NDACAN Measure Details

Description:

The Survey of NSCAW Adopted Youth, Young Adults, and Adults (Adoptee Instrument) primarily includes project-developed items. Many project-developed items were based upon items used in previous national or state surveys. The main sources of questions were the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (child instruments used with cohorts I to III), the Survey of Youth Transitioning from Foster Care, the Texas Youth Permanency Study, the Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth, and the Quality Improvement Center for Adoption & Guardianship Support and Preservation State Surveys. Section A of the NSCAW Adoption Study Adoptee Instrument includes items on demographic characteristics and the participant's current living situation. Section B includes items that gather information on the participant's adoption history including age at adoption and current relationships with both adoptive and biological family members. Items in Section C assess adoptee experiences with post adoption instability including formal instability (termination of adoptive parent(s)' rights, foster care reentry), informal instability (running away, homelessness, time in transition living program, living temporarily with relatives or non-relatives, reasons for leaving home prior to 18 years of age), and other interruptions in care (residential treatment or group home; juvenile detention). In Section B, participants are first asked about the occurrence of these events. If a participant endorses "yes" to any of the post adoption instability experiences, the participant answers several follow-up questions. These questions asked participants to describe their age at the time of the instability experience, whether contact continued between the adoptive family members and the adoptee after the instability experience, the family context during the time of the instability experience, whether services were received during this time, and whether they ever returned to live with their adoptive family. Section D focuses on post adoption services and supports (both perceived as needed and received). Section E includes item to assess the quality of the adoptive parent-adoptee's current relationship as well as their relationship during childhood (closeness, sense of belonging). Section F focuses on adoptees feelings about their adoption experience and expectations around the adoptive relationship. The questions within Section G assess adoptee perceptions of their adoptive family cohesion and functioning during childhood. Items within this module come from two subscales of the Protective Factors Scale (PFS): the Nurturing and Attachment subscale and the Family Functioning and Resiliency subscale (Counts et al., 2010). Section H includes items about the adoptee's current health and mental health status, including substance use and perceived impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the adoptee's well-being. The final instrument section, Section I, focuses on adoptee's perceptions of current social support.

Citations