Adoption & Fostering
Abstracts
Autumn 2004 - Vol 28 (3)
The educational achievements of looked after children: Do welfare systems make a difference to outcomes?
Arabella Weyts
Key words: looked after children, Europe, welfare systems educational achievements
This article explores the relationship between welfare tradition and ideology, placement type and educational outcomes by comparing the educational experiences and attainments of older, long-stay looked after children in four countries with contrasting welfare systems. The nature and severity of children's needs were charted to enable like-with-like comparisons. It was found that welfare systems influenced children's placement patterns and use, as well as the services offered. The effects on children's education, however, were less clear cut, although those whose educational needs were met did better in other areas of their life. The implications for childcare policy, international comparisons and the harmonisation of children's services are discussed.
Arabella Weyts is Senior Programme Co-ordinator, Department of Social Welfare Studies, Ghent University, Belgium
Foster carers who care for children with challenging behaviour: a total population study
Andrew Pithouse, Kathy Lowe and Jan Hill-Tout
Key words: foster care, Wales, children with challenging behaviour
Given the concern that those undertaking the foster care task in the UK may not have all the skills and capacities necessary to care for the special needs of looked after children, particularly those with challenging behaviour, it is essential to gain a deeper insight into what carers themselves own by way of personal background, experience and perception about their role. This is important, for if we are to 'professionalise' the carer role we need to know more about those in whom we would seek to build capacities in order to make them 'professional'. Thus we need to know more about carer attitudes, motives and experience in order to design the right sort of capacity-building and not simply to think that a 'one size fits all' response of training and support will suffice. The authors examine carer characteristics as found in a total population of carers (n=115) in four neighbouring Welsh unitary authorities caring for all children (n=114) considered to exhibit challenging behaviour. Selective findings are presented and connected to other relevant UK research. Key categories include the carers' social background, tenure in fostering, children fostered, their training, their perception of the fostering role within the local authority, their views on support from social services and their experience of stress. A concluding section identifies those areas where capacity-building in carers is most pressing.
Andrew Pithouse is Director of Social Work Studies, School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University
Kathy Lowe is Community Service Development Consultant, Bro Morgannwg NHS Trust
Jan Hill-Tout is Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Independent Consultant
The health needs of children aged 6-12 years in foster care
Lisa Anderson, Panos Vostanis and Nick Spencer
Key words: looked after children, foster care, health, mental health
It is well established that looked after children have high levels of health needs that are not usually met by existing services. This article reports on a study that aimed to establish the perceptions of health needs among children aged 6-12 years and their foster carers. Fifty-six children and their carers from two local authorities completed a health checklist, the Health of the Nation Outcome Scales for Children and Adolescents and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Despite their young age, children were broadly aware of what constitutes and promotes good health. In contrast, they gave a range of definitions of mental illness. Children were reported to be registered with general practitioners and to be up to date with immunisations, while their contacts with primary and specialist health services were related to a variety of relatively minor problems. High levels of mental health issues were established among this group, which were significantly associated with recent admission to public care and short-term placements. The findings are discussed in the context of guidelines on the health assessment of looked after children and the need for development of accessible and designated mental health services.
Lisa Anderson is Research Associate, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Leicester
Panos Vostanis is Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Leicester
Nick Spencer is Professor of Child Health, School of Health and Social Studies, University of Warwick
Inputs to an adoption panel: a case study
Lana Farina, Myra Leifer and Ira J Chasnoff
Key words: adoption panels, decision-making processes, social work reports, applicants' attendance
This article reports on an observational case study of an adoption panel and focuses on selected inputs to it, namely social work reports, social worker attendance and applicant attendance. The research found that although the outputs of the panel meetings were well defined, including the recommendations to the agency decision-maker, the inputs lacked a clear sense of purpose. It was hypothesised that this related to a lack of clarity as to the prime purpose of the panel, in particular whether it was a decision-making group that made recommendations to the agency decision-maker or a decision-validation group, confirming recommendations made by agency social workers. The author discusses ways in which the purpose and inputs of the panel meetings could be aligned with one another and how this could lead to the panel becoming a forum for more open dialogue between panel attendees and panel members.
Terence O'Sullivan is Senior Lecturer in Social Work, Hull School of Health and Social Care, University of Lincoln
Original fathers: an exploration into the experiences of birth fathers involved in adoption in the mid-20th century
Celia Witney
Key words: original fathers, grief, loss and impotency, searching, contact and reunion
There is a surprising lack of research into the experiences of unmarried fathers whose children were lost to adoption in Britain in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Between the first Adoption Act in 1926 and the present day, nearly 90,000 adoptions have taken place. Very little is known about the fathers involved. The information gained from this study is set in the context of the social conditions of the mid-20th century and refers to the legislation that affected the rights of the original father at that time. As it is now possible for social services personnel to contact adoptees on behalf of their original parents, the findings presented are particularly relevant. They reveal the experiences and reflect the emotions of some original fathers concerning the discovery of their partner's pregnancy, the process of the child's adoption, the search for their adult adopted children and, in some cases, their contact or reunion with them. The study consists of self-selected contributors and as such is not representative of all unmarried fathers. The cultural attitudes that contributed to the treatment of the unmarried parents, with particular reference to unmarried fathers, are discussed and it is argued that it was the idea that child care was 'women's business' that contributed to the exclusion of the fathers from the adoption arrangements.
Celia Witney is a retired primary school teacher and member of Barnardo's adoption panel
Intercountry adoption of Eastern European children in New Zealand: parents' attitudes towards the importance of culture
Rhoda Scherman and Niki Harré
Key words: intercountry adoption, Eastern Europe, New Zealand, culture, ethnic identity, adoptive parents
Virtually all of the research on the importance of culture in adoption has been on transracial adoption. Little is known about the importance of culture when racially similar children are adopted. The authors interviewed 112 New Zealand adoptive families of primarily European descent, with 162 predominately Russian and Romanian adoptive children, concerning their experiences and attitudes about the importance of their children's birth culture and the types of cultural activities they engaged in. Results showed that the majority of families did engage in both formal and informal cultural activities and made efforts to socialise with people of their child's ethnicity. Many parents kept part or all of their child's original name. The majority of children were perceived by their parents to identify with both the New Zealand and the birth culture. Future research is planned to examine the relationship between experience with birth culture and the development of a positive self-concept in international adoptees.
Rhoda Scherman is a lecturer in the School of Psychology, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand
Niki Harré is a lecturer in the Department of Psychology, University of Auckland
Legal notes: England and Wales
Deborah Cullen
Legal notes: Scotland
Alexandra Plumtree
Legal notes: Northern Ireland
Kerry O'Halloran
Health notes: meeting the mental health of needs of looked after children: an example of routine psychological assessment
Chris Bonnett and Jan Welbury
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