Outcomes of Open Adoption from Care

“Adoption can create both a fundamental sense of hope and a profound sense of uncertainty, loss and grief. This book sets out the reality and detail of these issues in an inspiring and detailed way. We need to explore, reflect and learn from all that it tells us." – Dr John Simmonds OBE, CoramBAAF, UK

"This book helps to fill some gaps in research about the longer-term outcomes of children adopted from out-of-home care. It provides important insights about the value and challenges of open adoption." – Professor Judy Cashmore, University of Sydney, Australia

This Open Access book presents unique evidence from the first comprehensive study of the outcomes of open adoption from care in Australia. It contributes to the international debate concerning the advantages and disadvantages of face-to-face post adoption contact with birth families.

The chapters assess whether adoption provides a better chance of permanenceand more positive outcomes than long-term foster care for abused and neglected children in care who cannot safely return to their birth families. They also explore whether open adoption can avoid some of the detrimental consequences of past policies in which adoption was shrouded in secrecy and children frequently grew up with a conflicted sense of identity. The book will appeal to policy makers, practitioners and students of social policy, social work, the law, psychology and psychiatry. It should also be of interest to adult adoptees and adoptive parents, whose experiences it reflects.

Harriet Ward is an Honorary Research Fellow at the Rees Centre, University of Oxford and Emeritus Professor of Child and Family Research at Loughborough University, UK.

Lynne Moggach was Executive Specialist of Adoption at Barnardos Australia until she retired in 2019.

Susan Tregeagle was Senior Manager of Research and Advocacy at Barnardos Australia and Adjunct Senior Lecturer at the University of Sydney until she retired in 2019.

 Helen Trivedi is a Research Assistant at the Rees Centre, University of Oxford, UK.