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Quasi-autistic patterns following severe early global privation. English and Romanian Adoptees (ERA) Study Team
1999 · United Kingdom; Romania (origin)
Assessments at ages four and six compared 111 children adopted into UK families from Romania with 52 UK domestic adoptees. Some Romanian adoptees showed autistic-like patterns, and others showed milder features; these patterns were absent in the comparison sample. Autistic-like features were associated with longer deprivation and greater cognitive impairment, although some features improved by age six.
Race, Adoption and Tomorrow's Social Workers
1998 · United Kingdom (regional recruitment not established)
A questionnaire study examined social-work students’ attitudes towards race and adoption. Respondents were mainly second-year students specialising in children and families. Views differed widely, with overall qualified support for same-race adoption. Minority ethnic students were more likely than white students to support same-race placements.
Reactive Attachment Disorder in UK children looked after
2023 · United Kingdom
The thesis includes a review of attachment among non-institutionalised fostered and adopted children, development of measures of reactive attachment difficulties, studies of UK children in care and intervention feasibility work. The review found secure attachment comparable with normative samples, but more disorganisation than normative samples and less than institutionalised samples.
Reasoning between Rules and Discretion: A Comparative Study of the Normative Platform for Best Interest Decision-Making on Adoption in England and Norway
2021 · England; Norway
The researcher analysed 29 English and 29 Norwegian judgments about adoption from care, examining how decisions about children’s best interests were justified. Qualitative content analysis found similar underlying considerations across the countries, alongside differences in how they were applied. English judgments contained more explicit deliberation, but reasoning varied in both countries. The study examines recorded judicial reasoning rather than children’s later outcomes.
Recruiting Adoptive Families: The Costs of Family Finding and the Failure of the Inter-Agency Fee
2011 · England
Researchers compared adoption expenditure in English local authorities and voluntary adoption agencies. Average costs, including overheads, were similar across sectors and exceeded the inter-agency fee. The paper examines how funding arrangements affected family finding for children; it does not measure adoptees’ wellbeing.
Releasing pre-adoption birth records: a survey of Oregon adoptees
2002 · United States
Adult adoptees who obtained original birth records after Oregon opened access were studied. Common motivations included finding birth parents and obtaining medical information; many received less information than expected, but most still considered the records useful.
Report on a Longitudinal Research Project, Exploring the Development of Attachments between Older, Hard-To-Place Children and Their Adopters over the First Two Years of Placement
2004 · United Kingdom
This report describes a two-year study of 63 children adopted at ages 4–8 into 42 families after separation, neglect or abuse. A comparison group comprised 48 children adopted before 12 months. Researchers examined child attachment and psychological development, adopter attachment measures and school progress. The reviewed abstract outlines the study but does not report the direction or size of its findings.
Retention schedules for records of care-experienced and adopted people held by organisations in England and Wales: Final report
2025 · England / Wales
Desk research and three November 2024 focus groups examined adoption and care records and preservation arrangements. Twenty-four people attended, mainly professionals, including three with experience requesting their own records. Participants identified important material beyond individual case files and difficulties with responsibility for older records, agency changes and digital preservation.
Reviewing the history of domestic adoption for racially minoritised children in the United Kingdom: Over half a century of controversy
2026 · United Kingdom
A desk-based historical review examines adoption of racially minoritised children in the UK. It traces changing legal frameworks, policy, practice and research, including debates about ethnic matching and transracial adoption. The analysis situates these changes within migration, mixed-heritage families and wider race relations.
Risk of eating disorders in international adoptees
2020 · Sweden
Swedish registers compared more than 25,000 international adoptees with over two million non-adoptees, examining anorexia and other eating disorders alongside psychiatric diagnoses. It broadens adoption mental-health research beyond commonly studied diagnoses.
Risk of Suicide Attempt in Adopted and Nonadopted Offspring
2013 · United States
In 692 adopted and 540 non-adopted young people, reported suicide attempts were more common among adoptees. Adjustment for psychiatric symptoms, personality, family environment and academic disengagement reduced but did not remove the association.
Same-sex adoptive families’ journey through education: a multi-perspective interpretative phenomenological analysis study
2022 · England
This doctorate includes an exploratory qualitative study of adopted young people and gay or lesbian adoptive parents in the East of England. Online semi-structured interviews examined educational journeys and support received. The repository abstract describes the design but does not report the empirical themes or findings.
Scholastic attainment following severe early institutional deprivation: a study of children adopted from Romania
2007 · United Kingdom; Romania (origin)
Researchers compared school attainment at age eleven in 127 Romanian institution-reared adoptees and 49 UK domestic adoptees. Attainment was lower on average in the Romanian group, particularly among those with at least six months of institutional care. Statistical analyses linked much of the difference to IQ and, to a lesser extent, attention and overactivity.
School achievement and adult qualifications among adoptees: a longitudinal study
1998 · United Kingdom
Using the 1958 National Child Development Study, researchers examined school achievement and later qualifications among adoptees. Compared with non-adopted participants with similar birth circumstances, adoptees had better reading, mathematics and general ability scores and advantages in adult qualifications. Family socioeconomic and educational circumstances were associated with achievement.
School experience for adopted children, young people, and their families
2021 · United Kingdom
This thesis combined an education review, Wales Adoption Cohort parent-reported school experiences and Understanding Society adolescent analyses. Adopted adolescents reported more emotional and behavioural difficulties and different education or employment intentions. Adoption-related feelings were associated with self-esteem and belonging; perceived negative reactions to adoption were associated with having fewer friends.
Searching, reunion and transracial adoption
2000 · United Kingdom
Interviews with transracially adopted adults found racial and ethnic identity could be an important motivation for searching. Participants often felt they gained from search or reunion, while hopes concerning racial or ethnic identity were not always met.
Securing permanence for children in care: A cross-country analysis of citizen's view on adoption versus foster care
2023 · England; seven other European countries; USA (California)
The researchers surveyed 12,330 people across nine jurisdictions, including England, about adoption or foster care when children could not live with their birth parents. Respondents generally preferred adoption, with differences between countries. Confidence in child-protection services was only weakly associated with placement preference. The study concerns public views of the care system rather than children’s experiences or outcomes.
Sense of belonging, sense of exclusion, and racial and ethnic identities in Korean transracial adoptees
2010 · United States
Fourteen adult Korean transracial adoptees described how belonging and exclusion within white American, Korean American and family contexts shaped racial and ethnic identity. It foregrounds adoptees' own accounts of navigating multiple cultural reference groups.
Sensory Regulation, Theraplay®, Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing, and Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy Integration (STEDi) for Adoptive Children who have Experienced Developmental Trauma and Attachment Disruptions: A Mixed-Methods Preliminary Evaluation
2026 · England
An extended case study of eight adoptive families assessed an integrated therapy combining sensory regulation, play-based work, EMDR and DDP. Child-outcome questionnaires showed reductions in average scores on several trauma, behaviour and executive-function scales. The authors described these as tentative trends rather than conclusive treatment effects.
Service use by families with children adopted from Romania
2006 · United Kingdom
Researchers examined service use between ages six and 11 among children adopted from Romania and UK infant adoptees. About one third of Romanian children adopted after six months used mental health services, compared with 11–15 per cent in earlier-placed groups. Service use broadly tracked assessed difficulties and special education needs.