Facilitating Meaningful Contact in Adoption and Fostering: A Trauma-Informed Approach to Planning, Assessing and Good Practice

218 Pages·2014·1.61 MB·English

by  Louis Sydney

Facilitating Meaningful Contact
in Adoption and Fostering
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Facilitating Meaningful Contact
in Adoption and Fostering
A Trauma-Informed Approach to Planning,
Assessing and Good Practice
LOUIS SYDNEY, ELSIE PRICE and ADOPTIONPLUS
Jessica Kingsley Publishers
London and Philadelphia
Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and to obtain their permission
for the use of copyright material. The author and the publisher apologize for any
omissions and would be grateful if notified of any acknowledgements that should be
incorporated in future reprints or editions of this book.
First published in 2014
by Jessica Kingsley Publishers
73 Collier Street
London N1 9BE, UK
and
400 Market Street, Suite 400
Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA
www.jkp.com
Copyright © Louis Sydney, Elsie Price and Adoptionplus Limited 2014
Foreword copyright © Kim Golding 2014
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form
(including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether
or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the
written permission of the copyright owner except in accordance with the provisions of
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by
the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N
8TS. Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part
of this publication should be addressed to the publisher.
Warning: The doing of an unauthorised act in relation to a copyright work may result
in both a civil claim for damages and criminal prosecution.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Sydney, Louis.
Facilitating meaningful contact in adoption and fostering : a trauma-informed
approach to planning,
assessing and good practice / Louis Sydney, Elsie Price and Adoptionplus.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-84905-508-6 (alk. paper)
1. Adoption. 2. Foster parents. 3. Birthparents. 4. Child development. I. Title.
HV875.S95 2014
362.73’3--dc23
2014006408
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 84905 508 6
eISBN 978 0 85700 924 1
Printed and bound in Great Britain
Contents
Foreword by Kim S. Golding .......................................9
About Adoptionplus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1 Introduction ......................................................17
Contact today ...........................................18
Attachment theory .......................................21
Neuroscience and attachment ...............................22
Adoption and attachment ..................................24
Contact research .........................................26
Triangles and quadrangles – relationships in adoption and
foster care ...........................................27
Contact and the internet ...................................34
Contact in foster care .....................................37
A psychological approach to thinking about and supporting
recovery ............................................40
2 How to Facilitate Contact ........................................43
Preparation: working with and supporting birth parents ..........44
How to prepare ..........................................45
3 Understanding the Significance of Attachment and
Neuroscience for Baby and Toddler Contact....................... 51
Travelling to and from contact ..............................53
Interventions ............................................56
The environment for contact ................................61
Birth parents and mentalisation .............................62
4 Contact during the Transition from Care Order to Permanency ....64
The birth parent’s long goodbye .............................65
The child’s long goodbye… ................................67
The role of the professional ................................69
Preparing for the time to say goodbye ........................70
Preparing birth parents for ‘goodbye for now’ contact ............75
Other good practice ideas ..................................76
Contact between birth and adoptive parents ...................77
5 Contact with Foster Carers: Moving from Foster Care
into Adoption................................................... 80
Dealing with separation and loss ............................81
Building on the child’s developing sense of safety ...............83
Preparing for adoption ....................................84
Reflections for professionals, foster carers and adoptive parents .....91
The foster carer’s change in role .............................92
6 Letterbox Contact................................................94
The potential for letterbox contact to support the child’s
understanding of their birth or ‘genetic’ identity .............99
The potential for letterbox contact to reassure children about
the birth family’s wellbeing ............................104
Contact from birth family members can reassure the child that
the family still thinks about them and cares for them ........107
Taking responsibility and apologising .......................110
Supporting adoptive parents ...............................113
Helping to process birth family history ......................114
Providing positive messages of acceptance ....................115
Birth siblings and the role of letterbox contact. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .116
Potential risks in the exchange of photographs ................119
Practice guidance .......................................121
Resourcing letterbox contact ..............................126
Options in decision making ...............................127
7 Contact Using Video Messages ..................................129
Key aspects of video contact ...............................139
Safety ................................................140
8 Sibling Relationships and Facilitating Sibling Contact ........... 141
The significance of sibling relationships ......................141
Supporting and facilitating contact between siblings ............143
Contact between siblings following disrupted placements or
where one sibling is in care ............................154
9 Contact for Adopted Children with Adoptive Parents who have
Separated or Divorced...........................................160
10 Where Contact is not Possible: Contact for Children who are
not Able to Meet their Birth Parents or Family ...................165
A framework for facilitating the reading of letters to birth parents
with whom there can be no contact ......................174
11 Contact with Young People...................................... 175
12 Contact in Kinship Care..........................................183
The impact of neglect and maltreatment ......................184
Appendix: Developmental Stages of
Understanding and Adjustment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Endnotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210