Adoption & Fostering

Disabled children wait longer than other children for permanent new families and some never achieve a family for life. Jennifer Cousins explores the barriers that make disabled children's pathway to a family so problematic. It is argued that only with this knowledge can the necessary changes be made on behalf of this vulnerable group of young people.

Over several months during 2003 and 2004, BAAF's Opening Doors Disability Project ran a series of workshops across England to explore this complex subject with practitioners and carers. This paper includes the many ideas that emanated from these workshops, plus research material and the author's own views. Problems and barriers emerged in the recruitment, assessment and support of families; in the profiling and placing of children; at management level in the training and development of staff; in departmental structures and in diminished resources. All pervasive is the negativity and discrimination which affects people with impairments. It is argued that everyone engaged in children's services and family placement has a responsibility to promote the interests of disabled children by tackling the barriers identified here. In so doing, the placement chances for all children will be enhanced.

This article examines the processes and outputs of an adoption panel and is the second by Terence O'Sullivan to report on an observational case study. The research investigates how representative and participative panel members were, how attendee presence was structured, what the panel focused on and how conclusions were reached. The panel considered social work proposals in relation to looked after children whose permanence plan was adoption. A scrutiny process was observed that took the form of identifying issues, asking questions, being reassured (or not), coming to a conclusion and giving feedback. The importance of the panel's work stems from its scrutiny of social work proposals and the article suggests various ways in which this could be made more effective.

Although most local authorities provide or commission home-based short-break services to support families with a disabled child, such schemes have been much slower to develop as a form of support for families where children are in need for reasons other than disability. June Statham and Margaret Greenfields draw on a study of barriers to the development of ‘support care’ schemes in England, focusing in particular on the motivation and experiences of those who undertake this part-time fostering work and the skills and support they require. Since childminders can now be registered to provide overnight care, and some already provide daytime care for children placed with them by social workers, the potential for childminders to expand their service into short-break care is also considered. The paper concludes that although local authorities have sometimes been reluctant to develop short-break schemes because they fear diverting potential carers from mainstream fostering, in practice such fears are not well founded. Support care schemes can offer a way for those who might be interested in fostering to ‘dip a toe’ in the water, as well as helping to retain existing foster carers who might otherwise leave the service. This kind of service also fits well with the current policy emphasis on early intervention to support children and families who are experiencing difficulties and on promoting flexibility in the social care workforce.

Stephen Hicks presents a history of foster care and adoption by lesbians and gay men in the UK since 1988. He reviews key research, policy, law and debates about lesbian and gay carers and discusses key changes and developments in this field of practice. The article discusses a number of common arguments that surface in debates about this topic, including the idea that the children of lesbians and gay men will suffer psychosocial damage or develop problematic gender and sexual identity. In addition, the author critiques the notion that children do best in ‘natural’ two-parent, heterosexual families and that lesbian or gay carers should not be considered or should be used only as a ‘last resort’. Although the number of approved lesbian and gay carers has been increasing and there has been a range of positive changes in this field, it is argued that a series of homophobic ideas remain a key feature of this debate. The article asks how much things have changed since 1988 and what social work can do to contribute to an anti-homophobic practice.

This article by Edwina Peart provides information on a little known subject, private fostering. It builds on the work of Holman (1973, 2002) and Philpot (2001) who provide the only other studies of this type of care. The focus adopted represents a shift from the dominance of a professional perspective in these earlier studies. Within the current policy context, the study is timely as it explores both the benefits and dangers of this form of child care. It also adds to the debate on transracial adoption

Jeanette Allen and Panos Vostanis describe the set-up and preliminary evaluation of a seven-week training programme for foster carers and supervising social workers based on attachment theory. It has long been recognised that parenting children with complex and challenging needs in a family setting is extremely demanding, with research indicating that foster carers' lack of confidence in managing such demands is a significant factor in placement breakdown. This study suggests that attachment theory provides a useful model to help carers understand and respond to the complex difficulties presented by children with a history of abuse and trauma, and that the provision of a conceptual framework may be a significant factor in improving foster carers' confidence to manage the difficulties presented by the children in their care. The clinical implications of this evaluation are discussed.