Web viewFocus groups are extremely useful as they are more flexible than questionnaires and are more...

iAdopt Phase 2:The Adoption Journey-Choosing a child

Stage 2: Research & Development Report

Prof. Garry Crawford, Professor of SociologyMr Steve Myers, Director of the Social Sciences Ms. Donna Peach, Lecturer in Social Work

Supported by:

iAdopt: digital marketing programme

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Contents

1. Executive Summary 5

2. The Project 7

3. The Context 8

4. The Research 10

5. The Adopters 12

6. The Social Workers 22

7. Key Messages 26

8. Acknowledgements 28

9. References 29

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1. Executive Summary

The Project

Caritas Care (a North West-based voluntary adoption agency) have received funding from the DfE to develop and deliver a marketing strategy, with the aim of supporting and encouraging adopters to come forward by reducing the barriers and addressing the misperceptions that prevent some people offering themselves as adopters.

As part of this successful funding bid, University of Salford researchers were enrolled to undertake collaborative research, which involves feeding into and evaluating the development of this marketing strategy.

Following the successful completion of Stage 1, the changing landscape of Adoption provided the opportunity to re-focus the project.

The Project agreed to explore how prospective adopters engage with the realities of adoption and the fact that the majority of children are deemed ‘hard to place’ because of their multiple needs

This Stage 2 of the Project would inform practice within the agency

The Context

Globally the United Kingdom has the fifth highest number of adoptions. Over the last decade the number of British children adopted has increased

by 15%. The number of children not adopted because of a lack of suitable adopters

has quadrupled. Research demonstrates the importance of the relationship between the

prospective adopter and adoption agency in creating and supporting successful adoptive families.

There is a scarcity of research specifically focusing on the experiences of British prospective adopters.

The Research

Two focus groups were held 1 group of 6 adoptive parents 1 group of 5 Adoption Social Workers This research has been subject to an internal University ethical approval

process, all data is stored securely, and the participants fully briefed on the aims of the project and their role within it.

The Findings Personal and life experiences of adopters are an important factor Matching is an important time for reflection and change Truthfulness about the reality of adoption is important, but this needs to

be managed sensitively

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Children’s possessions are an important and neglected area of concern Professional support can be really helpful, but requires focused content

and to be mindful of timing in the process Learning from existing adopters is a key change activity Pro-active, predictive and practical assistance is highly regarded

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2. The Project

Caritas Care (a North West-based voluntary adoption agency) has received

funding from the DfE to develop and deliver a digital marketing strategy with the

aim of supporting and encouraging adopters to come forward by reducing the

barriers and addressing the misperceptions that prevent some people offering

themselves as adopters. As part of this successful funding bid University of

Salford researchers were enrolled to undertake collaborative research which

involves feeding into and evaluating the development of this digital marketing

strategy.

On the successful completion of this research (see Stage 1 report), the landscape

of adoption had changed to such an extent due to legislation, case law and policy

developments that the priorities of Caritas care required re-focusing. It was

agreed that Stage 2 would explore how adopters developed their understanding

of the reality of the children available for adoption, as increasingly the children

available had multiple and complex needs; what are termed as ‘hard to place’

children. Understanding how prospective adopters choose to adopt such

children, often when they have started with very idealistic images of the ‘type’ of

children they would like, was agreed to be a useful exercise that would feed into

service development. The project also sought the views of adoption social

workers about their professional understanding of what assisted this process,

and what service developments could be made to improve the effectiveness of

the support offered.

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3. The Context

The role and function of adoption remains of significant importance in 21st

century Britain. A global comparison undertaken and presented to the United

Nations (Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2009) showed that the

United Kingdom had the fifth highest number of children adopted. In addition,

the Department of Education (DfE, 2014) figures reflect that the number of

children adopted has increased by 15% in recent years. However, the number of

children who have not been adopted because of a lack of suitable adoptive

parents has quadrupled. Research into adoption reflects changing societal values

and historically these were dominated by understanding how adults who

experience infertility may consider adoption as an alternative route to

parenthood. In the last decade adoption research has focussed largely upon

adopters who are in same sex relationships. Although some research has been

undertaken in the UK, it is scant when compared with America and Canada.

