Concurrent Planning: A Retrospective Study of the Continuities and Discontinuities of Care,and Their Impact on the Development of Infants and Young Children Placed for Adoption by the Coram Concurrent Planning Project

Abstract

This study by Jenny Kenrick looks at the impact on children of the intensive contact with birth parents that is an integral part of concurrent planning (CP) placements. While there is an assumption of the benefits of continuity and of a reduction in numbers of placements for infants, there can also be discontinuities caused by the frequency of contact sessions and separations from carers. CP carers of 27 children who were later adopted and of one who was rehabilitated to birth parents reflected retrospectively on the experience of contact for the infants. For these children, concurrent planning achieved early placements — the majority by five months of age — that led to permanency. Any discontinuities at the time seemed to be compensated for in the long term by the attachments to their CP carers. Some recommendations to reduce the effects of the discontinuities are considered in relation to particular stages in the emotional development of the infants.