Professor Julie Selwyn - inaugural lecture
School for Policy Studies
Wednesday 20 November at 6 pm
Reception Room, Wills Memorial Building, Queen's Road, BS8 1RJ
If you require additional support for any of the lectures, e.g. wheelchair access or sign language interpretation, please contact Nicola Fry at the earliest opportunity and we will endeavour to meet your request.
Risk and protective factors in adoption of children out of care
Adoption has changed dramatically since the 1970s. Placement of babies born out of wedlock has virtually ended and instead adoption is now used as an intervention for children in the care system. Children placed for adoption have usually been maltreated and are very vulnerable. It thought that by changing the family environment to one that provides warm and loving care, the poor outcomes associated with child abuse and neglect can be averted. Government has been very keen to promote the use of adoption and the numbers placed out of care has been rising. Yet, concerns remain that adoption services are not fit for purpose, as the children being placed today carry so many risks to their healthy development. In this lecture, we will consider what we have learnt over the past 20 years about whether the considerable odds stacked against abused children can be beaten by placing with an adoptive family.