For the last ten years the necessity of a research focus on recruitment of

prospective British adopters has been highlighted as important (Rushton, 2003).

Several studies suggest that prospective adopters would still prefer to adopt a

baby, although 45% indicate they would consider an older child (Rushton, 2003;

Wallis, 2006; Ward, 2011). Ward and Wallis surveyed respondents to the UK’s

National Adoption Week (NAW) campaigns but these received fairly low

response rates which limit our understanding of the views of those who do not

proceed after making an initial enquiry. In 2013 government funded market

research explored attitudes, motivations and barriers to adoption. Scott and

Duncan (2013) suggest motivations include the benefits to the adopters, the

child and society. However, they found that concern about the process of

approval and the impact of adoption on their lives prevented people from

putting themselves forward. In 2013, the British Association for Adoption and

Fostering (BAAF) commissioned a YouGov study of the views of people in Wales.

They found many thought that age, smoking, obesity and low income would

prevent someone becoming an adoptive parent.

The majority of people who adopt are white, middle class, married heterosexual

couples (DfE, 2014). However, in the last decade, it has become permissible for

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unmarried and same-sex couples to become adoptive parents. More recently the

Children and Families Act 2014 repealed the duty for adoption agencies to give

due consideration to ethnicity. These changes in legislation across the UK

increase the potential to create diverse adoptive families. Against this ever-

changing landscape it is important to understand how people transition towards

becoming an adoptive parent. At the stage of initial enquiry it is fundamental that

adoption agencies are able to give appropriate responses to people exploring

their eligibility. Only 10% of people whose initial enquiries make them doubt

their success will proceed with an application for approval (Simmonds, 2000;

Wallis, 2006).

Those who decide to proceed with adoption have to make multiple decisions

particularly about the age and needs of their potential adoptive child. Thus, the

guidance of the adoption worker is crucial to the experience of prospective

adopters throughout the adoption process (Wind, Brooks, & Barth, 2005, 2007).

Research demonstrates that better matches occur between adopters and

children when adoption agencies engage early in the matching process (Farmer

& Dance, 2015). Importantly, this provides opportunities for prospective

adopters to consider the nature of the adoptive family they can create, including

the potential for, or constraints of, birth family contact (Logan, 2010).

Furthermore our understanding of the necessity of good post-adoption support

to reduce adoption disruption highlights the importance of the relationship

between the adopter and the adoption agency (Selwyn, Wijedasa, & Meakings,

2013). Despite this little is know about the experiences of British prospective

adopters during the process of becoming an adoptive parent.

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4. The Research (Stage 2)

The project employed a flexible mixed-method approach in researching a

primary sample group of existing and potential adopters and a further group of

adoption social workers. In stage two of the research this primarily consisted of

two focus group interviews with participants.

Focus groups are extremely useful as they are more flexible than questionnaires

and are more time and cost efficient in gathering detailed qualitative information

than one-to-one interviews (Morgan 1997). They are also beneficial as, to some

degree, they mimic social interactions that occur outside of the interview setting.

Of course, focus groups are not without their shortcomings, such as the risk of

certain individuals dominating discussions, but this and other pitfalls can (to

some degree) be countered by a skilled facilitator (Morgan 1997).

The adoptive parents’ focus group participants were recruited from existing

adoptive parents, all of whom were known to the agency and had been approved

for adoption. 1 participant had not yet been matched with children and all the

others had established adoptive families of a variety of needs and numbers.

The participants were asked by the agency Social Workers if they would be

willing to participate in a focus group relating to their experiences and views on

how they had changed their expectations of the children they would like to

adopt. All research participants were over the age of 18.

