Research reviews and summaries

Aimed at those involved in helping children keep in touch with their own history and with important people when they are fostered, adopted or in kinship care. The briefing summarises evidence in relation to:

• The recognition of the benefits of keeping in touch and the drive to modernise adoption. 

• Increased understanding of the potential challenges of contact in kinship and foster care.

• The opening up of new possibilities for digital communication following the pandemic.

• A growing understanding of face-to-face visits as just one part of a wider approach to maintaining connection, including digital communication and the exchange of information as well as life story work.

• The importance of professional support, communication and mutual respect between the adults involved.

• The need for flexibility in response to changing circumstances and that attention to children’s wishes and feelings. 

How children understand adoption over time

This guide is aimed at adoptive parents to help them understand how children and young people’s understanding of the meaning of adoption develops over time and what a move to a new family might mean at different age stages. The guide includes information on the following ages/stages: 

• Infants

• Pre-school 

• Middle childhood 

• Adolescence 

• Adulthood 

• Parenthood.

Practitioners are encouraged to share the guide with the adoptive families that they work with.