Interesting research

Research

The Value of Adoption as Child Protection Service
Palacios, J., Adroher, S., Brodzinsky, D. M., Grotevant, H. D., Johnson, D. E., Juffer, F., Martinez-Mora,L., Muhamedrahimov, F.J., Selwyn, J. and Tarren-Sweeney, M. (2019). 
Adoption in the service of child protection: An international interdisciplinary perspective. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 25(2), 57-72. 

Abstract Existing over many centuries, adoption has been challenged in recent years by evidence about practices that do not respond to the principles, ethics and laws under which it should be enacted. Written from a multidisciplinary and international perspective, this article outlines the place of adoption in the child protection system, as well as its core elements of permanence and stability. Recent demographic changes in adoption throughout the world are first examined. The negative consequences of children’s exposure to early adversities and the postadoption developmental trajectory of adopted people are also summarized. The focus of the argument is that adoption provides a legitimate model for the alternative care of children if undertaken within a rights and ethics framework that emphasizes children’s best interests, as set out in international conventions and national laws. Implications for adoption policy and practice are presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)
Siblings in foster care
Selwyn, J. (2019). Sibling Relationships in Adoptive Families that Disrupted or Were in Crisis. Research on Social Work Practice, 29(2), 165-175.

Abstract Purpose: The study investigated whether sibling relationships influenced the outcomes of a sample of adoptive placements in England and Wales that had broken down post order or were in crisis. Method: The study used secondary analysis drawing on in-depth interviews with 41 families who had experienced an adoption disruption and 42 families who described the adoptive placement as being in crisis in England and in Wales. The families contained 214 adopted and birth children. Results: Siblings placed together were statistically more likely to disrupt in comparison with sequential placements. Only 18 of
the 83 families described normal sibling relationships. Placements intended to maintain sibling relationships had not done so. Conclusion: Assessments need to pay more attention to sibling dynamics. Children’s relationships might be better supported by
separate placements with planned contact. Interventions are needed to improve sibling relationships. 

Family violence in kinship care
Breman, R., MacRae, A., & Vicary, D. (2018). Children Australia, 43(3), 186-191.  The Hidden Victims'-Family Violence in Kinship Care in Victoria.

Abstract Family violence is endemic. It has a dramatic and negative impact upon the victims and the family systems in which it occurs. While there is a growing evidence base to support our understanding, prevention and treatment of family violence, little is known about some of its “hidden victims” (e.g., kinship carers). In 2017, Baptcare commenced research with 101 kinship carers in Victoria to gain a better understanding of how family violence, perpetrated by the child’s close family member once the placement started, was impacting on children and families. In this context, family violence means any act of physical violence, emotional/psychological violence, verbal abuse and property damage. The study utilised a mixed design methodology that specifically targeted kinship carers who had direct experience of family violence. Findings from this study demonstrated that
(1) many kinship carers, and the children in their care, experienced family violence early in the placement, 
(2) that the violence occurred frequently and 
(3) the incidents of violence did not occur in isolation. 
Carers sought support from multiple sources to deal with the family violence, however, the study illustrated that the usefulness of these supports varied. Additionally, findings highlighted reasons why many kinship carers felt reluctant to file a report to end the violence. The study described in this paper is the first step in understanding and exposing this multifaceted issue and delineates some of the major issues confronting Victorian kinship carers experiencing family violence – and the support required to ensure the safety of them and the children they care for. This paper will describe the approach that Baptcare is taking to address family violence in kinship care in western metropolitan Melbourne. This is the second paper in a three-part series relating to family violence in kinship care.
formation of an adoption information gap was examined for a group of 169 emerging adults (M=25.0 years) who were adopted as infants. Participants completed interviews and questionnaires at adolescence and emerging adulthood (late teens to 20s). The Adoption Curiosity Pathway model guided research questions about formation of an adoption information gap, which exists when there is a difference between what an adopted person knows and what he or she desires to know regarding his or her adoption. In addition, specific issues were identified about which emerging adults were curious. Differences in these specific issues were examined across gender and openness arrangement with birth parents at emerging adulthood. The most frequently sought information was medical and health history. Logistic regression analyses revealed that the formation of an adoption information gap, which contains the specific items of curiosity, was more likely for those who were less satisfied with the amount of openness with birth parents during both adolescence and emerging adulthood. Implications for practice are presented. 
Adult Adoptees'wish to know
Wrobel, G. M., & Grotevant, H. D. (2018). Minding the (Information) Gap: What Do Emerging Adult Adoptees Want to Know About Their Birth Parents?   Adoption Quarterly, 1-24.  
 
