Supporting direct contact after adoption

A significant minority of adopted children have direct contact with members of their birth family after adoption, but what help may families need to manage these arrangements, and what does research say about the benefits and challenges of these arrangements?

This book outlines the findings of the Supporting contact study, which draws on the experiences of 51 adoptive parents, four long-term foster carers and 39 birth relatives, all of whom were involved in agency-supported direct post-adoption contact arrangements. It is the first ever empirical study specifically looking at services to support direct post-adoption contact. It explores how support was provided, the range of contact services, and how these were experienced by the birth parents, children, adoptive parents, and agency staff, along with the relative costs of different approaches.

Who is this book for?

This is essential and reading for a wide range of practitioners, including social workers, support workers in child and family teams, managers, policy makers and legal and child mental health professionals.

What you will find in this book

This study explores the findings of the Supporting contact study, including:

• The strengths and risks that affect the experience of contact for adoptive families
• The strengths and risks that birth parents bring to contact
• The satisfaction of birth parents, children and adoptive parents with contact
• The range of support services received by those involved in contact
• The relative costs of these services
• The effectiveness of different models of contact support

Authors

Elsbeth Neil is a senior lecturer in social work at the University of East Anglia. She has researched and published extensively in the fields of contact and support in adoption.

Jeanette Cossar is a lecturer in social work at the University of East Anglia, and has worked on several studies on contact in adoption.

Christine Jones is a lecturer in social work at the University of Durham, with research interests in adoption and fostering.

Paula Lorgelly works at the Centre for Health Economics at Monash University, Melbourne, having held prior posts in the UK in Nottingham, Glasgow and at the University of East Anglia.

Julie Young is a senior research associate at the University of East Anglia, and has worked on a range of projects exploring the experiences of parents involved with children’s services.

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