Take part in the DofE study about adoptive and special guardianship families

[onlytherain]

Some of you might be interested in taking part in this study https://familyroutes.ipsos.com

Family Routes Study > Home Tell us about the experiences and needs of adoptive and special guardianship families in England.

This is a new ground-breaking study funded by the Department of Education and it’s all about adoptive and special guardianship families.

We want to hear from you if you are a parent, special guardian, young person (12-17 years) or young adult (18-25 years) who came to live with your new family from foster or residential care. We need to learn more about your experiences of growing up, how things change and what support can be helpful so the government can try and improve the lives of families like yours in future.

From February 2024, you can register to take part in the research if you live in England and one of the following is true for you:

1. You are an adoptive parent or special guardian of a young person aged 12-25 years who came to live with you from foster or residential care in England.

2. You are aged 12-25 and left care on an Adoption or Special Guardianship Order. Please note young people aged 12-17-years will need consent from an adoptive parent or special guardian before they can take part.

Taking part will give you a voice. It is so important! What you tell us can make a real difference. To find out more about the study, visit our FAQ page.

There are two ways to take part

You can choose to tell us about your experiences and views through either …

A family interview, with parents, special guardians and young people. This will last up to 2 hours with parents/carers, and around one hour with young people. Your family can choose to do the interview in person, via a video call or on the phone.

Or

An online survey only which will take around 30 minutes for parents/carers and around 20 minutes for young people.

You’ll be asked about different things including:

You and your family
Important relationships
Experiences with school/college
Health and wellbeing
The help you and your family need and have received
How you feel about family life
There will be time or space at the end for you to tell us anything else you would like to.

Everyone who takes part will receive a thank you voucher of up to £20 (£20 for taking part in a family interview, £10 if you complete the online survey only).

We want to hear from people with very different experiences – whether your family is thriving or struggling. We want to hear from families if your young person is no longer living with you and directly from you, if you are a young person.

We want the results to represent the experiences of all types of families in England. The more families and young people that take part, the stronger and more useful the evidence will be.

Sign up to take part

Step one:

Send an email with your name and phone number to [email protected] or ring us on 08081759341 to let us know you are interested in taking part in this research.

Step two:

We will ring you to chat about taking part.
On the call we will ask a bit about you and your family to make sure we get to speak to a mix of families (things like if you are from an adoptive or special guardianship family, your age, your ethnicity, how many children are in the family and their ages, and how well or not family life is going right now).
You can ask any questions you might have.
You can confirm if you’d be happy to take part in a family interview or an online survey only.

The research findings and published reports will be anonymous and will not identify you or your family. No personal information will be passed to anyone outside the research team. All responses will remain confidential unless you say something indicating that you or someone else is at risk of harm.

Find out more information about the research.

Thank you for your help with this really important research. We are so grateful.

Thank you for sharing.

But what a faff. If they want an online survey, do that. Multiple hoops for £10? What struggling adopter has space for that?

Thanks for sharing @onlytherain I am currently at various stages of crisis as I navigate the teen years with DD who is struggling. I think I will have lots to say in this survey!

You really should get views from older people who were adopted, so that you get views from people who have had time to reflect, have had children of their own, have dealt with relationship issues with various relatives related to adoption, greater maturity and so able to put things in context in a different way to younger adults and children. Time does not stop at 25, and there will be adopted families with adult children still having to deal with adoption related issues some 30, 40, 50 years on.

There are a few adopters in the DofE, how independent is the group who will be analysing and reporting on the findings?

I won't be responding to any replies to this post, but please do open this research to adults of all ages.

Agree wholeheartedly. Adoptees voices are rarely heard. No study in adoption/sgo should be allowed without the adoptee, the one who's life is most affected by this.

@oldergamethanthis I am not involved in this study in a professional capacity. I am an adopter.

@solongandthanksforallthedish I think they are trying to get a representative sample. The interview takes 2 hours and the questions are open, so participants can say what they want to say. Things will only change, if adopters take part in these studies and make their needs clear.

I understand concerns about the limits of this study but we can’t cover the whole lifespan in a single study. We want to understand more about needs and experiences as young people become adults. I led the Beyond the Adoption order study,that you may have heard about which did have a positive impact. We have heard from lots of adopters but not special guardians or from young people. So if your thinking about registering do give us a ring.

Many adoptees aren't ready to talk or are able to explain properly how adoption has affected their Iives till much older than twenty five. What's so groundbreaking about this study? Not being obtuse but please explain.

Also, the brain's frontal lobe, particularly the prefrontal cortex isn't full developed till about 25. Around thirty five (I think) for neuro divergent people.

The development of the pre-frontal cortex of the frontal lobe allows people to process the pros and cons of a decision before it is made.

You need to expand the study to include adoptees of any age in my opinion. I am an adoptee.

Why can't a study cover all ages? What's so impractical or difficult about that? After all, adoption is a life long situation for all adoptees.

I'm afraid I'm also, sadly, in the camp of no time or headspace to engage with these hoops. I am a solo adopter who works school hours from home, with a child who only attends school for a couple of hours a day. I'm in a time deficit for the basics before you factor in the admin that goes with a child who is struggling to access education, running the house and keeping the little guy entertained.

Hi The study is focused on what families and young people need as they move through adolescence and into adulthood. It is groundbreaking because previous studies only went up to age 15yrs and none have considered the needs of special guardians and young people at these older ages. We are already hearing from parents/carers that adult services have little understanding of trauma or the long term effects of maltreatment. We are gathering the evidence to inform the Department for Education's policy makers.