Adoption & Fostering

This article discusses the rationale for mindfulness as an intervention in addressing parenting stress in adoptive parents and describes the process of its implementation in a voluntary adoption agency. Burgeoning interest in mindfulness in the public and scientific domains, alongside the presenting needs of adoptive families, has led to an appreciation of this intervention to meet the particular needs of adoptive parents and their children. The theoretical and research grounds for it are outlined before a description of the service is provided and supplemented with data from staff and parent groups receiving Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT). In the manner of ‘practice what you preach’, staff as well as adoptive parents participated in the training. Adoptive parents demonstrated improvements in mindfulness and compassion; staff showed positive changes in self-compassion. There were also improvements in parenting stress for adopters. These results suggest this was a promising intervention for both the families and the agency and indicate an ongoing commitment to using it alongside other treatments. Further pointers to future service delivery, implementation and research are outlined.

This research arose from concern about the prevalence of UK adoptions of children with significant levels of emotional, behavioural and/or therapeutic needs, and the fact that these are being made in a context where research into the outcomes of such placements is sparse. It focuses on adopters of children pre-identified as having high therapeutic needs and looks specifically at the factors that affect adopters’ ongoing commitment. The methodology was qualitative with findings drawn from six in-depth, semi-structured interviews with adopters, followed by focus groups comprising adopters and social workers. Levels of commitment were assessed using the conceptualisation and measures outlined in previous research involving the ‘This is My Baby Interview’ (Bates and Dozier, 1998). Contrary to initial hypotheses, levels of adopter commitment did not correlate with the severity of need or challenging behaviours in their adopted children per se. Instead, it was found to be associated with their feelings of ‘hope’ about the future, feelings that were closely linked to the level, accessibility and quality of the therapeutic and professional resources available.

This article describes an attachment-based narrative approach to life story work that aims to help children whose psychological well-being is undermined by past experiences of maltreatment and separation. It is a collaborative method working directly with the child, carer and social worker/therapist to construct a coherent and developmentally sensitive narrative that illuminates the child’s troubled and troubling past. The focus is on children’s experiences of placement disruptions and their perception of repeated rejection, pervasive anxiety and mistrust, and how these affect their mental health and capacity to form and sustain relationships. The approach complements life story work by using story and metaphor in a curious and playful way and is particularly effective when the child’s defensiveness and unresolved trauma make conventional interventions of this kind inadequate or even counter-productive. Two case studies are provided to illustrate different applications of the approach.

Why do the British adopt far fewer children from abroad but more domestic children than the French? To examine this question, this article compares the history of adoption law and practice in France and England and Wales. Although these countries have had similar adoption laws since the 1920s, there have long been many more adoptions in England and Wales. This is partly due to the greater numbers of abused and neglected children being put forward for adoption in the UK. In addition, memories of the forced migration of children, coupled with heated debate over transracial adoption in the 1980s, cast doubt on the idea that intercountry adoption might benefit children. Consequently, local authorities give higher priority to the placement of children born in the UK with its system of open adoption. In contrast, French prospective adopters face a dearth of domestic children available for adoption and so turn their attentions overseas.

Genetic testing can provide useful information related to a person’s health history. Adoptees who lack access to family health history due to inherent separation from their birth family are among those likely to benefit from this. Understanding their attitudes, including their hopes and concerns, will allow for better informed and more appropriate applications of genetic testing within this population and will help guide genetic counselling for adult adoptees. This qualitative study, involving four focus groups totalling 17 participants, examined adult adoptees’ attitudes that might influence decision-making around genetic testing. Using the NVivo 10 data analysis method, transcripts were content and thematically coded for: motivations for positive interest in genetic testing/genome sequencing; reasons for lack of interest or uncertainty about genetic testing/genome sequencing; and mixed feelings or overlapping positive and negative comments by the same individual in the same train of thought. Other studies have examined adoptive parents’ attitudes towards genetic testing, but this is the first to give voice to adoptees themselves. The results indicate that while adult adoptees’ attitudes about genetic testing appear to be similar to that of other laypeople, they reported unique concerns and perspectives regarding its potential use and their motivations and deterrents for pursuing it.

The present study aims to explore, using Young’s early maladaptive schemas (EMS), the cognitive and emotional dimensions associated with the experience of motherhood of young women ageing out of care. It also assesses the relationships between EMS and two dimensions of the parental role (parental efficacy and parental distress). The sample is composed of 29 young mothers who were placed in care as adolescents. Parental efficacy was significantly correlated with only one EMS: Social Isolation/Alienation. Parental distress was moderately and positively correlated with the following EMS: Mistrust/Abuse, Emotional Deprivation, Social Isolation/Alienation and Enmeshment/Undeveloped Self. Results showed a more comprehensive picture of these young mothers’ pervasive patterns of emotions and cognitions. This picture is more balanced than the poor mothering outcomes typically associated with early motherhood in the scientific literature, or the overly positive depictions of young motherhood that have emerged from some qualitative studies. Implications for intervention are discussed.