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Legal Resource Center Index

  1. Bonding Is a Vital Issue: Appellate Courts Agree (PDF version for printing)
    Bonding has too often been loosely defined. Mental health professionals, in their reports, have been vague and fuzzy, offering opinion rather than data, generalizations rather than facts. As a result, courts and case managers may not have given bonding the critical consideration it deserves. Includes references.
  2. Presenting Bonding in Court (PDF version for printing)
    Foster parents need legal representation when they wish to adopt. Unfortunately, many have been hesitant to speak out for fear of being labeled as troublemakers. The opposite may be true. Foster parents who are appropriately assertive are more apt to be fully heard.
  3. Roadblocks to Permanence (PDF version for printing)
    Attorneys who wish to help foster children obtain permanent homes through adoption face many obstacles. Their problem, however, comes at the end of a long list of prior problems. Includes references.
  4. Everything You Need to Know About Bonding (PDF version for printing)
    Bonding, when it occurs, is critical to a child’s development. The disruption of a bonded relationship does considerable damage. The presentation and proof of bonding between the child and the foster/adopt parents may be the strongest argument for keeping them together, especially in a contested adoption. The problem for attorneys is to define bonding and to prove in a factual and evidentiary way that bonding has taken place. Includes references.
  5. What Happens When Bonded Relationships Are Interrupted (PDF version for printing)
    Interrupting or severing bonded relationships takes a heavy toll on human health and well-being. It is as serious as brain surgery, death or divorce. The younger the child and the deeper the bond, the more devastating the result. Includes references.
  6. The Child's Rights Are Paramount (PDF version for printing)
    Children have the right to grow up whole and sane. Parents, on the other hand, have both the responsibility and the right to raise their “own” children. At what point do these two sets of rights conflict? Whose rights have precedence? Includes references.
  7. Additional References for Bonding and Attachment
  8. Federal Law Pertaining to Adoption (PDF version for printing)
    This unit presents the 1997 Adoption and Safe Families Act which defines current child welfare policy and federal adoption law. The section includes: 1) An historical overview of child welfare legislation; 2) A summary of the Adoption and Safe Families Act provided by the Child Welfare League of America; 3) A copy of the actual Adoption and Safe Families Act.
  9. Indiana Adoption Law (PDF version for printing)
    This section presents Indiana PL 35 which defines current adoption law in the state and information about law, services and policies for Children in Need of Services (CHINS).
  10. Policies of the Indiana Division of Family and Children (PDF version for printing)
    This section presents policies of the Division of Families and Children as they impact children in out-of-home care, foster parents, and potential adoptive parents.
  11. DFC Foster Parent Agreement (Contract) (PDF only)
  12. Foster Parent Reporting Form (PDF only)
  13. Indiana DFC Child Welfare Manual (Indiana Government Site)
  14. Indiana DFC Foster Family Handbook (PDF only)
    • Foreword
    • Table of Contents
    • Forms

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