Contact between Children Placed Away from Home and their Birth Parents: Research Issues and Evidence

Abstract

The importance of maintaining contact between children temporarily or permanently looked after away from their birth parents is now believed to be so important to their psychosocial development as to be written into the Children Act. This position has been argued both on the basis of the rights of children and birth parents and on the claimed strength of the research evidence concerning the positive effects of contact and the negative consequences of its absence. The quality of the research evidence is reviewed. It is concluded that evidence on either the beneficial or adverse effects of contact is not strong and that the design and/or analysis of existing studies contain a number of weaknesses that preclude clear research-based guidance to practitioners.

Reunifying abused or neglected children: Decision-making and outcomes

“…Some children were more likely to be returned home than others. Reunification was less likely if they had experienced neglect, had learning disabilities, did not want to return or where contact with birth parents was infrequent, although the frequency of contact is likely to be a proxy for other factors such as parent motivation and the quality of the parent -child relationship (Biehal, 2007;Quinton, Rushton, Dance, & Mayes, 1997).…”

The Role of 'Family Practices' and 'Displays of Family' in the Creation of Adoptive Kinship

“…The introduction of an ethic of "openness" in adoption has proved to be controversial and has been much debated in the literature (Quinton et al, 1997;Quinton and Selwyn, 1998;Ryburn, 1998Ryburn, , 1999. Recognition of the importance of the concept of openness owes much to the work of Kirk (1964) who highlighted the value of open communication about adoption within the adoptive family.…”

Adoption with contact: a study of adoptive parents and the impact of continuing contact with families of origin

“…Ryburn (1994) also drew optimistic conclusions from his postal questionnaire of adopters known to have been involved in contested adoptions. Quinton et al (1997), on a more cautious note, highlighted the empirical limitations of all the research to date. Larger scale studies are continuing, and Lowe et al (1999) after collecting data from 226 families, emphasized the importance of adopters being positive about contact for it to be experienced as beneficial.…”