Pursuing the adoption pathway: the lived experiences of people living with HIV

Abstract

Pursuing the adoption pathway: The lived experiences of people living with HIV This exploratory study of 7 participants including individuals and couples, examined the challenges that people with HIV faced as they navigated through the intricate processes of trying to access adoption services in the south of England. In this Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) study, some participants described positive experiences with social workers. However, this was in the minority. Lack of information, inadequate support, stigma and discrimination, cultural insensitivity and disempowerment were frequently reported experiences of participants. Greater understanding and better education for social workers would enhance adoption assessment frameworks to improve access to adoption by people with HIV.

BRAC2eD model: An approach to de-bias decision-making in adoption assessments with prospective adopters from minoritised ethnic groups

“…The BRAC 2 eD model is a new framework proposed following some reflections on this author’s own work around anti-racist practice, HIV and adoption, direct practice and social work education (Cane, 2020; Cane, Vydellingum and Knibb, 2018). It is presented as a tool that can be used to support social workers’ decision-making processes when working with prospective adopters from minoritised ethnic backgrounds.…”

“…However it is important for social workers to be confident that they have assessed all requirements in line with the guidelines and to avoid developing further subjective unwritten rules and creating barriers that are biased, not aligned to proportionate decisions or to the best outcomes for children needing permanency. It is possible that there may be personality clashes, and social workers may feel threatened by the social status of the people they are assessing; in many ways, this may result in over-scrutiny, unreasonable interfering, skewed judgements and possible punitive decisions (Cane, Vydellingum and Knibb, 2018).…”

“…Further misunderstandings occur when applicants may be expected to disclose or omit certain aspects about themselves to ensure relevance and demonstrate suitability (Lind and Lindgren, 2017). For example, Cane, Vydellingum and Knibb (2018) found that although disclosing an HIV status implied openness, it also resulted in discrimination. Although a social worker sifts through the information gathered on potential adopters by omitting any unnecessary compromising details, this process is subjective and can be biased, tailored to suit a certain outcome or play the ‘panel game’ (e.g., presenting applicants as acceptable) (Lind and Lindgren, 2017; Wilson, 2020).…”

Recognising resilience factors among people living with HIV seeking to adopt

“…This allows them to rebuild their resources and pursue parenting. People living with HIV tend to return to specialist support services where they receive group, peer support or specialist reproductive counselling or advocacy services, demonstrating that they can endure challenging and complex systems with optimism (Cane, et al., 2018). It is expected that by the time they approach adoption services, they are positive about the assessment process and its intrusive nature.…”

“…A small number of researchers have begun to examine social work practice with regard to people living with HIV who wish to adopt children (Cane, 2017; Cane, Vydellingum and Knibb, 2018; Underhill, et al., 2016). In the UK, this author (Cane, 2017) explored how this particular group perceived the quality of inter-professional collaboration between adoption assessors and their specialist HIV clinicians or support workers from the HIV voluntary sector.…”