Social media can be a tool for promoting adoption and it can also be tricky to manage. Adoption agencies might fear using social media because of concerns for privacy issues and unfamiliarity with the social media tools.
However, social media is being used more and more by adoptive parents and children and youth, so it is important for agencies and social workers to understand how social media works and ways to use it in beneficial ways, as well as to help guide others in using it ethically.
For National Adoption Month 2012, the Children’s Bureau offers some guides for professionals to assist them in using social media as an asset for increasing permanency and adoption for children and youth waiting for adoption.
Pages include:
- social media basics,
- social media and child welfare,
- social media and recruitment and
- working with youth
Adopt US Kids has a wonderful infographic on how agencies can determine which social media tools they should use to reach out to prospective families. They even have “101” guides for using Facebook and Twitter.
If your agency has been concerned about jumping in to the social media pool, these resources should help you determine the best way to begin.