The adopter focus group participants were all at various stages of the adoption

process, ranging from those approved and waiting for a match; recent adopters;

and those who had adopted their children several years ago. There were 6

participants. Of these 1 was male and 5 female. 4 were White British; 1 was

Mixed Heritage British and 1 was Eastern European.

The adoption social worker focus group participants had varying levels of

professional experience with 4 having several years in adoption and 1 being

relatively recent to the field. All were women.

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Focus groups were recorded (with the permission of the participants) using

audio-equipment, then transcribed, thematically coded and analysed by the

researchers and fed back into the project. This research has been subject to an

internal University ethical approval process. All data has been stored securely,

the participants were fully briefed on the aims of the project and their role

within it and they have been informed that they can withdraw from the research

process at any point. All research participants have been given pseudonyms in

this report.

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5. The AdoptersA priority for many adoption agencies is finding permanent homes for harder to

place children, such as sibling groups, older children, and those with health or

developmental difficulties (Scott & Duncan, 2013). Many of the participants in

the focus groups all wished to highlight their personal and individual journey

which brought them to where they were today and, in cases of those who had

already adopted, their children. The following highlights the issues and themes

raised by the adopters. For most of the focus group participants it appears that

their initial preconceptions/criteria changed over a period of time, most

commonly through numerous discussions with social workers (Selwyn,

Wijedasa, & Meakings, 2013).

Personal backgrounds of the Adopters

Participants recognised that their personal experiences and backgrounds were

influential in how they approached the adoption process and what their

expectations were. Some had direct experience of adoption such as:

My brother had adopted two children who I am godmother to, so adoption

is very much part of our family

Others used their professional and work experience and skills in their decisions

about who to adopt:

My background is sort of emergency nursing…challenging disabilities in children…I probably won’t struggle very much with taking on because I’ve got the skills and experience

This was seen as a complicating factor if partners were adopting:

I had to factor in my husband has no medical background and no experience at all

There was also recognition by some of the limitations of their experience, which

could lead to an over-optimistic approach that was challenged by the reality:

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We’re both teachers…in what you’d consider a rather tough secondary school. So on the matching profile we were like behaviour, yeah…tick, tick tick. But I think once you start to see the (children’s profiles) we started to go oh, and started to think about all through the night and no sleep…I think we sort of swung from feeling we could cope. Actually I’m a bit scared now. And I think (partner) is still in that phase a bit more. I think in some ways he has gone almost the other way. He wants a perfect child and he wants a child that doesn’t punch or scream or doesn’t regress. And I think we’re in this fluid feeling of could we cope? Can’t we cope? Can we cope?

Numbers and Age of Children

The participants had views on the numbers of children that they originally

thought they would adopt, and what influenced their views:

we originally started off as two pre-school and reasonably sort of flexible about it.

we got the details of a sibling group of three. And quite strong attachment, so I said okay in terms of what we could manage and what we could sort of do, we thought that was a good a match

he (partner) was talking about having the three children and I just, probably I’m a more pragmatic individual thought that would be a little challenging to us on the basis that we had some of experience of children in our lives through family and so on through his side and through a previous relationship that I had been in. But I strongly felt that two would probably be more suitable

we always had in our mind that we wanted more than one child. And I think because we have…both come from large families ourselves, I have six, five brothers and myself. And my husband’s family have five siblings. So it never occurred to us to go for just one child

I think the idea of three, we sort of played around with that quite a lot. Because I wanted three and (partner) wanted three. But I think it was the age that I think we were a bit more worried about

Again the participants’ personal experiences and view of themselves were seen

as a determining factor in their decisions.

