‘Adoption is in crisis’ was the headline of one of our recent guest blogposts, but are things getting better? Blogs from Patch, Al Coates, Maude Champagne and even Amity Solutions got us thinking about the importance of support and understanding for adoptive families.
Within the UK, the support offered to families through the lack of clarity, and eventual reduction in funding for the Adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF) has been a topic of significant concern over the past 12 months. This fund was once a lifeline for those living with traumatised children who were often dysregulated, distressed, and/or seeking to control the only thing they could, their adoptive or wider families. Once entitling children to up to £3,000 per year for specialist therapies, this funding has reduced by 40% after months of concerns that it was to be removed altogether.
The ADGSF is the perfect example of when academia, practice and families come together to create change. Julie Selwyn’s report, ‘Beyond the Adoption Order’ highlighted that parents fearing for their own safety, and the safety of other children in the household was the leading cause of adoption ‘breakdown’; creating a platform for parent-activists to share their experience, and evidence which mobilised (and funded) social work systems to provide the essential support to keep families together and reduce harm. However, what has been clear from our recent blog contributors is how these harms are being experienced by adoptive and kinship parents globally.
Adoption is a rupture for a child, regardless of when it occurs in their life, or how wonderful and informed their adoptive parents may be, many children experience on-going trauma because of this rupture. This means adoptive parents are more likely to experience harm from their child than not (see Al Coates Churchill report). It is essential that support systems act to ensure parents and wider family members are supported so they can support their child(ren). As highlighted by Maude Champagne, too often guidance around what a family may need are hidden behind the paywalls of academic journals and drowning in academic wording that makes no sense to a practitioner.
Work such as Maude’s ‘decoding aggression’, and Al’s Churchill Fellowship illuminate the need for robust support systems and, most importantly, understanding. Understanding can come from peers and formal systems of peer support, it can come from professionals who understand the complex neurological, developmental, and environmental interactions that occur to increase vulnerability to this form of harm. Understanding these interactions and needs are often placed under the umbrella of ‘being trauma-informed’, however this is very much a ‘buzz word’ at present. What does being ‘trauma-informed’ actually mean? As Fiona Wells and the Patch Steering group highlight, being trauma-informed is only one part of the parenting and professional journey; support and care must also be trauma responsive and recovery focused (for a full list of their recommendations, see: http://www.ourpatch.org.uk).
Is adoption in crisis? Yes. The global picture is there are fewer adoptive parents, more children waiting for adoptive parents, and the complexity of needs is increasing, with huge gaps in knowledge and service provision. Are things getting better? Yes. This arena needs more people and teams like Al, Maude, and Fiona and the Patch group. Our bloggers this series demonstrate how lived experience, alongside research and practise knowledge, can be combined; creating resources and recommendations which could make a genuine impact on their lives of adoptive and special guardian families.
Nikki Rutter
HOLES IN THE WALL 