Adoption and Fostering in Scotland.

Hill, Malcolm

Adoption and Fostering in Scotland

Gary Clapton and Pauline Hoggan

Dunedin 2012 107 pages 16.50 [pounds sterling]

This book covers the same two topics as this journal, with a focus on the Scottish context, so anyone reading this review will find much of interest. The authors provide a concise account of current Scottish legislation and policy, though the publication timetable meant that the Children's Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011 is not dealt with. The writers also draw on their extensive experience and contacts to illuminate the origins of present-day issues and dilemmas. Central features of recent policy and service provision in Scotland are clearly identified, though a few important developments are missing, such as organisations that previously specialised in residential care entering the fostering field and the modified form of permanency planning being pioneered in Glasgow, based on the New Orleans model. Clapton and Hoggan rightly emphasise the significance of the Permanence Order introduced by the Adoption (Scotland) Act 2007. This measure aims to achieve legal security and provide a viable prelude to adoption. Various attempts have been made to do the same in the past, including custody (custodianship), freeing and parental rights orders, so--as the authors suggest--it will be interesting to see if the Permanence Order proves more successful. The 2007 Act also allows adoption by unmarried heterosexual and gay couples.

A further strength of the book is the way key lessons from research findings and feedback from children and carers are distilled and integrated with the themes addressed. A short review is provided of evidence about outcomes, much of it published in this journal or in BAAF publications. While the authors in general support the recurrent wish of policy-makers for increased use of adoption, they also rightly emphasise the significant number of disruptions that follow adoptive placements of older children.

Thought-provoking comments are made about contact between fostered and adopted children and birth family members. Social work roles and practice are mentioned, but could have been developed more, especially in relation to foster care. The book is aimed at students as well as practitioners and carers, but they, their supervisors and tutors will find it somewhat light on theory, apart from brief mentions of attachment, resilience and filial deprivtion.

Two aspects are dealt with in most depth, namely kinship care and the implications of adoption in later life. These chapters would make worthwhile reading even for people not based or interested in Scotland, since the issues are universal and much non-Scottish research is cited, especially with regard to the experiences of adopted adults and birth family members. For example, the chapter on kinship care (written not by the main authors but by Maggie Mellon) shows well the changed status of this form of care, symbolised by its renaming. Fostering by relatives, as it used to be known, grew out of traditional arrangements within kin networks and local authorities' stances towards it were haphazard and often neglectful, despite evidence of need for financial and other kinds of support in many instances. Kinship care now sits within a more supportive and consistent policy framework. The Scottish government has provided strong leadership, encouraging better support and recognition. As Mellon indicates, however, there remain differences between kin carers whose children are legally 'looked after' and those who are not.

In accord with the series of which this book is a part, the style is accessible, though the introduction could have been more inviting for readers who are relatively new to the subject. The first few pages contain lists of (mainly government) publications and agencies, definitions and services. Although these are useful, a more engaging way of showing the significance of the subject matter could have involved highlighting interesting issues or even providing some case examples. The structure of the first half of the book results in certain matters being mentioned briefly several times rather than in an integrated way.

This volume is intended to be introductory and so will be of particular value to students, new carers and professionals, especially in Scotland, but those elsewhere could benefit from the more thematic material. An extensive list of references points the way for those who wish to examine particular issues in more detail.

Malcolm Hill is Research Professor, Glasgow School of Social Work, University of Strathclyde, Scotland