Reordering family practices in an unequal and disorderly world: contemporary adoption and contact in the UK
Using findings from The Role of the Social Worker in Adoption – Ethics and Human Rights: An Enquiry, commissioned by the British Association of Social Workers, the following article presents a number of emerging themes regarding post-adoption contact and support in the UK. Three hundred individuals and 13 organisations across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland contributed to the enquiry and the data were analysed thematically. Within this article we will address some of the challenges regarding post-adoption contact and locate these within broader, often unexamined, concerns about poverty and inequalities. Drawing on sociological literature on ‘family practices’ and ‘displaying family’, we will consider both the status of adoption and the realities of carrying out post-adoption contact in an age of ever-increasing complexities in relationships. In doing so, we will explore how those involved in adoption carry out such practices, as well as the implications for professionals tasked with facilitating contact.
-
Adoptee Rights Australia (2021) Member contributions, https://adopteerightsaustralia.org.au/member-contributions-2.
-
Bourdieu, P. (1989) Social space and symbolic power, Sociological Theory, 7(1): 14–25. doi: 10.2307/202060
-
Bywaters, P., Brady, G., Bunting, L., Daniel, B., Featherstone, B., Jones, C., Morris, K., Scourfield, J., Sparks, T. and Webb, C. (2018) Inequalities in English child protection practice under austerity: a universal challenge?, Child and Family Social Work, 23(1): 53–61. doi: 10.1111/cfs.12383
-
Charles, N., Davies, C.A. and Harris, C. (2008) Families in Transition: Social Change, Family Formation and Kin Relationships, Bristol: The Policy Press.
-
Chase, E. and Walker, R. (2014) Constructing reality? The ‘discursive truth’ of poverty in Britain and how it frames the experience of shame, in E. Chase and G. Bantebya-Kyomuhendo (eds) Poverty and Shame: Global Experiences, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp 256–69.
-
Clapton, G. and Clifton, J. (2016) The birth fathers of adopted children: differences and continuities over a 30-year period, Adoption and Fostering, 40(2): 153–66. doi: 10.1177/0308575916641616
-
Cossar, J. and Neil, E. (2013) Making sense of siblings: connections and severances in post-adoption contact, Child and Family Social Work, 18(1): 67–76. doi: 10.1111/cfs.12039
-
Featherstone, B. and Gupta, A. (2020) Social workers’ reflections on ethics in relation to adoption in the UK: everywhere but nowhere?, British Journal of Social Work, 50(3): 833–49. doi: 10.1093/bjsw/bcz033
-
Featherstone, B., White, S. and Morris, K. (2014) Re-Imagining Child Protection: Towards Humane Social Work with Families, Bristol: Policy Press.
-
Featherstone, B., Gupta, A. and Mills, S. (2018) The Role of the Social Worker in Adoption – Ethics and Human Rights: An Enquiry, London: BASW.
-
Finch, J. (2007) Displaying families, Sociology, 41(1): 65–81. doi: 10.1177/0038038507072284
-
Finch, J. (2008) Naming names: kinship, individuality and personal names, Sociology, 42(4): 709–25. doi: 10.1177/0038038508091624
-
Giddens, A. (1992) The Transformation of Intimacy: Sexuality, Love and Eroticism in Modern Societies, Cambridge: Polity.
-
Greenhow, S., Hackett, S., Jones, C. and Meins, E. (2017) Adoptive family experiences of post-adoption contact in an internet era, Child and Family Social Work, 22(S1): 44–52. doi: 10.1111/cfs.12256
-
Gupta, A. and Featherstone, B. (2020) On hope, loss, anger and the spaces in between: reflections on living with adoption and the role of the social worker, Child and Family Social Work, 5(1): 165–72. doi: 10.1111/cfs.12674
-
Harlow, E. (2019) Defining the problem and sourcing the solution: a reflection on some of the organisational, professional and emotional complexities of accessing post-adoption support, Journal of Social Work Practice, 33(3): 269–80. doi: 10.1080/02650533.2018.1460588
-
Höjer, I. (2009) Birth parents’ perception of sharing the care of their child with foster parents, Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies, 4(2): 161–8.
-
Houston, S. (2002) Reflecting on habitus, field and capital: towards a culturally sensitive social work, Journal of Social Work, 2(2): 149–67. doi: 10.1177/146801730200200203
-
Iyer, P., Boddy, J., Hammelsbeck, R. and Lynch-Huggins, S. (2020) Contact Following Placement in Care, Adoption, or Special Guardianship: Implications for Children and Young People's Well-Being, Evidence Review, London: Nuffield Family Justice Observatory.
