Costs and Outcomes of Non‐Infant Adoptions
| Published date | 01 December 2006 |
| Date | 01 December 2006 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/17466660200600034 |
| Pages | 79-80 |
| Author | Hugh McLaughlin |
| Subject Matter | Education,Health & social care,Sociology |
79
Journal of Children’s Services
Volume 1 Issue 4 December 2006
©Pavilion Journals (Brighton) Ltd
The authors set themselves an impressive challenge
with the title of this book, seeking to identify the costs
of non-infant adoptions and to compare these with
other forms of permanence. Our current knowledge of
adoption is primarily based on cohort studies of baby
placements – not older children who make up the
majority of children currently being adopted. The
research studied all children aged 3–11 years in a
former county council for whom a decision ‘adoption
in the best interests’ had been made in the period
1991–1996. These children were then followed up 6–11
years after the best interests decision had been made.
This represented a sample of 130 children whose care
careers weretracked and their carecosts identified.
Of these 130 children 96 had been adopted, 80 of
whom werestill living with their adoptivefamilies at
follow-up.Thirty-four children were in long-term foster
careor other long-term placements whilst the
remaining 16 had experienced numerous moves and
werenot in stable placements. The study involved
reviewing all the case files and tracing and interviewing
all the children’s current carers who agreed to be
interviewed. In speaking to the adopters and foster
carers the research team were able to identify the
carers’ life changes and emotional and financial costs.
From this information the authors displayed impressive
rigour in providing extensive detail on the three
different groups who had been identified for adoption.
The researchers sought to identify an average cost
for the differing outcomes for the three groups of
children. These costs were derived from 2001/2 values
and may thus be viewed as an underestimate but
nevertheless indicative in terms of relative proportion.
The average costs were £95,759 for the children still
adopted, £208,512 for those in long-term foster care
and £541,230 for those in unstable care. Having
identified the financial costs the research team tried
to link these to outcomes for the children. They found
‘no statistically significant differences between
fostered and the adopted children on the outcome
areas, apart from sexualised behaviour, although the
fostered group showed poorer outcomes on the rating
of attachment’ (p212). This would appear quite a
disappointing finding, although the authors do strike
anote of caution concerning those who are missing
from the follow-up, as 12 of the 14 ‘missing’ adoptive
children were free of conduct problems at the time of
the best interest decision, which may bias findings
against a positive difference in favour of adoption. It
should also be noted that children in the foster group
were not representative of those whose initial plan
was long-term fostering. Even if the outcomes showed
no significant difference, adoption can be seen to be
the moreeconomical option as it cost on average less
than half of long-term foster careand a fifth of the
average cost for unstable placements.
The book then goes on to identify a number of
policy and practice implications, which arebroadly in
supportof recent changes in adoption practice in the
UK(eg. improved post-adoption support). However,
possibly the most interesting partof the book for me
was the sub-text on the state of social work practice
as identified by the researchers. For example:
The data shows a considerable amount of social
work activity but this often fell short of what was
needed. It was seldom based on a comprehensive
assessment and was usually short term (p34).
There was little evidence the agencies co-
ordinated their efforts or shared their
knowledge (p35).
Only 10% of adopters were happy with the
guidance and supportthey received from their
social workers (p106).
…getting information from case files was
extremely time consuming. Recording was often
poor, with information sometimes seemingly
entered randomly. Case chronologies were
generally absent… (p240).
Book reviews
Costs and Outcomes of Non-Infant Adoptions
Julie Selwyn, Wendy Sturgess, David Quinton and Catherine Baxter
London: BAAF, 2006
305pp, £12.95 paperback
ISBN 1 903699 19 3
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