Sociology

The Child Adoption and Foster system in Washington D.C. and Northern Virginia (NOVA)
A case study of World Association for Children and Parents (WACAP)
Adoption represents one of ways through which one can build or expand a family. Children who go through adoption are the ones in need of families who can range from infants to teenagers. Most of the children in foster homes and under adoption are victims of circumstances. The reasons for adopting a child are varied. For an adoption process to go through the reason given must be genuine. In Washington, the State Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) works together with adopting agencies in placing children under foster homes for adoption. The DSHS provides the necessary information in regard to training in regard to adoption and foster care (Adoptioninvoices.com, n.d). At the initial stage of the adoption one is required to consider among other things the feelings about the presence or absence of genetically connection between the parent and the child. The development of a social bond will between the parent and the child which would determine the eventual comfort in associating between the two. Various agencies are involved in facilitating and conduction adoption processes.

World Association for Children and Parents (WACAP)
History WACAP
This agency was established in 1976 with an intention of assisting in adoption placements of childrens to couples wit the capacity to bring thee children in a stable environment. The agency has also been involved in provision of food, medical and educational support to needy children in various areas of United States especially in the regions of Washington D.C and Northern Virginia. In this case, the agency helps to identify children who are in need of an adoptive home. The agency also carries out the matching of the adopting families and the mothers who have plans to offer their children for adoption.  In addition, the agency helps in facilitating the process of adoption of either domestic or international adoptee outside this sate and United States. For international adoption, such children have to be categorized as orphans by the regulating agencies of their respective states (Wacap.org, n.d). Today this agency is one of the leading agencies involved in providing counseling, training, care, and other support in areas of adopting and fostering of children.

Mission of the agency
The World Association for Children and Parents aims at providing a life-transforming support to orphaned children and other kids who are in need of supportive families in through decisive placement of these children to adopting families. In its duty, this agency works towards avoiding unnecessary institutionalization of young children and adults by offering support through community based in-home placements to as many young children, youths and adults as they are in need of these services as possible.

Financial report
The financial report of this agency is very descriptive on the sources of funds for running the agency in the year to year basis. Most of the funds that are used by the agency comes from the fees charged during the adoption processing, donations from donor agencies grants from financial institutions and support from corporate organizations. This money is thereafter used to coordinate operations in foster care homes in and out of Washington DC and Northern Virginia.  It is the belief of this agency that, the support of a child under or out of foster care goes beyond facilitation for his of her adoption to include social and financial and sponsorship in pursuing education and provision of other basic amenities (Adoption Agency Ratings, n.d).

Summaries of operations
In its operations, World Association for Children and Parents distributes elaborate information bout the children who are awaiting adoption to legitimate foster parents. This is done through its website, and other adoption publications such as the adoption photo albums. The descriptions given about these children are brief so as to meet the legal requirement of protection of the rights of the child and increase the number of children who can be featured in a limited space. An interested foster parent is required to send a request to the agency asking about further details of the child he or she is interested in. The agency then later sends the all the information about the child to the especially the known health conditions and special needs if they exist. By this, the reputation of the agency is earned by placing the needs and the rights of a child first then that of a foster parent second (Bidding for Good, n.d). This agency works directly with government agencies of foreign states and authorities of Washington D.C and Northern Virginia.

The agency applies ethics and applies all means so as to have conducive and humane operations. This ensures that, all its adoptions remain legal and the children forwarded for adoption are not restricted by the laws of their country. This is in the accordance to the obligation of the Hague Convection on Inter-country Adoptions (HACIA). The agency works closely with the law organs of the country the child being adopted is coming from and  puts all its efforts to acquire  licenses, necessary certificates, endorsements and other forms of accreditations required by these states and countries to carry out adoption facilitation activities. In addition, the agency provides vitamins, necessary healthcare, education, and other necessary medical requirements, clothing and playing items such as toys to the needy children in children homes who have not found families who can adopt them.

Interaction with criminal justice system
As seen earlier, this agency works closely with the governments of these two states and the foreign states. At no single point does this agency have ever found itself in the wrong side of the law due to accusations of facilitating an illegal child adoption. In its over thirty years of operation, the agency has helped in placement of about 9,000 adoptions and none of them has ever been found to be illegal (Rainbowkids.com, n.d). The agency therefore enjoys cordial relations with criminal justice systems as it is always refereed to be as one of the most reliable adoption agency. Some of these regulations which have created a heated debate is the issue of same sex and bisexual couples not being allowed to access to adoption rights.

Services
Adoption services, financial, food, medical and education support to children under foster care homes and advice to the governmental agencies.

Training of the critical personnel
The staffs are well trained in advising would-be parents about the needs of a child and preparing them for the new member. They are also trained about on how to give physical descriptions of a child, place, assessment of safe living conditions, conducting medical checks, collecting photos and sometimes editing video shoots about the lives f these children while in and out of their foster homes. WACP has helped the state governments in developing a safe and ethical adoption and fostering procedures which has helped to guarantee secure placement of children given out for adoption in each of the two states (Wacap.org, n.d). The potential adopting parents or families must comply with the requirements of unlimited visitation by a social worker prior and after adoption to monitor the living conditions of the home and the progress of the child. During the pre visitations, the WACAP agency personnel carry out screening procedures on the families intending to adopt a child. The foster families are also required by the agency undergo thorough a thorough study on the state of their homes and a check on their criminal background. The post-adoption visitations and reports collected by the agency are aimed at confirming the welfare of the foster family and the child.

Motivation of the agency in its operations
The work of this agency is deeply founded on the philosophy of every children born unto this world have a right to grow up in a loving and supportive family. The access to good nutrition, medical attention and good education can only be guaranteed if the child is brought up in a caring and able family. Through necessitating adoption, the agency believes it has the capacity to provide a needy child with a chance of a life time that can end up changing his or her life for the better. For adopting parents, the agency has worked towards helping families who have the capacity to bring up a bigger family or those without a child to fulfill their dream of having a family of their wish (Adoption Agency Ratings, n.d). For every child that the agency helps to find a home, the agency believes it has achieved one of its goals of transforming the live of that child. On the other hand, when the agency helps a foster family who can make their dream of having a child or a bigger family comes true, it comes as an advantage to the agency and the family.

Ways of improving the agency effectiveness towards social goals
The agency plays a very special role in the life of children and the foster institutions and the adopting parents. This noble role can be made to stretch far and wide through the support from government and other social organizations. Due to its closeness tom the children in foster homes, the agency would be better placed if it considered carrying out counseling and therapeutic interventions aimed at assisting these children. It has been noted that, most of the children in foster homes are at a high risk of being affected psychologically, physically, and emotionally by the conditions they go through later in life help to improve the performance of the children in the post-foster care programs.

Prediction of future role of the social agency in criminal justice system
Most of the offenders in the criminal justice system are known to have a peculiar characteristic of practicing acquired tendencies. The knowledge about the past experiences of the offenders some of which may have gone through foster systems can be of great help in understanding how to correct most of these offenders. This brings into the picture of the central role that will be played by this reliable and experienced agency in solving some of these complex social issues.

In summary, the most basic thing that these children in foster homes require is love and care from dedicated families. It is the obligation of the agency to abide to set rules which govern the adoption procedures when carrying out adoption procedures. This is an important agency which has helped thousands of children find families which can adopt them legally without jeopardizing the rights of the child.