The rationale for adopting younger children was acknowledged, but as adopters

were introduced to the reality of the available children they engaged with this:

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I think (partner) was particularly keen on younger children in terms of how you influence and making them as much a part of the family as soon as possible

There were big families and they were older. And my husband ended up saying, right put the magazine down and step away from it. Because I was on a different level to my husband. I would have had four easily. I would have had four. But I had to keep coming back to more reality and normality. And I think I was told a lot of times by people who had got children, you don’t know what you’re getting into until you’ve got children which is true. But I still felt I could do it. I am quite a positive person and I think you do have to have a sense of reality but you also have to have a sense of actually you can do this. You are able to cope with things. I don’t know. My husband certainly got swayed by me

The Matching Process

Potential adopters are matched with children based on a variety of factors,

described by the participants as ‘tick boxes’, which reflects the pro-formas used

by the agencies. This process was felt to be formative of their ideas about who

they could adopt, and some had strong ideas about the information they had.

We said we would take the first match that we felt we could cope with

When I was going through the matching tick list. I felt quite detached from it. I find it quite a difficult process to undergo. And I have to say initially we probably ticked the extreme side. We wanted to have healthy, happy, well developed children, which was clearly pointed out to us that might not be likely on the basis of why children are placed in adoption. And obviously we understood that, but I suppose that’s where ideally coming from being we wanted pretty much perfect children

(We had) quite an emotional response to the match but the information was 18 months out of date. So once you have had that emotional response you don’t undo it. So our eldest, the information we got was (she was) about five but she was nearly seven in reality. So we kind of went with that.

When you have a biological child, you don’t actually know what they’re going to look like. And so we didn’t want a photograph to be an influence. The first time we cast eyes on them, was the day we were introduced to them, which in some respects we were quite happy about. We didn’t want any photographs of them. We went. We just went from the pro-formas. We didn’t want a vision and image to influence our decision

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I think to us, even as biological parents, as you’re about to give birth your desire is to have a fit, healthy, happy child.

Some of the adopters described their realisation of the complexities of adopting

particular children, taking into account their networks and usual support

systems.

We looked at a couple of girls and we are very close to my nieces who are six and eight. And I could just because I was thinking of the support network and starting to think about (partner’s) mother and my mother who are getting on, I suddenly thought they wouldn’t be able to cope. And my nieces, they would eat my nieces alive. And it’s suddenly realising it’s not just you having to be…but it’s actually your whole family

And also how their expectations were challenged

My husband had this image in his mind that the children would be in a foster home or a care home and that they would be very happy to be adopted. And in actual fact that wasn’t the case

Telling it Truthfully

Participants were eager to emphasise that potential adopters needed to be told

the full story of adoption, with all the possible problems as well as the benefits

being introduced during the process. However, this needed to be done in a way

that did not alienate or scare people but also provided answers to the potential

problems:

How do you prepare people in a real way and not a marketing way? It wouldn’t have put us off

The picture (of adoption) that is painted…we didn’t think was particularly accurate let’s put it that way

The whole adoption process is so fraught with fantasies and hopes and wishes

Even if it’s a child that’s not come with an abusive background or suffered through death of a parent and that’s why they are in care…it is going to be tough whatever the situation is

Don’t…tell the prospective adopters it’s going to be bloody tough. It’s going to be tough but this is the support system we will have…in place for you

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This is how it can be, how it could be, but this is the support we’re going to provide.

Participants gave their own examples of the challenges they had faced and how these reflected the reality of adoption.

Each every evening we were chunter, chunter, chunter at each other. And we were sort of expecting withdrawn, quiet children and they were in your face. They would climb over your children, punch you

The violence…We weren’t prepared for that…like a lot of gas molecules in a container and they are bouncing off one another but randomly

At the time when we adopted there was a programme on called SAS Survival Are You Tough Enough, and that’s how I felt it was…it was a bit like you were on some sort of survival challenge

After two weeks they asked us, when are they going back? They were in fear of their lives, that’s how bad it was for them in that month

As I say I will never forget the first morning he came into the room to Janet, and she opened her eyes and looked up at him and the fear on her face, of my husband stood over her. He said he will never forget that. And it was a big factor and we went through hell with them. They regressed. Janet stopped walking. I had to carry her everywhere babbling. Went straight into a baby stage of development. John he was five at the time. He just span around, just spinning all the time. Couldn’t stop moving about and very quiet, withdrawn. Whereas Janet was the other, combative, spitting, punching, fighting. And as I say the regression and very angry. They had a lot of anger.

