During the past four years, the number of Kansas children awaiting adoption has more than doubled.

No one, it seems, is quite sure why.

“It’s probably a mix of things,” said Melissa Ness, executive vice president and chief operating officer at Kansas Children’s Service League, the nonprofit agency that has overseen the state’s adoption services since July 1, 2000.

But it’s clear, Ness said, the system has too many kids and not enough families willing to adopt.

Today, more than 1,300 children  all graduates of the state’s privatized foster care system  are waiting on social workers to find families willing to adopt them. That’s an all-time high. Back in 1998, about 625 children were on the adoption waiting list.

Waiting hurts children, said Marianne Berry, a Kansas University social work professor.

“Numerous studies have shown that the anxiety that comes with a child’s not knowing what’s happening in their life  or not knowing when it’s going to happen or how it’s going to affect them  decreases their ability to master the tasks that lead to the development of a stable base that’s critical in a child’s being able to trust the world around them and to see it as a good, hopeful place,” Berry said.

Jennefer Johnson, 19, knows all about uncertainty. Before reaching legal adulthood, she spent two and a half years in foster care.

“My mom died from a brain aneurysm when I was 14 and my dad was kind of a deadbeat,” Johnson said.

“When nobody adopts you,” she said, “you feel like you’re not wanted. And then you start thinking that it’s your fault and that you’re not good enough. It gets real crazy, you worry a lot.”

Johnson is now working her way through Kansas University.

Better, then worse

Shortly after Kansas privatized most of its child welfare services in 1996-97, adoption numbers jumped from about 350 a year to 500 in 1999, 546 in 2000.

State welfare officials pointed to these numbers as proof that under privatization, conditions were improving.

But in July 2000, the state Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services switched adoption contractors. Then-contractor Lutheran Social Service was out, Kansas Children’s Service League was in.

A month later, Lutheran Social Service announced it had run out of money and could pay its subcontractors only 74 cents on the dollar.

After the switch, adoption numbers began a steady, yearlong decline. Fewer than 400 children were adopted in 2001.

Part of the drop-off, Ness said, was because the transition accompanying the change took longer than either agency expected. Instead of a few weeks, it took a full year.

“Changing service deliverers turned out to be a lot harder than any of us anticipated,” Ness said. “Our contract was different, and our service delivery model was different, and to make those adjustments takes a lot of time.”

Marc Bloomingdale, chief operations officer at Lutheran Social Service, agreed.

“In hindsight, I can say that if we ever have to go through that again, there’s no way to make it happen in a few weeks,” he said. “It may not take a year the second time around, but you’re sure not going to get it done in a few weeks.”

As the two agencies worked through their differences, other changes were  and had been  taking place.

“The (child welfare) system we’re dealing with today is not the system we were dealing with six years ago. It changes, constantly. And what you’re seeing now is a reflection of the latest changes,” Ness said.

For example, Ness said, children awaiting adoption in 2002 are “much more challenging,” hence more difficult to find homes for than those in the system in 1998.

The state’s family-preservation efforts, she said, have succeeded in keeping easy-to-place children out of the foster-care and adoption systems. Those who remain, she said, tend to be harder to place.

“We’re dealing with a much higher-need kid,” Ness said. “Now, that doesn’t mean they’re not adoptable, but it does mean it’s going to take longer to work with families that are willing to take them.”

Finding those families is harder, too.

“We’ve not seen a drop in the number of families calling us who are interested in adopting,” said Judy Culley, executive director of The Shelter, a Lawrence foster-care and adoption agency that subcontracts with Kansas Children’s Service League. “But most of them want babies,” not older children.

“That’s a good thing and it’s understandable, but that’s not where the problem is,” Culley said. “We need folks who’ll take older kids with special needs, and that’s who we’re having a hard time finding  everybody is.”

Records show that more than 400 of the 1,300 children awaiting adoption are 12 years old or older. More than 400 have siblings also waiting to be adopted.

Media blitz

Kansas Children’s Service League, Ness said, is getting ready to launch a media campaign aimed at encouraging families to consider adoption.

It’s also working with SRS on ways to increase the number and kinds of services available to adoptive families.

“The families are out there  that’s not changed,” Ness said. “But the kinds of kids we’re asking them to take has changed. So we need to figure out a way to get these families the kinds of services they need to make these adoptions work. That’s something we work on every day.”