‘Strongly recommended to managers, practitioners, policy makers and members with an interest in adoption.’ Julia Ridgway, Social Services Inspector, Adoption and Permanence Team, DH
Three years on from the government circular Adoption - Achieving the right balance, this book reviews the literature concerning support services for adoptions in difficulty and the findings of a survey on service developments in local authority and voluntary adoption agencies.
The literature review concludes that although services have been slow to develop, a window of opportunity exists at the present time but more needs to be known about what adoptive families feel they need and indeed what types of intervention work best.
The survey is the first UK-wide research into the types of routine and specialist support services available for adoptive families from statutory and voluntary agencies. It reveals that most local authorities, especially in England and Wales, recognise adoption as a life-long process and are working towards improving services, not just post-placement, but also after the adoption order has been granted. However, services from health and education were not generally perceived as adoption-aware and access to more specialist support from them was patchy. Examples of different service models and delivery mechanisms now available, plus the views of users, will be of interest to anyone needing to develop support services for adoptive families.
Contents include:
Part 1
A review of the literature on support for adoptions in difficulty
The need for support and calls for service expansion
The development of adoption support services and evidence of effectiveness
UK Government policy and current initiatives
Part 2
The UK Survey Context and method Agencies’ responses to the challenge of improving practice Current support services: routine and specialist Discussion and conclusions
