Adopters' Experiences of Preparation to Parent Children with Serious Difficulties (Report‪)‬

Introduction As more has been learned about the short-term problems of children late placed from care, and the persistence of some difficulties long after placement (Rushton and Dance, 2006), it is clearly sensible, not to say essential, that all adopters receive appropriate preparation. Guidance about preparation, as set out in the Adoption Agencies Regulations (2005), is mostly concerned with information-providing about the nature of the adoption process and the legal procedures, and only brief mention is made of the skills necessary to be an adoptive parent (para 24, 2(d)). The details are left to the discretion of the agencies and, not surprisingly, they deliver a different balance of advice, information, training and psychological exploration.