Barriers to Adoption?: Variations in the Use of Adoption by Local Authorities

Abstract

Political and media interest in adoption in the last few years in Britain coincided with a research project set up jointly by the North-West Group of Voluntary Adoption Agencies and Liverpool John Moores University. The origins of the research lie in the concerns of the voluntary adoption agencies about the use of their services by local authorities in the light of their own records, which indicated very variable patterns of use. The aim of the research was to investigate these apparent anomalies in the use of adoption services and explore the reasons for the differences. A large range of possible factors was involved — structural, political and organisational, as well as professional and personal issues. In this paper Derek Clifford, with support from Beverley Burke, Norman Goodwin, Lindsay Amuzu and Simon Ward, reflects on barriers to the use of adoptive placements by local authorities, with particular but not exclusive reference to the north-west.