Evidence-Based Practice or Practice-Based Evidence: What is Happening with MEPA and Current Adoption Practices?

Abstract

The multiethnic Placement Act (mEPA) and Interethnic Placement Act (IEPA) were passed in an attempt to eliminate race as a barrier to adoption. The purposes of the current research were to discover what child welfare social workers know about mEPA and IEPA, their views about the usefulness of the acts in addressing race issues in adoption, and how these two acts have affected their child placement practices. A randomized nationwide survey of social workers in child welfare had 261 respondents. Respondents seemed knowledgeable about the acts, but they remained uncertain about their intended purpose and lacked knowledge about research on transracial adoption (TRA). The majority of respondents indicated race is a continuing factor in adoptive placements.

Title IV-E Student Perspectives Toward Transracial Adoption

“…These findings are first steps in exploring future child welfare workers' perspectives toward transracial adoption which could be critical in addressing what other research has indicated as vital to improving services, specifically, child welfare workers' perspectives toward transracial adoption (Mapp et al, 2008;McRoy, 2003;Hollingsworth, 2000). The overall scores on the Perspectives toward Transracial Adoption survey indicated that both Title IV-E and non-Title IV-E students supported the practice of transracial adoption overall.…”

“…The understanding of their ''knowledge, attitudes, and values'' (McRoy, 2003, p. 4) can provide insight into why policies are and are not followed (Hollingsworth, 2000). While child welfare workers have appeared knowledgeable about the law and transracial adoption, they lack understanding about the purpose of the law and perhaps most important they have appeared to lack knowledge of research on transracial adoptive families and their issues (Mapp et al, 2008). This study explored the perspectives of Title IV-E students regarding transracial adoption using the Perspectives Toward Transracial Adoption Questionnaire, developed by the authors, and compared their perspectives with non-Title IV-E MSW students.…”

Social worker decision‐making in court

“…The experienced social worker uses intuitive expertise by drawing on their previous experience to recognize cues and patterns to build a narrative about the novel situation (Whittaker, 2018). A reliance on personal experience rather than empirical research has been found in previous literature (Mapp et al, 2008). The limited empirical data in this field was identified by participants and is consistent with previous research (Bronson & Davis, 2012).…”