Supporting post adoption contact for children adopted from care: A study of social workers' attitudes

Neil, Elsbeth (2008) Supporting post adoption contact for children adopted from care: A study of social workers' attitudes. Adoption Quarterly, 10 (3/4). pp. 3-28. ISSN 1544-452X

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Abstract

New legislation in England and Wales requires adoption agencies to specify the contact adopted children will have with their birth families and obliges agencies to offer all parties support to maintain such contact. This study, based on responses from 112 adoption social workers in England and Wales, used a case vignette methodology to explore workers' attitudes towards supporting post-adoption contact. The findings suggest that social workers think primarily about the child's needs and about providing services to or on behalf of the child. In contrast, adults' needs, especially the relationship between birth parents and adoptive parents, were less often considered. Workers were least orientated toward supporting birth parents. Workers from different agencies had very different attitudes towards the case vignette. This study suggests that supporting post-adoption contact is a complex professional task likely to be influenced by workers' own attitudes. Implications for training, support and supervision are discussed.

Item Type:	Article
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Social Work
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Centres > Centre for Research on Children and Families Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Business and Local Government Data Research Centre (former - to 2023)
Depositing User:	Nicole Ranaweera
Date Deposited:	05 Jan 2011 12:33
Last Modified:	03 Jul 2025 23:40
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/18730
DOI:	10.1080/10926750802163170

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