The Support Needs and Experiences of Newly Formed Adoptive Families: Findings From the Wales Adoption Study
Research in Practice
Tuesday, June 26, 2018
This research paper focuses on the support needs of newly formed adoptive families, addressing a gap in the literature for research in the post-placement period.
- Authors Sarah Meakings et al
- Adoption & Fostering, Vol. 42(1)(2018)
There is increasing recognition that many adoptive families require ongoing support, or have support needs that wax and wane over time.
Background research
Although adoption disruption rates are low, many adoptive families struggle to manage complex behaviours (e.g. poor emotional regulation and relationship difficulties) in both the short and longer term (Selwyn et al, 2015). Concern about the needs of children adopted from care and their families led to the development of the Adoption Support Fund (ASF) in England.
Research by Selwyn (2017) and Stock, Spielhofer and Gieve (2016) identified a range of promising interventions to support adoptive families. However, with the exception of the AdOpt programme in the UK, there is little focus on help specifically in early adoptive family life.
The study
This paper draws on the following data from the Wales Adoption Study:
- Responses to a questionnaire completed by 96 newly-formed adoptive families four months into placement
- In-depth interviews with 40 adoptive families nine months after the placement.
Families were recruited via letters sent to families by local authority adoption teams.
Study findings
The support needs of the families can be categorised as follows:
Children's health and development
Parents of older children tended to want support in addressing emotional and behavioural wellbeing concerns. Parents of younger children had more concerns around children's physical wellbeing and developmental progress. Parents wanted an opportunity to speak about the impact of their child's distress on family life and also to understand which behaviours reflected the effects of early adversity and which were characteristics of typical childhood development.
Strengthening family relationships
Parents described the complexities of the developing relationships with their children and the support needs associated with this. Parents had routinely been urged by social workers to minimise or avoid contact with family and friends when their child first moved into the adoptive home to promote attachment. Some parents struggled during the early stages of the placement without help from their support network, whilst others ignored social workers' advice and maintained contact with their social network.
Children's identity
There were differing support needs around life story work depending on the age of the child. For young children, the focus was on helping them understand the concept of adoption. For older children, the focus was on helping them develop a coherent, age-appropriate narrative of their lives. Parents welcomed the life story book as a useful tool. However, two-thirds did not have the book at home and reported challenges in getting it from the local authority.
Managing birth family contact
Birth parent letterbox contact had been agreed with all but one family, with no plans for face-to-face contact. Most adoptive parents had received guidance about the style and content of letters. There were plans for face-to-face contact with siblings living elsewhere for a quarter of the children. Parents were keen to facilitate this, but felt they were not always supported to do so. They also discussed the need for managing contact with a child's previous foster carers.
Financial support
Advice about potential financial support was not routinely available and assessments were not always carried out when families raised concerns. Some parents were led to believe that allowances were only available in exceptional circumstances. Adopters asserted that modest, short-term financial assistance had the potential to ease financial challenges at the early stage of the placement (for example, reduced income as a result of taking an extended period of time off work).
Implications for practice
- While many of the findings are unsurprising, the study provides further evidence of the need to ensure that adopters have readily available access to advice and support during the early stages of the placement to avoid the placement breaking down.
- Most children in the study did not need specialist therapeutic intervention, but needed better support for managing "normal" adoptive family life. It is crucial that adopters know where to go and do not feel judged when asking for advice and guidance. The provision of advice and guidance at the early stages of the placement requires relatively little additional costs for local authorities, but could make a big difference to parents of children who have suffered abuse and neglect. It could potentially reduce costs in the longer term through issues being addressed at an early stage and not requiring costlier intensive intervention in the longer-term.