Contact: making good decisions for children in public law: Frontline Briefing (2024)

Part of Staying in touch: Contact after adoption.

This briefing is one of a suite of resources aimed at those involved in helping children stay in touch with their own history and with important people when they are fostered, adopted or in kinship care.

Introduction

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.
• A growing understanding of face-to-face visits as just one part of a wider approach to maintaining connection.
• The importance of professional support, communication and mutual respect between the adults involved and flexibility in response to changing circumstances and children’s wishes and feelings.
• The need for contact plans to be based on knowledge of the unique circumstances of each child, their family and carers as well as an understanding of trauma, identity, separation and loss.