Ten top tips on supporting adopters

The Ten Top Tips series considers some of the fundamental themes in child care practice in concise, practical guides ideal for busy practitioners.

Families who put themselves forward to adopt children who have suffered loss, abuse and trauma are frequently required to demonstrate extraordinary levels of emotional strength and resilience. Social workers need to understand the complex range of feelings that are engendered in these new family units, where strangers are brought together to learn how to be a family, how to be parents to a child who has endured emotional pain and rejection, and how to be a child who can trust adults to be reliable and nurturing.

This book explores some of the underpinning principles on which a successful support service for adopters depends. These include: respecting adopters and children; keeping positive and hopeful; having the courage to face sad and distressing feelings and bear the pain experienced by some children and their adopters; being resourceful and flexible in seeking appropriate support services for adoptive families; remaining child-centred and remembering that the child’s needs are paramount.

The book is intended for the wide range of social workers who become involved in supporting adoptive families, including children's social workers, adoption social workers, Adoption Support Service Advisors, children’s Guardians, and workers in other settings who need to understand something about the way adoption support services are delivered.

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