-
Jones, C. (2016) Openness in adoption: challenging the narrative of historical progress, Child and Family Social Work, 21(1): 85–93. doi: 10.1111/cfs.12113
-
Jones, C. and Hackett, S. (2011) The role of ‘family practices’ and ‘displays of family’ in the creation of adoptive kinship, The British Journal of Social Work, 41(1): 40–56. doi: 10.1093/bjsw/bcq017
-
Jones, C. and Hackett, S. (2012) Redefining family relationships following adoption: adoptive parents’ perspectives on the changing nature of kinship between adoptees and birth relatives, The British Journal of Social Work, 42(2): 283–99. doi: 10.1093/bjsw/bcr060
-
Jones, C., MacDonald, M. and Brooks, R. (2020) Post-adoption contact and adoptive parents’ receptiveness to direct contact in the four nations of the UK, Research briefing, June, https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/73284/1/Jones_etal_SWSP_2020_Post_adoption_contact_and_adoptive_parents_receptiveness_to_direct_contact_in_the_four_nations.pdf.
-
Long, M. (2014) Child Care Law Northern Ireland: A Summary, London: British Association for Adoption and Fostering.
-
MacDonald, M. (2017) ‘A picture of who we are as a family’: conceptualizing Post-adoption contact as practices of family display, Child and Family Social Work, 22(S1): 34–43. doi: 10.1111/cfs.12248
-
Morgan, D.H.J. (1996) Family Connections: An Introduction to Family Studies, Cambridge: Polity.
-
Morgan, D.H.J. (2011) Locating ‘family practices’, Sociological Research Online, 16(4): 1–9. doi: 10.5153/sro.2535
-
Morgan, D.H.J. (2013) Rethinking Family Practices, London: Palgrave Macmillan.
-
Morris, K., Mason, W., Bywaters, P., Featherstone, B., Daniel, B., Brady, G., Bunting, L., Hooper, J., Mirza, N., Scourfield, J. and Webb, C. (2018) Social work, poverty, and child welfare interventions, Child and Family Social Work, 23(3): 364–72.
-
Neil, E. (2006) Coming to terms with the loss of a child: the feelings of birth parents and grandparents about adoption and post-adoption contact, Adoption Quarterly, 10(1): 1–23. doi: 10.1300/J145v10n01_01
-
Neil, E., Beek, M. and Ward, E. (2014) Contact after Adoption: A Longitudinal Study of Adopted Young People and Their Adoptive Parents and Birth Relatives, London: British Association for Adoption and Fostering.
-
Plumtree, A. (2014) Child Care Law Scotland – A Summary, London: British Association for Adoption and Fostering.
-
Schofield, G., Moldestad, B., Höjer, I., Ward, E., Skilbred, D., Young, J. and Havik, T. (2011) Managing loss and a threatened identity: experiences of parents of children growing up in foster care, the perspectives of their social workers and implications for practice, The British Journal of Social Work, 41(1): 74–92. doi: 10.1093/bjsw/bcq073
-
Sen, A. (1983) Poor, relatively speaking, Oxford Economic Papers, 35(2): 153–69. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.oep.a041587
-
Silva, E.B. and Smart, C. (1999) The ‘new’ practices and politics of family life, in E.B. Silva and C. Smart (eds) The ‘New’ Family?, London: Sage, pp 1–12.
-
Smart, C. (2007) Personal Life, Cambridge: Polity.
-
Thoburn, J. (2005) Stability through adoption for children in care, in N. Axford, V. Berry, M. Little, and L. Morpeth (eds) Forty Years of Research, Policy and Practice in Children’s Services: A Festschrift for Roger Bullock, Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, pp 81–92.
-
Walker, R. (2014) The Shame of Poverty, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
-
Widmer, E.D. and Sapin, M. (2008) Families on the move: insights on family configurations of individuals undergoing psychotherapy, in E.D. Widmer and R. Jallinoja (eds) Beyond the Nuclear Family: Families in a Configurational Perspective, Bern: Peter Lang, pp 279–302.
-
Widmer, E.D., Castren, A.M., Jallinoja, R. and Ketokivi, K. (2008) Introduction, in E.D. Widmer and R. Jallinoja (eds) Beyond the Nuclear Family: Families in a Configurational Perspective, Bern: Peter Lang, pp 1–10.
-
Wilkinson, R.G. and Pickett, K. (2009) The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better, London: Allen Lane.
-
Wilson, S., Cunningham-Burley, S., Bancroft, A. and Backett-Milburn, K. (2012) The consequences of love: young people and family practices in difficult circumstances, The Sociological Review, 60(1): 110–28. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-954X.2011.02049.x
-
Wood, K. (2018) Families beyond boundaries: conceptualising kinship in gay and lesbian adoption and fostering, Child and Family Social Work, 23(2): 155–62. doi: 10.1111/cfs.12394
| May 2022 onwards | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 227 | 227 | 12 |
| Full Text Views | 161 | 161 | 2 |
| PDF Downloads | 149 | 149 | 3 |
We are a leading social science publisher
committed to making a difference.
Bristol University Press and
Policy Press
bristoluniversitypress.co.uk