AdoPt - Adoptive families’ strengths, difficulties and service needs: A Portuguese follow-up study
Creators: name: Barbosa-Ducharne, Maria
name: Soares, Joana
name: Palacios, Jesús
name: baptista, joana
name: Alves, Diana
name: Cruz, Orlanda
name: Abreu-Lima, Isabel
name: Canário, Catarina
name: Magalhães, Eunice
Publisher: name: Open Science Framework
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Social and Behavioral Sciences
subject: Adopted child
subject: Adoptee
subject: Adoption
subject: Adoption professionals
subject: Adoptive families
subject: Postadoption
subject: Practices
subject: Services
subject: Support

description: Adoptive families are part of the landscape of family diversity that characterizes contemporary societies. As in many other places, adoption in Portugal has recently undergone profound changes. In the past, adoption involved mainly babies with no history of early adversity and life in the adoptive family resembled conventional family life. In contrast, children are adopted in Portugal at an average age of 4 and after experiences of neglect and abuse in the family followed by institutional rearing. Overcoming the emotional and behavioural difficulties linked to these early adverse trajectories can be as challenging for the adoptee as it is for adopters to respond to the child’s needs and build new family relationships. Together with many positive experiences, adoption also brings stress and difficulties. Research on these matters in Portugal is currently very limited, with little or no response to some key questions. How do the emotional bonds that sustain family relationships emerge and unfold? How do problems emerge and develop? What are the main sources of satisfaction and stress for these families Where do they go for advice and support? How do things change as the adoptee reaches adolescence or approaches independence? How do adoption professionals respond to postadoption families’ needs? What difficulties do adoption professionals face in their practice? This research project - funded by FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (PTDC/SOC-ASO/4158/2020) - aims to provide in-depth knowledge on the post-adoption trajectories of Portuguese families and to establish solid foundations for the urgently needed and non-existent post adoption services. Adoption professionals, psychologists and social workers need this information to be aware of the needs of these families and to be able to respond effectively to their difficulties. The impetus and inspiration of this project partly comes from knowledge on adoption instability and breakdown. In Portugal, about one out of 15 preadoption placements is disrupted. In Europe, at least one out of 25 adoptions fails. International data show that around 1 in 4 adoptions go through major difficulties that threaten stability and permanence. This is not what children in need of a new family for life deserve and is not what adopters expect and want for their new family. Research is needed in Portugal to document the extent and timing of postadoption pathways and difficulties, as well as to establish a system to monitor children’s and families’ changing needs, so that effective support can be provided when necessary. These are the main goals of this research project. To achieve these purposes a cross sequential design is proposed, inspired by research on adoption instability and breakdown showing the relevance of both the child’s age at placement and the time-related changes thereafter. Three cohorts of 90 children each, adopted in 2013, 2016 and 2019, will be followed for three years with data collection times 12 months apart. Each cohort will include children adopted at ages 0-2, 3-5 and 6-10 (30 children per group), ensuring a final age-span of adoptees between 2 and 20 years. All adoption professionals across Portugal will be also invited to participate in the study.Through the established collaboration with the Institute of Social Security (ISS), families meeting the selection criteria will be identified and professionals will be recruited. Data will be collected online, using adopters and professionals as informants. In T2, data from a representative sub sample of 90 families will also be collected at in-home visits to cross-validate online data. The contents to be explored and the instruments to be used are within the expertise of the research team. Like the tools developed in other countries, a user-friendly online monitoring and follow-up system will be set up. Families will be provided with feedback and educational resources to keep them involved in the study. Those struggling with more intense difficulties will be referred to specialized services through a geo-referencing system. Moreover, in an innovative process of dissemination of findings and organized in collaboration with ISS, annual sessions with adoption professionals will provide the opportunity to share ongoing findings and design new services. The novel outcomes of the project pertain to three different domains. First, basic research. Adoption research in Portugal is still incipient, devoted only to some very specific issues and lacking an effort of wider breath and ambition, more in line with international research and with a social services perspective. Second, knowledge transfer. Since these families are formed through the child welfare system, the responsibility of the system is not only to form, but also to sustain them. For this, Portuguese child protection needs sound information about the changing needs of these families and the social and professional resources required to appropriately meet them. Third, development of professional tools. Postadoption follow -up in Portugal is now at best fragmentary and irregular. Adoption professionals need a well-established protocol that permits monitoring these children and families so as to be able to identify their needs and respond to them timely and efficiently.