Unfinished Business — The Experience of a Birth Mothers' Group

Jenny Jackson writes about an informal group-work service offered by Support After Adoption for birth mothers whose children have been in care and then adopted. The service described in this article began in 1998 in Nottingham and is now being extended to the Mansfield area. Jackson outlines the background informing the development of this service, including links with other agencies working in this way, the options considered and chosen, and the aims and value base of the service finally offered. She describes the composition and process of the group as it developed and the themes which emerged. Finally, she offers workers' and participants' evaluations of what these birth mothers gained from the group, highlights some of the learning outcomes for Support After Adoption and considers ways in which the team hopes to take this work forward.

“…It also parallels many of the experiences of relinquishing birth mothers (Scourfield and Hendry, 1991;Harris and Whyte, 1999).…”

Section: Reflections On Their Situation After Adoptionmentioning

confidence: 58%

Developing a Post-Adoption Groupwork Service for Non-Consenting Birth Mothers

Jackson

2000

“…Their pregnancy and the removal of their children were often not discussed within their families or communities, and little or no support was available from helping professionals (Carr, 2007). Mothers were encouraged to ‘act as though nothing unusual has happened’ (Scourfield and Hendry, 1991: 40). In the UK, the Adoption and Children Act 2002 increased birth relatives’ rights to support services when their children are adopted (Department of Health, 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘My children are my world’: Raising the voices of birth mothers with substantial experience of counselling following the loss of their children to adoption or foster care

Morgan

Nolte

Rishworth³

et al. 2019

There is very little published literature on 'what works' in terms of support for birth mothers following the loss of their children to compulsory adoption or foster care. The aim of this paper is to raise the voices of a group of birth mothers, an historically stigmatised, powerless and neglected group, with substantial experience of such counselling. A user of services and expert by experience was recruited to join the research team and was consulted at all stages of the research process. Five birth mothers were interviewed regarding their experiences of counselling with a counselling service for birth relatives post-child removal. These interviews were systematically analysed using an IPA methodology through the lens of the research question: What are the experiences of birth mothers who engage in person-centred counselling following the loss of a child or children to compulsory adoption or foster care? Three master themes were constructed from the data, namely From feeling alone, judged and let down…to feeling part of a special relationship, "The Healing Process" and "My Children are my world". The clinical invitations extended by these findings are discussed.

“…Such experiences resulted in a number of adopted adults lobbying for information from birth families to be available during childhood to avoid the developing of fantasies and receiving false information. It was clear that the physical, mental and emotional wellbeing of many women had been undermined by the lack of even knowing whether their 'lost' child was alive and well or not (Scourfield et al, 1991).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Nottinghamshire's Letterbox Contact Service

Rajan

Lister

1998

Pat Rajan and Liz Lister offer their views on the letterbox scheme which has been operating within Nottinghamshire's Support After Adoption team since June 1994. This confidential service aims to maintain links between adoptive parents and birth families once an adoption order has been granted. Rajan and Lister begin by outlining the background to the service's development, including the collection of information from consumers via national organisations. They describe concerns about confidentiality and recruitment of adopters, and discuss the criteria for selecting birth families most likely to respond to the scheme. By and large careful attention, both to the establishment of the letterbox service and to the selection of families who use it, has led to its success.