'Adoption & Fostering' journal

Adoption & Fostering is the only quarterly peer-reviewed journal dedicated to adoption, fostering and kinship issues. Over the years, it has gained an international reputation as one of the world’s leading sources of knowledge for academics, practitioners and all those concerned with childcare practice and research.

Edited by Dr Dennis Golm, Adoption & Fostering is published by SAGE on behalf of CoramBAAF.

CoramBAAF Conversations

This episode of the Adoption and Fostering Journal Podcast introduces the April 2026 issue, offering key insights for academics and social work professionals. Editor-in-Chief Dennis Golm discusses a major randomised controlled trial on the Reflective Fostering Programme, highlighting its impact on carers’ reflective functioning, stress, and burnout, while noting more mixed findings for child outcomes. The discussion emphasises the importance of evidence-based interventions in foster care. 

The episode also explores research on conduct difficulties in children in care, comparisons between local authority and independent fostering provision in the UK, and international perspectives on adoption. Studies from the United States and Pakistan examine birth mothers’ motivations for adoption and the impact of stigma on adopted adolescents.

Watch the conversation

Volume 50 (Issue 2, April 2026)

Editorial

Time to reflect! Effects of reflective functioning interventions on foster carers and the children in their care
Dennis Golm

Articles

The Reflective Fostering Programme – Improving the wellbeing of children in care through a group intervention for foster carers: A randomised controlled trial
Nick Midgley, Karen Irvine, Sheila Redfern, Jamie Murdoch, Caroline Smith, Sarah Byford, David Wellsted, Erika Sims, Emily Rayfield, Poushali Ganguli, Antony Colles, Benita Pursch, Beth Rider, Eva Sprecher, Antonella Cirasola, Hannah Hopson, Arshia Choudhury, Shayma Izzidien, Rachael Stemp, Alay Rangel, Rebecca Flanagan, Caroline Cresswell, Lee Shepstone

Exploring conduct difficulties amongst middle-aged children living in care
Katharine Anderson, Saul Hillman, Theodora Manolopoulou, Richard Cross

Comparing the needs of children in independent agency and local authority foster care in the UK
Miriam Silver, Kelly Chan, Ailsa McGrath, Saul Hillman

Deciding on adoption: Birth mothers’ motivations
Ryan Hanlon, Nicole Davi, Eun Koh, Laura Daughtery, Jude Ozughen

Social stigma, internalised shame and psychological struggles in adopted adolescents: A mediated model
Tauqeer Abdullah

Legal Notes

Northern Ireland

CoramBAAF Members also have free access to the following journals: