After Adoption: Direct Contact and Relationships

by Logan,Janette

• ISBN13: 9780415282215
• ISBN10: 0415282217
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2003-11-19
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Few children nowadays are placed for adoption with no form of contact planned with birth relatives and it has become common professional practice to advocate direct rather than indirect contact. Practice has outstripped evidence in this respect and not enough is known about how contact arrangements actually work out, particularly for older children adopted from state care. Such children have often experienced neglect, and sometimes abuse, and have frequently been adopted without parental agreement. Based on research with a large number of adoptive parents, children and birth relatives,After Adoptionconsiders the impact of direct post-adoption contact on all concerned in such cases. It also discusses the development of adoption policy and law, particularly with regard to the legal and social consequences of adoption. The authors review research on adopted children's contact with their birth families and explore through interviews what helps and hinders the relationship between adoptedchildren and their biological parents.After Adoptionchallenges readers to re-think the relationship between adoption and the possibility of post-adoption contact and at the same time provides a comprehensive understanding of adoption issues. It is a timely and valuable addition to the literature on adoption, making a substantial contribution to policy and practice.

Author Biography

Carole Smith is a Senior Lecturers in the Department of Applied Social Science at the University of Manchester.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	ix
Acknowledgements	xi
1 Adoption in context: social change and openness	1	(17)
Adoption: the pace and nature of change	1	(5)
Adoption practice: openness and secrecy in adoption arrangements	6	(2)
The changing role of adoption: difference, identity and 'telling'	8	(4)
Identity issues in context	12	(1)
The current debate: openness, contact and adoption	13	(3)
Conclusion: the debate about contact and new challenges	16	(1)
Summary	17	(1)
2 Openness in adoption: essential for children's well-being?	18	(18)
The practice of open adoption and arrangements for contact	18	(2)
Adoption and identity: the need for information and contact	20	(7)
Further research: the impact of contact on birth and adoptive parents	27	(3)
Further research: the impact of contact on children	30	(2)
Conclusion: how much do we know about the benefits of continuing contact?	32	(2)
Summary	34	(2)
3 Policy, law and openness in adoption	36	(17)
Policy issues: openness and access to information	36	(5)
Policy issues: post-adoption contact	41	(3)
Judicial intervention in contact arrangements	44	(6)
Conclusion: policy development and judicial restraint	50	(2)
Summary	52	(1)
4 The study: research issues, methods and sample characteristics	53	(16)
The study in context	53	(1)
Ethical and methodological considerations	54	(5)
Gaining access to adopters, children and birth relatives after adoption	59	(1)
Research instruments and data collection	60	(1)
Talking to the children	61	(1)
Children's characteristics and placements	62	(2)
Children's legal and 'looked-after' status	64	(1)
Birth parents' attitudes to adoption and post-adoption contact	64	(1)
Direct contact: variability, frequency and arrangements	65	(2)
Conclusion: trials, tribulations and rewards	67	(1)
Summary	68	(1)
5 Preparation and planning for direct contact	69	(18)
Agencies, professional practice and contact	69	(1)
Preparation for direct contact	70	(2)
Adoptive parents' attitudes towards contact	72	(3)
Meeting birth relatives involved in direct contact	75	(1)
Planning for contact	76	(1)
Contact planning was agency led: adopters agreed with the plan and felt involved	77	(2)
Contact planning was agency led: adopters agreed with the plan although they were not involved	79	(1)
Planning was initiated by the adopters	80	(1)
Contact planning was led by the agency or other professionals: adopters accepted the plan but remained hostile to its implementation	80	(2)
Frequency of contact arrangements	82	(1)
Agency involvement in post-adoption contact arrangements	83	(1)
Conclusion: agencies and planning for direct contact	84	(1)
Summary	85	(2)
6 Adoptive parents: perspectives on adoption and direct contact	87	(28)
Adoptive parents and adoption	87	(1)
Opposition to adoption: birth families and contact	88	(2)
Managing arrangements for contact: a complicated business	90	(1)
Direct contact: losses and gains	91	(2)
Adoptive parents' perceptions: advantages of direct contact	93	(5)
Adoptive parents' perceptions: comfort and satisfaction with direct contact	98	(7)
Ownership, control and direct contact	105	(6)
Conclusion	111	(2)
Summary	113	(2)
7 Birth relatives and direct contact	115	(16)
Introduction: birth relatives, adoption and contact	115	(1)
Birth relatives' attitudes to adoption and satisfaction with adoption outcome	116	(5)
Birth relatives' satisfaction with frequency and security of contact arrangements	121	(2)
Special Guardianship: an alternative to adoption?	123	(1)
Direct contact: personal comfort, role comfort and satisfaction	124	(5)
Conclusion: birth relatives and direct post-adoption contact	129	(1)
Summary	129	(2)
8 Children's thoughts and feelings: adoption and post-adoption contact	131	(20)
Introduction: the children	131	(2)
Children and adoption	133	(4)
Terminating contact: children's wishes and feelings	137	(3)
Direct contact: children's perceptions of comfort and satisfaction	140	(3)
Children's and adoptive parents' perceptions of contact	143	(1)
Contact and saying goodbye	143	(2)
Sibling relationships: placement and contact	145	(1)
Sibling contact: children's wishes and feelings	146	(3)
Conclusion: listening to Children and young people	149	(1)
Summary	150	(1)
9 Views from the triangles	151	(25)
Introduction: triangular relationships	151	(1)
The sub-sample of adoption triangles	152	(3)
Agreement to adoption and the enforcement of contact arrangements	155	(2)
Experiencing direct contact	157	(1)
The development of relationships: respect and liking	158	(2)
The development of relationships: sympathy, acceptance and gratitude	160	(2)
Permission to parent	162	(2)
The status of parenthood: conflict and competition	164	(2)
Two kinship networks: the failure to develop a working relationship	166	(3)
The frequency of contact and changes over time	169	(3)
Conclusion: prospects for direct post-adoption contact	172	(2)
Summary	174	(2)
10 Direct post-adoption contact: benefits, risks and uncertainties	176	(9)
Sixty-one adoptive families and direct contact	176	(2)
Contact: factors relating to comfort, satisfaction and beneficial experiences	178	(2)
Direct contact; risk and uncertainty	180	(2)
Conclusion: managing uncertainty in decisions about direct post-adoption contact	182	(3)
References	185	(11)
Index	196