photo by: Shawn Valverde/Special to the Journal-World

The University of Kansas campus is pictured in this aerial photo from September 2023.

Researchers at the University of Kansas School of Social Welfare have secured a $1.8 million federal grant to study a program that aims to strengthen the bonds of adoptive parents and their children.

The grant, awarded by the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation within the U.S. Administration for Children and Families, will allow researchers to evaluate a behavioral interventionist program offered through FosterAdopt Connect, a nonprofit serving adoptive families in Kansas and Missouri.

The program aims to prevent disruptions and dissolutions among adoptive families. If it proves successful, it could help secure matching federal reimbursement not only in Missouri and Kansas, but across the nation, according to a university press release.

“The program is designed to deal with trauma and behavioral challenges to help kids improve behaviors and support families so children get the support they deserve and parents don’t feel stranded,” said Brennan Miller, research associate in KU’s School of Social Welfare and principal investigator of the grant.

About 15% of adoptive families experience disruption and an estimated 1%-10% experience dissolution, which is when parents give up their legal parental rights to their adopted child, according to the release.

The behavioral interventionist program by FosterAdopt Connect helps children manage their trauma responses through one-on-one therapeutic interactions and provides caregivers with strategies to increase their sense of positive parenting. The program also supports children by teaching and practicing skills, such as self-regulation.

Miller will lead the evaluation with co-principal investigators Becci Akin, professor of social welfare and co-director of the Center for Research to Transform Systems, and Erin Weston, associate researcher in the school.