The loudest family on the block. Definitely. Definitely. Yeah. All our neighbours have moved around us, it’s really bad and it’s a continual thing that keeps occurring

There was recognition that the process would assist some people to opt out of adopting and this was seen as being beneficial both to the potential adopters and to the children.

And if they don’t (adopt) that’s fair enough, that’s better for them and better for the child as well. You know even say maybe out of 10 prospective adopters when they are faced with the facts and they hear the reality of it all maybe only five out of 10 may adopt. But nevertheless then, they’re going in with their eyes open.

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Children’s Possessions

One of the areas that the group wanted to raise was the significance of children’s

possessions. There is little in the extant research about this yet participants felt

that this was an important element that they had not been prepared for. Birth

parents had often given large amounts of toys to the children during supervised

contact and these became very emotionally loaded items. How to manage these

had been an issue for the adopters:

My daughter seemed like she was Imelda Marcos with the amount of shoes that she had. I was told that they won’t have anything. And they had…We had enormous amounts…enormous amounts of stuff. I kept going ‘where are we going to put everything?’. All of a sudden your house changed. Our house changed before they had even got there

The kids turned up and there were three suitcases of soft toys…most of them were given by parents in contact. And the foster parent goes ‘there you go, they are yours’. And you go, what do we do with these? And all their stuff we put in the house, that’s just filled the house

Nobody can make a very difficult decision about which stuff of these kids do you chuck out and which don’t you. Because it sort of felt our house was contaminated. Because we had all sorts of toys, ‘I love you, you love me and we are the perfect family’. You weren’t. This is really bonkers. And the house is full of teddies.

The first shoes your foster carer bought you, well what do you want us to do with these?

You can’t have a sort of box that fills up and fills up and never throw anything away. But…the expectation from (adoption agencies) ‘they might want to see that or they might need that’

We decided after having stashed things in the roof of our garage in vacuum packed, they looked like these slaughtered teddies that are all squished together

I think there is something about that moral dilemma, what do the kids needs to have for their memories and their life stories and what actually is just an unfair load to put on new adoptive parents…(need) somebody to make those ruthless decisions

When they hit their teens we have to help them get their head round it. On the one hand they’ve got all these really loving messages from family who is violent, substance abusing, didn’t clean their teeth. It’s a very complicated double message that you’re helping the kids with

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Professional Support

The participants were asked to consider what support would be helpful for

adopters to meet the challenges they had identified. They were clear that they

knew that they were being monitored as well as being supported by services to

ensure the safety of the children, and that they were aware of the authority held

by the agencies.

You are being supported and actually you are very aware that in this difficult situation they are there to protect the children probably more than to help all of us

If someone says look statutory duties, that’s when we’ve got to do it and that’s what we’ve got to do, well don’t dress it up as we’ll come and see what you’re doing

If we have to do a certain amount of things to adopt these children, tell us what we need to do. Don’t pretend you’re being nice and supportive, because you are not

Participants talked about being focused on getting through the panel that decides

on their suitability to adopt. They were anxious about saying and doing the

correct things to achieve this.

as an adoptive parent a big emphasis in your mind is getting to panel and being…getting through the panel really. And all these different hoops you have to jump through.

You’re listening (to the social worker) but in real terms your big focus is getting to panel and being accepted, what’s the word, I can’t think of the word? Approved. It’s like a job interview isn’t it?

