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The Pennsylvania Adoption Exchange Improves Its Matching Process

Author

Listed:
  • Vincent W. Slaugh

    (Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University)

  • Mustafa Akan

    (Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University)

  • Onur Kesten

    (Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University)

  • M. Utku Ünver

    (Boston College)

Abstract

The Pennsylvania Adoption Exchange (PAE) helps case workers representing children in state custody by recommending prospective families for adoption. We describe PAE's operational challenges using case worker surveys and a regression analysis of data on child outcomes over multiple years. Using a discrete-event simulation of PAE, we justify the value of a statewide adoption network and demonstrate the importance of the family preference information quality on the percentage of children who successfully nd adoptive placements. Finally, we detail a series of simple improvements implemented by PAE to increase the adoptive placement rate through collecting more valuable information, improving the family ranking algorithm, and aligning incentives for families to provide useful preference information.

Suggested Citation

  • Vincent W. Slaugh & Mustafa Akan & Onur Kesten & M. Utku Ünver, 2014. "The Pennsylvania Adoption Exchange Improves Its Matching Process," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 858, Boston College Department of Economics, revised 14 Nov 2015.
    • Handle: RePEc:boc:bocoec:858
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    Cited by:

    1. Altinok Ahmet & Mac Donald Diana E., 2023. "Designing the Menu of Licenses for Foster Care," Working Papers 2023-19, Banco de México.
    2. Terence Highsmith Ii, 2024. "Matching Design with Algorithms and Applications to Foster Care," Papers 2411.12860, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2025.
    3. Priyank Arora & Wei Wei & Senay Solak, 2021. "Improving Outcomes in Child Care Subsidy Voucher Programs under Regional Asymmetries," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 30(12), pages 4435-4454, December.
    4. Terence Highsmith, 2024. "A Dynamic Matching Framework for Faster Child Adoptions," Papers 2411.09817, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2025.
    5. Kamada, Yuichiro & Kojima, Fuhito, 2026. "Choice or competition: does integration benefit everyone?," Theoretical Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 21(1), January.
    6. Delorme, Maxence & García, Sergio & Gondzio, Jacek & Kalcsics, Jörg & Manlove, David & Pettersson, William, 2019. "Mathematical models for stable matching problems with ties and incomplete lists," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 277(2), pages 426-441.
    7. Dashi I Singham & Jennifer Lucky & Stephanie Reinauer, 2023. "Discrete-event simulation modeling for housing of homeless populations," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(4), pages 1-18, April.
    8. Ludwig Dierks & Nils Olberg & Sven Seuken & Vincent W. Slaugh & M. Utku Ünver, 2025. "Search and Matching for Adoption from Foster Care," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 1093, Boston College Department of Economics.

    More about this item

    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • D47 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Market Design
    • C78 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Bargaining Theory; Matching Theory

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