Supporting the placements of children adopted out of care

This article reports the findings related to adoption support of a Department of Health-funded study: Costs and Outcomes of Non-infant Adoptions. This is the first UK study to comprehensively examine the support provided by Social Services Departments (SSDs), Health, Education, and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) beyond the first year of the adoptive placement. The services provided to 80 children, before Adoption Orders were granted, were examined from SSD records. Interviews with 54 adoptive parents then investigated the services provided to 64 of the 80 children post order. Families were initially supported primarily by Social Services but, post order, Health, Education and CAMHS shouldered most of the support responsibilities. A high proportion of the children were seen by these professionals over the course of the adoptive placements but many adopters felt that the services provided had been 'too little, too late'. While there were assessments of children's difficulties, mainstream services typically failed to provide what adopters considered sufficient or effective support. This was also largely true of the services provided by SSDs and is an important message for practitioners if they are to succeed in improving adoption support services.