Adoption breakdown research

suesspiciousminds

A lot of people, including the House of Lords when they asked questions about the rate of adoption breakdown and found that there was no clear answer, have been wanting to see some good research on adoption breakdowns.

This is a piece of research on that very issue, commissioned by the Department for Education and conducted by Bristol university. I think it is solid.

The report opens by saying that there hasn’t previously been a national study on adoption disruptions – the previous studies have been with narrow subsets of children, leading to “rates of disruption having been quoted as ranging between 2% and 50%” (To paraphrase Paddy Power “I hear you” – I have heard over many years in Court, a wide variety of numbers being given as to how likely an adoptive placement is to break down, usually thirty seconds before a Jedi handwave and “the research is…

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Local authorities underestimate adoption breakdowns, study suggests –

Media and the care system UK

Adoption breakdowns are higher than official figures suggest with lack of post adoption support a major factor in placements being disrupted, a study commissioned by the Department for Education has concluded.

Children who were younger when they were adopted were less likely to become disruptive. Picture: Morguefile

The research by the University of Bristol, that involved analysis of local authority records as well as interviews with nearly 400 adoptive parents, is thought to be the first to assess the reasons for adoptions breaking down. The local authority data put the breakdown rate at 3.4 per cent over a 12-year period, but the report said this was likely to be an underestimate. The survey of adoptive parents found that around nine per cent of adoption placements break down before the child reaches 18. The report found that adoption placements are 10 times more likely to break down in the teenage years…

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CPS Policy on Prosecuting Cases of Domestic Violence

Media and the care system UK

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 This document explains the way we, The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), deal with cases involving domestic violence.

1.2 We regard domestic violence as particularly serious because there is often a continuing threat to the victim’s safety and, in the worst cases, the victim’s life and the lives of others (including children’s) may be at risk.

1.3 When we are deciding whether or not to prosecute, the safety of the victim, children and any other person involved will be a priority for us.

1.4 People have a right to feel safe and be safe in their personal relationships. We know that domestic violence can have a devastating effect not only upon the victim but also upon families and especially upon children who witness or are aware of the violence.

1.5 Stopping domestic violence and bringing perpetrators to justice must therefore…

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Permission to apply to revoke a placement order or to oppose an adoption application

Media and the care system UK

Permission to apply to revoke a placement order or to oppose an adoption application

the application, which I believed was the result of a fundamental misunderstanding of the difference between the permission stage and the substantive application.  The LSC seemed also to be under the misapprehension that the mother could defend the adoption application itself.  However, it is no doubt going to be standard practice for the LSC to scrutinize these applications with great care and family lawyers need to be aware of the sort of detail which may be required.   The LSC required, amongst other things:   Copies of relevant correspondence, in particular confirming that a request to return the child to mother with supporting information about her change in circumstances had been made in writing & the reasons for refusal (in writing from the local authority) & the changes the local authority considered the mother to need…

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1,000 children “wrongly” adopted every year

Researching Reform

John Hemming MP, who recently gave evidence in Parliament with Martin Narey over child protection issues, has told the BBC that he believes up to 1,000 children a year are being adopted for the wrong reasons; in other words, children are being taken into care when they shouldn’t be. You can view the meeting, in full (both audio and video), here.

The news article is very interesting and it rings true for those in the sector who work daily with families who have had their children removed from their care without any tangible evidence for doing so.

As one might expect, Martin Narey, who is now the government’s adoption adviser (and ex CEO of Barnardo’s) strongly disagreed with this view. The news item is well worth a read.

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Parental Rights and Child Welfare

Parental Rights and Child Welfare.