Adoption employment opportunities are generally available in five major groups:
- Counseling/Therapy
- Medicine
- Law
- Social Work
- Support & Ancillary Services
All these groups are employed by both public and private adoption agencies, as well as by many of the larger facilitators, and many have been the founders of their own agencies or adoption-focused practices. In the fields of counseling and therapy, this specific focus on adoption and adoption-related issues for children and families is a relatively new field.
One of the fastest-growing fields is a specialty area called International Adoption Medicine. Physicians choosing this pediatric sub-specialty are becoming authorities not only on treating internationally adopted children, but also in the area of interpreting foreign medical reports which often accompany other information in a referral. Some physicians focus on children from a particular geographical region (South America, Eastern Europe, Asia, etc.) while others may focus on a particular range of illnesses or disorders (attachment, parasites, rickets, etc.).
In the legal area, there is one Law School in the U.S. offering graduate studies in adoption-related law: Capital University Law School in Columbus Ohio. It's no coincidence that the first comprehensive online adoption law resource is a creation of the Capital Law School: The National Center for Adoption Law & Policy (NCALP). On a side note, the NCALP has worked to place law students in paid and volunteer summer positions. Paralegals are also able to provide valuable services.
Social workers are the backbone of the adoption field. They are generally involved with every and any aspect of the adoption process, from child intake in the foster care and juvenile justice systems, to performing homestudies for prospective adoptive families. Every state's adoption agency licensing procedure includes the requirement for at least one social worker on staff, and the larger more comprehensive agencies have staff workers who specialize in child development, early education, and other areas, making them an excellent resource not only in the pre-adoption process but also for client families in the post-adoption years. Many social workers set up independent practices as well, performing homestudies and offering other consultation services, and smaller agencies, adoption law practices, and facilitators may refer clients to them.
Support and ancillary services include office managers and workers, data management specialists, Web site designers, nurses, and providers of services needed by professionals and clients alike, such as translators, investigators, process servers, software developers, and others.
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