This report has been completed as one part of the study Permanently Progressing? Building secure futures for children in Scotland. The study is the first in Scotland to investigate decision making, permanence, progress, outcomes and belonging for children who became ‘looked after’ at home, or were placed away from their birth parents (with kinship carers, foster carers or prospective adoptive parents) when they were aged five and under.
Phase One of the research ran from 2014-18 and was designed to be the first phase in a longitudinal mixed methods study following a large cohort of young children into adolescence and beyond. It is anticipated that Phase Two will commence in 2020. Phase One of the research was fully funded by a legacy and was undertaken by a team from the universities of Stirling, York, and Lancaster, in conjunction with Adoption and Fostering Alliance (AFA) Scotland. This phase of the study had five strands.
This report presents findings from the fifth strand, Perspectives on kinship care, foster care and adoption: the voices of children, carers and adoptive parents (the Children and carers strand), which heard directly from children about their experiences. Play and talk sessions took place with a sample of 10 children aged between three and eight years, and 20 kinship carers, foster carers, and adoptive parents were interviewed. The focus was what helped children feel secure, and what carers/adoptive parents said they needed to enable them to meet children’s needs.