The participants had helpful ideas for how the support and training could be more effective:

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Once you’ve been approved and you think right, you can relax, I think that’s when the specific training should come in. The period between being approved and the children being placed, children or child being placed with you, because you’re much more, your brain is more able to accept, you are much more open and receptive because those worries and anxieties of not getting to panel have been taken away. And also then it becomes more real. Rather than it like being a rose tinted or a fairy tale like image or feeling

We may have some children with us by the end of the year or whatever and that’s when the training then needs to come in. Because that’s really when you’re most open and receptive

They were asked to consider what had worked in the training they had taken

part in:

I think the training helped as well for my husband. And like I say he’s quite quiet. He was dreading the training, having to split up into groups and talk. And I was like trying to say, we might have to do role play. And he was like what is role play. He came from the construction industry and just had never done anything like that before

He would just have a chat to other people and just to hear that other people were thinking of having more than one child. And I think it helped

When we were in training I remember they did talk about loss. And you had a scenario where you wrote down on a piece of paper about something, some experience of loss you had in your life and put it into the centre of the table. And then somebody read that out,

And particularly with children in that, they may regress and if they do regress, what types of behaviour were they likely to display.

People coming which is really useful in the training about their experience of adoption and that it was quite positive

Children seem to be with a foster carer for say six months, seven months and they have come on leaps and bounds and this is due to the foster carer’s experience or their training here. And we’re sort of looking at that, think if we had that…we could do with that.

More on child development

Caritas put us in contact with a couple who had adopted three children as well. And that helped as well. It was more reality.

They have introduced trauma therapy with Caritas now. And my children were the first ones to undergo, to be introduced to trauma therapy with Caritas and it’s been…very, very helpful.

They had observations on what hadn’t worked as well:

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I can sort of understand what’s being said but applying that in any way to a situation just seemed so far removed during the training, it just doesn’t have a bearing at all

It was textbook stuff and it doesn’t necessarily resonate with me

I think the tough bit that we felt was missed in the 3D training was the anger. Where you have children where they don’t want to be adopted.

And the qualities and skills they wanted of their social workers:

I want the support of someone who really knows you

It is like an arranged marriage isn’t it? And we did sort of 100% trust our social worker, we had a very good relationship with her, but it was like we need to entrust you with everything about us

The support and experience of the foster carers of their adoptive children was

seen as invaluable. They were trusted as having specific knowledge based on

actual contact with the children:

The attachment to the foster parents that was the biggest impact that our children had

And I can’t tell you how we felt pre-meeting them to after meeting them, there was no comparison, I just sudden felt yes there are problems. But you know this is the real world and all this theory that didn’t resonate with me sort of went out the window and I saw what stuff was about

Their aim and ambition was to make sure that it went well

They started to advocate on our behalf. And they did a sterling job. And they talked about mummy and daddy. They then persuaded us to engage in Facetime pre-meeting the children officially which was very risky…but honestly by the time we met these children they literally ran to us shouting ‘mummy and daddy’

And the impact of the foster carers in the lives of the children was acknowledged:

The training all seemed to be geared towards the attachment that your child might have to birth parents…I think for our children it was two major losses, the losses of their birth mother and the foster parents

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Gender

Participants raised issues about the gendered nature of some of the processes

and expectations:

(Woman with male partner) I think the...all the information was directed towards me, which felt it undermined that partnership a bit

(Man with female partner) I’m probably generalising but the majority of the children who end up in care and being adopted is that quite often there isn’t a father figure in their lives or a positive role model of a father figure. And it’s often the foster mum isn’t it. So a father figure for them like yourself, it might be something that they have explore and get to know

(Woman with male partner) (as) the adoptive mother there’s massive expectations from the children on you

(Woman with male partner) They’ve ended up losing the mother, the biological mother for whatever reason…So they have big expectations on their adoptive mother and will do a lot of comparing. You have to come up to higher standards with them. And if they’ve been through a biological mother and then a foster mother and then now you…

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6. The Social Workers

The second focus group consisted of 5 social workers who were asked about

their perceptions of what changed adopters’ ideas about the children available to

adopt; what moved them from an ‘ideal’ child or children to the reality of ‘hard to

place’ children. They spoke about several issues including what personal

qualities adopters brought; trust with the adopters; how they supported change;

using current adopters and what might be done differently.

