Assessing Adoptive Parents, Foster Carers and Kinship Carers ─ Improving Analysis and Understanding of Parenting Capacity

Assessing prospective adoptive parents, foster carers, kinship carers and special guardians is an extremely complex task, and one that happens within a pressurized time frame.Currently, assessments draw substantially on interviews, which can generate a lot of information but little analysis to enable professionals to establish a meaningful understanding of parenting capacity. Children with histories of trauma, loss and hurt need to join families in which parents exhibit the ability to be good at relationships, are able to manage their own stress and bond with the child in their care. Now fully updated and expanded to cover the assessment of kinship carers and special guardians, this book combines the latest findings from neuroscience with research on what makes good assessments and provides guidance and tools for making thorough, analytical and effective assessments. With contributions from leading experts including Dan Hughes, Jonathan Baylin, Kim Golding and Julie Selwyn, it will provide you with the information you need to ensure the best possible chance of placement success.

Joanne Alper is an experienced social worker and play therapist who has worked in local authority child care social work and child protection. In 2006 she was instrumental in setting up Adoptionplus as an Adoption Support Agency and then in 2008 as a Voluntary Adoption Agency specializing in the placement of children with high level needs. Joanne is currently Director of Services at Adoptionplus. David Howe PhD is Emeritus Professor of Social Work at the University of East Anglia, Norwich. He has practised, researched and taught in the field of child and family work, including adoption, for over 40 years.