The legal and administrative processes in adoption: views and experiences of newly formed adoptive families

Abstract

The early stages of adoptive placements are important in achieving successful long-term outcomes for adopted children and their families. This paper reports on findings from the Wales Adoption Study, in which adoptive parents shared their views and experiences of the legal and administrative processes in obtaining an adoption order. Parents described a range of difficulties that added to anxieties and delays. These arose mainly through poor communication about the steps in the legal process and avoidable administrative errors or oversights. Some parents also experienced lack of information and support regarding agreed contact arrangements and work with their child to help them make sense of their adoptive status.

Keywords:

• Adoption
• placement
• courts
• legal process
• local authorities
• post-adoption contact
• identity
• permanence

Acknowledgements

Our sincere thanks to the families for their contribution to the study. We also thank the staff from the local authority adoption teams in Wales, who kindly assisted with supplying case file records and supported recruitment of families to the study. We thank Janet Whitley for her research assistance and the Wales Adoption Study advisory group for their support and guidance. This study was funded by Health and Care Research Wales, a Welsh Government body that develops, in consultation with partners, strategy and policy for research in the NHS and social care.