Adopter Qualities

The social workers felt that prospective adopters who demonstrated an

understanding of the needs of the child and who were flexible and open to

change were more likely to recognise and accept ‘hard to place’ children:

Something to do with their understanding of children and their needs and how things affect them

Movement…during the process

There is a shift from it’s all about me to I can offer something to a child and oh my gosh is that what they’ve gone through

They call it a lightbulb moment sometimes, don’t they? Some people just get it don’t they? Some people can get it but they need a bit more help than others

It’s seeing the child. And them connecting to the child

It was recognised that people bring their particular strengths and skills and that these needed to be developed:

Everybody will come with their own experiences, their own skills and strengths really. So it’s kind of talking that through and nurturing that and building confidence

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Looking at the transferable skills people have

Just because somebody has…not had any experience of children…it might be that they have in their journey, they’ve had some pretty hard stuff to deal with. And therefore helping to look at how they’ve resolved that and approached it etc. and come through it will help us to identify for them what their skills and strengths are

I think people that have had that rocky road, as you mentioned, what we’re interested in, is that journey that they’ve had. And therefore it’s not about painting over and making it seem glorified but being honest how they’ve got through those difficulties

These children coming from all sorts of backgrounds and experiences and they need people that can deal with that

Trust

The participants highlighted trust as a key aspect of their work with adopters.

This was seen to underpin much of the often difficult issues that needed to be

raised:

Trusting us that we will not push them beyond what they can cope with

It’s about transparency right from the start

Supporting Change

Social workers saw their role as encouraging and supporting adopters to

consider the reality of available children and how they could successfully

manage this:

We’re giving them the reality, so helping them to adjust to that with what

their expectations were and what the fantasies were and in helping to

explore that…that might be what you want but these are the children out

there and these are their experiences and this is what they’ve come with

We say we’re not about looking for children for families and it’s really about

finding families for children

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Some things they will have to let go of through that loss process but at the

same time it is that kind of growth and understanding

It’s only when you go to them with an actual potential match that the

reality of it tends to sink in.

How we get them from A to B and I think the assessment really is crucial

Hearing from current adopters

The social workers also identified the importance of current adopters engaging

with prospective adopters to share their experiences:

I think from hearing other people that have done it, that come in and say I was where you are now and I wanted this and I had always wanted children and I wanted young as possible.

They will hear from other people what it’s like in their journey and that it’s not been easy but nevertheless with the support etc. etc. they really get it.I think the people that come and speak as well are very honest. But I think the bottom line is they all say, but we’d still…we wouldn’t change it. It’s hard but we wouldn’t change it.

They (the prospective adopters) always end up knowing how loved these children are and how great it is, no matter what the challenges are

What could be done differently?

The social workers were asked about current support and provision of services

and what might be done differently to assist prospective adopters. A more pro-

active approach was suggested, along with very practical, capacity and resilience

building interventions:

We have a lot more available to us now than we had two or three years ago…It’s proving to be really helpful not in just selling them as prospective adopters but in their own confidence and their ability to understand children and get a bit of a head start on parenting children therapeutically

A family I was working with took a sibling group of three children. (What was needed) was kind of practical support. So kind of cleaning, those sorts of things.

It’s very much bespoke support for that family.

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If we haven’t got it we try and get it for them

Signposting them to maybe a play therapist or a psychologist or somebody who is going to work with the child or maybe somebody that is going to work with them to give them the confidence to know how it’s going to help them to parent that child. As opposed to ‘here is the diagnostic label’ and expecting them to know what to do

We’ve got this massive page long list of services that we offer. But paying for a cleaner wasn’t on there. No, but that’s what they needed. But we don’t everyone to know that we pay for a cleaner otherwise everybody will want a cleaner.

