Books, booklets & multimedia

Costs and outcomes of non-infant adoptions

	Price: £12.95	BAAF, May 2006 ISBN  978-1-903699-19-5

Adoption is now at the heart of government policy to secure permanent, stable family lives for children who are no longer able to remain with their own birth families. Most children are placed with their new adoptive families after infancy and following very poor early parenting experiences, but surprisingly little is known about the long-term outcomes of these adoptions. What emotional impact do they have on both the adopted children and the adopters? What are the financial costs to social services of placing and supporting these children and their new families?

This book reports the findings of a Department of Health-funded study of a complete sample of 130 older children, from one geographical area in England, for whom an “adoption in best interests” decision was made during a defined period in the 1990s.

The study tracked the progress of all the children through the care system until 2002, with 80 children moving into permanent adoptive placements, 34 into long-term foster care and 16 having unstable experiences of being “looked after”. It examined the children’s early lives, the decisions made about them before the best interests recommendation, the costs involved, and any delays in the process.

Adopters and foster carers give their accounts of caring for the children, the financial and emotional costs to themselves and their families, and the support they received.

This study provides a unique opportunity to compare the outcomes for both the adopted and the fostered children. It allows an accurate assessment of the success of adoption as a placement choice to be made, and makes recommendations for policy and practice based on this complete sample. It will be of interest to all those involved in making placement decisions for “looked after” children.