Abstract The formation of an adoption information gap was examined for a group of 169 emerging adults (M=25.0 years) who were adopted as infants. Participants completed interviews and questionnaires at adolescence and emerging adulthood (late teens to 20s). The Adoption Curiosity Pathway model guided research questions about formation of an adoption information gap, which exists when there is a difference between what an adopted person knows and what he or she desires to know regarding his or her adoption. In addition, specific issues were identified about which emerging adults were curious. Differences in these specific issues were examined across gender and openness arrangement with birth parents at emerging adulthood. The most frequently sought information was medical and health history. Logistic regression analyses revealed that the formation of an adoption information gap, which contains the specific items of curiosity, was more likely for those who were less satisfied with the amount of openness with birth parents during both adolescence and emerging adulthood. Implications for practice are presented.
Opportunities for Foster Care: discouraging and hopeful
Goemans, A., Van Geel, M., & Vedder, P. (2018). Variability in Developmental Outcomes of Foster Children: Implications for Research and Practice. Children Australia, 43(2), 116-123. 
In the review article on her former studies in foster care Anouk Goemans from Leiden University sketches on the one hand a discouraging image about foster care, on the other she sees opportunities to improve.

Discouraging
International research shows that the average development of foster children does not improve after entering foster care! But this is about averages - some of the foster children improve and some of them worsen in the foster family. In Goemans' research on 446 Dutch foster children, aged between 3 and 17, it appeared that in the foster family, about 40% of foster children had serious behavioral problems. And we do not yet know why foster care works for one child and not for another. Or else: there is no guarantee that foster care ensures that children develop positively and we do not know why children do or do not pick up the chances of the improved environment.

Specific for ‘in-home placed’ children
A number of factors emerged from the research: Positive parenting, foster children receiving interventions, foster parents considering to quit foster care or having concerns about their own biological children, or plans for reunification.
In the case of foster and adopted children, attachment and trauma are the main concerns - all children have experienced at least one separation - and thus a broken attachment relationship. Attachment to previous caregivers often could not be safe due to inadequate parenting or lack of love, or due to neglect and sometimes mistreatment and other traumas. Most currently used screening instruments do not specifically zoom in on this. The Brief Assessment Checklist (BAC, Tarren-Sweeney) proved to be sensitive to the specific problems of foster and adoptive children, and with the help of such an instrument children could be helped more effectively.

Focus on attachment
This brings us to the following insights from science: It seems that insecure attachment and the learned inaccurate images of safety and attachment make foster children less susceptible to the positive influence of the foster parents. This means they cannot benefit from the supportive, sensitive and responsive environment that foster parents generally offer. This may also be the basis of the limited effect of interventions in foster care. From my perspective, this calls for extra attention for the attachment relationship between foster parents and foster child - and this requires stability of placements.

Support for foster parents
Another approach is to support the foster parents to reduce their stress. Behavioral problems of foster children increase the stress of foster parents and this stress can lead to foster parents deciding to quit foster care. Foster care workers must be alert. Good relationship and communication with the foster care organization and other professionals can reduce the stress for foster parents.



Abstract: This article focuses on the variability in developmental outcomes of foster children and the implications for foster care research and practice. We first provide a brief overview of our previous work, where we have shown by means of meta-analysis and a longitudinal study that foster children greatly vary with respect to their developmental functioning. We then discuss that it is both the heterogeneity of developmental trajectories and the lack of an accurate model for predicting foster children's development that make the screening and monitoring of foster children's development important. We provide suggestions for screening and monitoring, and discuss the Brief Assessment Checklist as an example of a specific instrument available for screening and monitoring of vulnerable children exposed to severe social adversity. We conclude our article with directions to improve foster care and research on foster care, including a discussion of the effectiveness of and foster children's susceptibility to interventions, support for foster parents and the potential of large national and international studies.
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