Rather than bring an adopter out and give them the training and we have another 30 adopters, is go into the home and something very individual and bespoke

I think fairly regular social meetings with other adopters.

if you were thinking there was no sort of limit to what you could provide, it would be some sort of database that actually identifies when the children are coming to certain life stages. So maybe starting school. So that we would be pro-active in knowing that little Johnny is coming up for, he’s just about to go to school.

It’s on them to come to us when they’re having problem as opposed to just actually, why don’t we all touch base

A pool of babysitters…like an extended aunt or uncle.

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7. Key Messages

The personal experiences of prospective adopters influence outcome.

Those who have already some knowledge and experience of adoption

and/or children are better placed to take on harder to place children.

Those who have experienced large families themselves are more aware of

the issues in taking on sibling groups.

Helping prospective adopters to identify their transferable skills and

strengths is important.

Introducing the reality of harder to place children at an early stage of the

adoption process was seen as helpful. This needs to be done sensitively

but with clarity and honesty.

Preparation for managing the possessions of placed children needed more

consideration.

Adopters and Social Workers could see the value of professional support

that was practical and on-going.

Adopters valued training that included existing adopters and was applied

rather than ‘textbook’.

The timing of training input needed consideration, as learning was better

when people were under less pressure from the stages of the adoption

approval process.

Group-based training could complement individual training, but is not a

substitute for it.

The Foster Carers of placed children were an invaluable source of specific

knowledge and on-going support.

The expectations of gender from the view of the adopted children would

benefit from discussion in training.

Predicting life stages/events in the children’s lives could be helpful in pro-

actively offering services.

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Garry Crawford, Steve Myers & Donna Peach (University of Salford)July 2016

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8. Acknowledgements

This project was part funded by the Department for Education. We would like thank the staff at Caritas Care and in particular the Chief Executive, Amanda Forshaw, and their project leader, Mike Hall. Also the research support staff at the University of Salford. But mostly we would like to thank all of the research participants who gave their time and valuable contributions which enabled us to complete this project.

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9. References

Department for Education. (2014) Statistical first release. Children looked after in England (including adoption and care leavers) year ending 31 March 2014, London: HMSO.

Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2009) Population Division. Child Adoption and Trends. United Nations: New York.

Farmer, E., & Dance, C. (2015). Family Finding and Matching in Adoption: What Helps to Make a Good Match ?, (December 2014), 1–19.

Logan, J. (2010) Preparation and planning for face-to-face contact after adoption: The experience of adoptive parents in a UK study. Child and Family Social Work, 15, 315–324.

Morgan, D.L. (1997) Focus Groups as Qualitative Research. London: Sage. Rushton, A, 2003, The adoption of looked after children: A scoping review of research.

Bristol: Policy Press.Scott, A., & Duncan, C. (2013) Understanding attitudes, motivations and barriers to

adoption and fostering: A marketing proposal for the Department for Education.Selwyn, J., Wijedasa, D., & Meakings, S. (2013) Beyond the adoption order: A study of the

continuity of adoptive placements.Simmonds. J. (2000). First steps to becoming an adoptive parent, London: BAAFTimberlake, E., Mudd, H. P., & Cullen, L. (2003) Preparing Parents for Adoption : An

Agency Experience. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 20(3), 175–196.United Nations (2009) Child Adoption Trends and Policies. United Nations: New York.Wallis, L. (2006). Counting the Losses: People Who Do Not Pursue Their Adoption

Enquiry. Adoption & Fostering, 30, 1, 48–57 Ward, E. (2011). Taking the Next Step: Enquirers to National Adoption Week One Year

on. Adoption & Fostering, 35, 1, 6–17.Wind, L. H., & Brooks, D. Barth, R. P. (2005) Adoption preparation differences between

adoptive families of child with and without special needs. Adoption Quarterly, 8(4), 45.74.

Wind, L. H., Brooks, D., & Barth, R. P. (2007) Services Post-Adoption Adoptions. Family Relations, 56(4), 378–389.

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