November is National Adoption Month! 

Click here to see the Proclamation from President Barack Obama.

Dr. Harold Grotevant joined the Department of Psychology as the The Rudd Family Foundation Endowed Chair in 2008. A gift from Andrew and Virginia Rudd, combined with matching funds, provided the resources for this endowed chair. In this capacity, Dr. Grotevant leads the Rudd Adoption Research Program.

The Rudd Adoption Research Program is one vehicle through which the activities of the Rudd Chair are operationalized. The program is located within the University of Massachusetts Amherst Psychology Department and is affiliated with the interdisciplinary Center for Research on Families. The program has several goals:

• to build capacity in the field of adoption research through sponsorship of conferences, workshops, graduate, and postdoctoral training opportunities;
• to provide a home for visiting adoption scholars, researchers, and faculty conducting adoption research;
• to identify strengths, gaps, and potential points of intersection among existing faculty, programs, and centers relating to adoption at UMass; and
• to stimulate new multi-disciplinary adoption research activities, especially involving junior faculty and faculty from underrepresented groups.

In short, the program seeks to develop synergy among scientists, practitioners, and policymakers from varied disciplines who share interests in the many topics relevant to adoption. The ultimate goal of these activities is to contribute to evidence-based practice in adoption and to provide research-based information that will influence policy at agency, state, federal, and international levels.