Foster and adoptive mothers' assessment of permanent family placements
Newcastle City Health NHS
Trust, Newcastle upon Tyne
Correspondence to: Dr Joy S Holloway, Newcastle City Health NHS Trust, Division of Community Health, East Paediatric Team, Shieldfield Health Centre, 4 Clarence Walk, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 3AN.
Accepted 29 October 1996
OBJECTIVES
To obtain the new carers' evaluation
of the success of permanent placement of children within their families
and any special needs in the children, and to determine the adequacy of
support after placement.
DESIGNA postal questionnaire was sent to the
foster or adoptive mothers of a five year cohort of 234 children placed
for permanence, three to eight years previously, by one local authority.
SETTINGNewcastle upon Tyne Social Services
Adoption and Fostering Unit.
SUBJECTSAll 234 permanent family placements
recommended by the family placement panel from 1 January 1986 to 31 December 1990.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREThe adoptive or foster
mothers' evaluation of the placement.
RESULTSThere was a 54% response rate, but the
respondents did not differ significantly from the non-respondents in
the variables tested. Only 33% of the children were placed when less
than 2 years old with no special needs. Twenty per cent of the school age children had statements of special educational needs at placement. Ninety seven per cent of infant placements were rated `very
successful' for the child by the new mothers, as were 90% of 1-6
year olds, but only 31% of children who were placed when older than 6 years were rated in this way. A third of the adoptive and foster
mothers had experienced major difficulties in the placement and six
carers said that more medical/psychiatric input would have prevented breakdown.
CONCLUSIONSThere is a role for health care
professionals to provide ongoing support, especially for older children
with special needs.
© 1997 by Archives of Disease in Childhood
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
-
Holloway, J. S
(1997). Outcome in placements for adoption or long term fostering. Arch. Dis. Child.
76: 227-230
[Abstract] [Full Text]
- Full Text
- Full Text (PDF)
- Submit a response
- Alert me when this article is cited
- Alert me when eLetters are posted
- Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
- Email this link to a friend
- Similar articles in ADC Online
- Similar articles in PubMed
- Add article to my folders
- Download to citation manager
- Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Google Scholar
PubMed
Topic Collections
Bookmark with
Register for free content
The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.
Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.
