Adoption & Fostering
Abstracts
Autumn 2007 - Vol 31 (3)
Editorial
Roger Bullock
Newspoints
Still the poor elations? Perspectives on valuing and listening to foster carers
Derek Kirton, Jennifer Beecham and Kate Ogilvie
There has long been debate regarding the treatment and status of foster carers but this has gained added significance in the context of moves towards professionalisation and recognition of carers as part of the children’s workforce. While research studies have often touched upon the extent to which foster carers feel valued, appreciated or members of a team, less attention has been given to the perspectives of social workers and managers. Drawing on quantitative survey data and qualitative material from focus groups and interviews, Kirton et al explore from the different perspectives of supervising social workers, service managers and foster carers, the extent to which the latter are valued, listened to or regarded as ‘colleagues’ by social work professionals and agencies. Key findings include that carers’ sense of being valued may be linked to factors such as age, experience, health and number of placements provided. Discussion of the status of foster carers revealed not only wide variation in practice but also a complex set of sentiments and significant divisions among social work professionals on the question of whether carers should be regarded as ‘colleagues’.
Derek Kirton is Lecturer in Social Policy and Social Work at the University of Kent, Canterbury
Jennifer Beecham is Reader in Social Policy, Personal Social Services Research Unit at the same university
Kate Ogilvie is Performance Manager, Bath and North East Somerset Council, Social and Housing Services
Permanence planning in Northern Ireland: a development project
Greg Kelly, Priscilla Haslett, Jacqueline O’Hare and Karen McDowell
Key words: permanence planning, concurrent planning, adoption, foster care, Northern Ireland
This article discusses a permanency planning project in a Northern Ireland Health and Social Services Trust. The project recruited and trained dual (foster care/adoption) approved carers and placed children with them before the children were freed for adoption. The carers who were recruited in the first year of the project (1999) are described, as are the early outcomes of the placements. All the children (n = 52) placed with the carers were subsequently adopted and no placements have disrupted in the three to six years since placement. The children were placed with their permanent carers earlier than in conventional practice. The carers, for the most part, thought the reward of having their child placed earlier and younger compensated for the anxiety and uncertainty generated by the legal proceedings to free the children for adoption. They were essentially people who wanted to adopt (three-quarters were childless couples) and the project provides positive evidence of the capacity of this population to offer ‘modern’ adoption placements to looked after children.
Greg Kelly is Senior Lecturer in Social Work, Queens University Belfast
Priscilla Haslett is Manager, Adoption Support Team, Homefirst Trust, Ballymena
Jacqueline O’Hare was a student on the Masters in Social Work at Queens University Belfast
Karen McDowell was a research assistant with the School of Social Work in the same university
The need for information on how the attachment difficulties of adopted and looked after children affect their schooling
Rena Phillips
Key words: attachment, education, school, information, post adoption support
The loss, separation and trauma experienced by looked after and adopted children can seriously affect their school life and ability to learn. A great deal has been written and researched on the low educational achievement of looked after children, but there is little available on how adopted children fare. An attachment perspective can make a valuable contribution to understanding the learning needs of vulnerable children. This article discusses a successful initiative by PACS, a small post-adoption support charity, in producing succinct and accessible publications to inform teachers, as well as families and professionals, about the types of difficult and challenging behaviour that can arise from attachment issues and why. The materials include practical suggestions as to how schools could help to create a more understanding learning environment. Other developments that reflect the growing interest in attachment issues and education are described.
Rena Phillips is an independent practitioner, researcher and trainer. She is an adoption panel member and the part-time co-ordinator of PACS (Post Adoption Central Support), an adopter-led group which offers post-placement services in central Scotland
Developing group-based parent training for foster and adoptive parents
Kim Golding
Key words: parent training, fostering, adoption, child development, Attachment Theory, NICE guidance on parent training
Parent training interventions are among the best-researched interventions aimed at improving the adjustment of children within their families. In 2006, group-based parent training interventions were further promoted by the publication of guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) and the revised edition of Drawing on the Evidence (British Psychological Society, 2006). This guidance endorses parent training based on Social Learning Theory as an intervention to help children with conduct disorder. It provides helpful advice on the process of parent training that might also be applicable to training for foster and adoptive parents. The author explores the development of parent training for helping parents and carers of children living in foster care and adoptive homes. The difficulties that some of these children display are complex and enduring. Parent training programmes, as part of a package of care, may be a helpful intervention for children demonstrating challenging behaviours within the context of neurodevelopmental difficulties and poor early attachment experience.
Kim Golding is a Child Clinical Psychologist, Worcestershire Primary Care Trust
Bullying in schools: a survey of the experience of looked after children
Vidya Rao and Doug Simkiss
Key words: bullying in schools, looked after children
Bullying is an important issue in schools and one to which looked after children may be particularly susceptible. In a cross-sectional survey, a sample of 50 ten to16-year-old children in the care of one local authority were asked about their experience of bullying using a modified Olweus questionnaire. The results suggest that these looked after children were at least as likely as their peers to be bullied and were subject to the same types of bullying as other children. The characteristics of both bullies and victims are discussed and recent work to improve the recognition of bullying and identify effective strategies to prevent it is highlighted. Health assessments are an opportunity to consider bullying as a possible underlying cause of stress and behavioural problems.
Vidya Rao is Consultant Community Paediatrician, Walsall Teaching Primary Care Trust, Walsall, Midlands
Doug Simkiss is Senior Lecturer in Child Health, Health Sciences Research Institute, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick
Parents’ and mental health workers’ perceptions of therapeutic needs and experiences of services for Dutch children adopted from Romania
Catharina Rijk, René Hoksbergen and Jan ter Laak
Key words: adoption, intercountry adoption, Romania, deprivation, mental health services, qualitative research
While it is established that international adoptive families are over represented in mental health care, little is known about their experiences with mental health services. The authors describe the experiences of 11 adoptive families and 12 mental health workers involved with severely deprived Romanian children adopted from institutions. Parents and mental health workers were interviewed. Reasons for applying for help, diagnoses, treatment method and evaluation are discussed. Most parents reported difficulties in finding appropriate care and had consulted several other therapists before they arrived at the current mental health service. Diagnoses often included cognitive delays, autistic symptoms and attachment difficulties. Different treatment methods were applied, in both outpatient and residential settings. Parents were more positive about the treatment outcome than were the mental health workers, the latter often having to consult colleagues about appropriate treatment. While mental health workers agreed that knowledge about adoption and the effects of deprivation are essential for sutiable treatment, most of them felt that they lacked expertise for such work.
Legal notes: England and Wales
Deborah Cullen
Legal notes: Scotland
Alexandra Plumtree
Legal notes: Northern Ireland
Kerry O’Halloran
Health notes: Obtaining children’s health information
Kim Golding
Book reviews
Abstracts
Diary
|
