We are often asked “How many children are available for adoption?” This depends on how we define “available”. As you can see, there are at least 5 definitions we currently use depending on the context. For the purpose of tracking whether current adoption rates remain consistent with past performance in the midst of a decline in the raw number of adoptions we know is occurring, we will track and report on the adoption rate using the 3rd definition.
We will track adoption rate using the 3rd definition – Children TPR’d, regardless of goal

3. How will this be Tracked and Why Use This Definition?
Data reporting unit of FSPO will begin reporting FY-to-date proportion of children legally free for adoption on July 1 who have been adopted (statewide, by age, and by CBC).
Why:
This is how “available for adoption” is defined for federal performance measures (CFSR C2.5)
Allows us to track progress toward additional awards
Potentially comparable to other states
Provides incentive to pursue adoptions for children TPR’d with goal of APPLA
This is how “available for adoption” is defined for federal performance measure CFSR C2.5. It establishes a cohort of all children TPR’d and in out-of-home-care on July 1 and calculates the percentage of them who were adopted by June 30 of the following year. In addition to allowing us to track progress toward additional federal bonus awards, this measure allows for comparison to other states and provides an additional incentive to pursue adoptions for children TPR’d with a goal of APPLA because they will still be included in the denominator.

4. What Do We Know About Adoptions Using This Definition?
Florida’s Performance History:
Florida was top state in the nation on federal adoption composite measure for last 2.5 years.
Based on this federal measure, the adoption rate last year was the 2nd highest rate in the last 7 years
Despite a decrease in the number of children available for adoption.
And despite a decrease in the raw number of adoptions.
Florida has been the top state in the nation for over the last 2 years on the federal adoption composite. And with regard to the individual measure described earlier, which is used as part of the overall adoption composite calculation,

5. Adoption Rates have been High in Last Two Years
Florida’s adoption rate last year was the 2nd highest it has been in the last 7 years, slipping less than 1% from the year before,

6. … Despite Reductions in the Number of Children Available for Adoption...
despite a decrease in both the number of children available for adoption,

7. …And a Reduction in the Number of Children Adopted Overall.
and the raw number of adoptions finalized.

8. This Measure will Supplement Existing Measures, as it Does Not Reflect All Adoptions Finalized in the Year
However, this measure does not tell the whole story by itself. Because there has been a steady trend toward a larger proportion of finalized adoptions coming from the pool of children who were NOT already legally free on July 1, due in part to increased speed of foster care adoptions after TPR and increases in adoptions by relatives, it is important to supplement this metric with existing measures to provide a complete picture of overall adoption trends.
The percent not Legally Free on July 1 may have increased due to:
Increased speed of foster care adoptions after TPR
Increases in adoptions by foster parents and relatives

9. Adoption Rates are Much Higher for Children Age 0 – 8 than Children Age 9+
For example, adoption rates, even from among the children tracked using the federal measure we have described, are much higher for children under 9 years old than for children 9 years old and older.

10. Adoption Reporting The Data Unit of FSPO ….
Will begin reporting FY-to-date the number of children adopted as a proportion of children who were legally free for adoption on July 1 (statewide, by age, and by CBC) as well as total adoptions finalized to date;
Will distribute these numbers monthly via as an excel workbook, which will replace adoption data contained in weekly OHC , and post on the Center for the Advancement of Child Welfare Practice Website, starting in December;
Will work closely with Operations and the Performance Measures Workgroup to incorporate CBC adoption target tracking information, by January; and
Will also work to develop method of tracking children on website requiring recruitment. The current FSFN report cannot be used, but we are working with Northwood to correct, date TBD.