Jack’s World and the Adoption Option

Abstract Without adoption there is no child welfare reform. Adoption is the main alternative at the heart of permanency planning when family reunification is not possible. It’s the first word of the two main pieces of federal child welfare legislation, which provide incentives for people to adopt children, including older youth. No one knows this better than Jack Brennan, a man who came to work at Children’s Village as a conscientious objector from the the Vietnam war and ended up dedicating his life to adopting older youth from foster care, mostly from the Children’s Village. Jack gives the gift of belonging to family to many children. Some thrive; some die; and some are returned temporarily, to RTC care. All benefit. Jack’s journey from childcare worker to multiple-adoptive parent and director of an agency dedicated to the adoption of high-risk youth reveals the essential truths about adopting “the multiply betrayed”—what’s at stake, what’s possible, and why it matters. Like everything else in child welfare, it is complicated but Jack’s story demonstrates how important it is to embrace the complexity. It also shows how we can strengthen the adoption option in permanency planning.