Adoptee Rights
Research

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  • The Adoption Barometer 2021: A stocktake of adoption in the UK

    2021 · United Kingdom

    The report combines parent questionnaires with a separate survey of 159 adoptees aged 16 and over about transitions to adulthood. Adoptees described varied support needs and views of adoption, including accounts of missing support during adolescence. Some reported no need for adoption-specific help. Responses mix recent experiences with older adults’ reflections.

  • The Adoption Barometer 2022: A stocktake of adoption in the UK

    2022 · United Kingdom

    The 2022 report includes a survey of more than 280 adopted adults about birth-family relationships, childhood contact and searching in adulthood, alongside parent questionnaires. Adoptee responses describe gaps in access to counselling and peer support, sometimes requiring people to arrange or pay for support themselves.

  • The Adoption Barometer 2023: A stocktake of adoption in the UK

    2023 · United Kingdom

    An online survey in December 2022–January 2023 included 248 adult adoptees. The adult section examines access to records and life-history information. Responses describe variable support, delays, missing or redacted records and uncertainty about the completeness of life-story materials. Some people accessing records recently reported more positive experiences.

  • The Adoption Barometer 2024: A stocktake of adoption in England

    2024 · England

    The England report includes 246 adult adoptee respondents, alongside parent questionnaires about children. Adoptees described limited or inappropriate adult support, waits and costs. Child-focused sections examine education, mental health and birth-family contact. Data were collected in early 2024, mainly concerning 2023.

  • The Adoption Barometer 2025: A stocktake of adoption in England

    2025 · England; UK-wide young-adoptee component

    The 2025 England report uses surveys collected in January–February 2025, mainly about 2024. Adoptee responses describe barriers to records, tracing and mental-health support; some reported delayed healthcare linked to missing family medical history. Parent questionnaires cover children’s education and support. A separate young-adoptee component adds direct accounts of wellbeing and education.

  • The adoption of children from public care: a prospective study of outcome in adolescence

    2006 · United Kingdom

    Researchers followed 108 UK children placed for adoption from care at ages five to eleven, with assessments at placement, one year and six years later. At adolescent follow-up, 23% of placements had disrupted; others continued with differing levels of difficulty. Older age at placement, longer time in care, behavioural difficulties and prior rejection while separated from siblings were associated with higher disruption risk.

  • The adult outcome of childhood quasi-autism arising following extreme institutional deprivation

    2023 · England / Romania (adopted into UK families)

    Researchers followed adoptees identified in childhood with the ERA study’s “quasi-autism” pattern into adulthood. They compared 26 such participants with 75 adoptees exposed to extended deprivation without that pattern and 116 adoptees with low or no institutional deprivation. The childhood pattern was associated with persistent autism-related difficulties, ADHD and disinhibited social engagement symptoms, mental health difficulties and poorer educational and employment outcomes. Life satisfaction and self-esteem were not affected in the reported comparisons. Communication difficulties predicted poorer adult outcomes.

  • The association of early life factors with depression and anxiety in adults aged 40–69 years

    2024 · United Kingdom

    UK Biobank data examined early-life factors including adoption against later recorded depression and anxiety.

  • The Black Adoption Project: Phase 1 report

    2023 · England

    The report analysed local and national adoption data to examine racial differences in children’s routes to adoption, alongside community surveys and focus groups. Black children with placement orders were less likely to be placed for adoption and waited longer than white British children. This entry concerns the administrative findings about children; the report also contains adopter-perspective research.

  • The British Chinese Adoption Study: orphanage care, adoption and mid-life outcomes

    2013 · United Kingdom; Hong Kong (origin)

    Researchers traced a historical group of one hundred Hong Kong-born girls adopted into UK families, using orphanage records, questionnaires and mid-life interviews. Seventy-two took part in follow-up. Average mental and physical health measures were similar to comparison groups of UK-born adopted and nonadopted women. Participants reporting poorer adoptive-family experiences or more negative views of their adoption also reported poorer mental health.

  • The Building of Epistemic Trust: An Adoptive Family’s Experience of Mentalization-Based Therapy

    2020 · England

    Two in-depth interviews with an adoptive family, including two daughters, explored trust in mentalization-based therapy. Interpretative phenomenological analysis identified earlier experiences of mistrust and features of therapy associated with feeling understood and trusting professionals. Participants described some transfer of trust to relationships beyond therapy.

  • The complexities of making recommendations for adoption and fostering panels: An investigation of the biographic and professional influences on panel members’ decision-making and attitudes

    2020 · England

    Observations of adoption and fostering panels across England, biographical interviews and panel minutes were analysed together. The researcher interpreted participants’ biographies, values and professional identities as influencing recommendations, with conflicts sometimes emerging between positions.

  • The educational aspirations and psychological well-being of adopted young people in the UK

    2019 · United Kingdom

    UK longitudinal survey data compared 22 adopted young people with matched non-adopted young people on educational aspirations and psychological wellbeing.

  • The effect of early institutional rearing on the development of eight year old children

    1978 · United Kingdom

    This historical follow-up concerns the development at age eight of children who had experienced early institutional rearing. The indexed citation identifies Tizard and Hodges’ 1978 paper, but provides no abstract. Findings are not summarised here because the underlying text was not reviewed for this correction.

  • The effectiveness of psychological interventions with adoptive parents on adopted children and adolescents’ outcomes: A systematic review

    2019 · United Kingdom; international

    Researchers reviewed 19 papers describing 15 interventions that worked with adoptive parents and measured adopted children’s emotional, behavioural or relationship outcomes. UK evaluations were included. Some studies reported improvement, but results varied, and the reviewers could not draw firm conclusions about which interventions were effective.

  • The effects of global severe privation on cognitive competence: extension and longitudinal follow-up. English and Romanian Adoptees Study Team

    2000 · United Kingdom; Romania (origin)

    The study assessed cognition at age six in 165 Romanian-born children adopted into UK families and 52 UK adoptees, with earlier assessments available for part of the sample. Children placed later showed substantial improvement after arrival but lower average cognitive scores than earlier-placed Romanian children. Differences observed at age four persisted, without evidence of further catch-up between ages four and six.

  • The Effects of Severe Global Deprivation on Language and Cognition

    2004 · United Kingdom (regional recruitment not established)

    This doctorate followed language and cognitive development after adoption from Romanian institutions. Six children were initially followed; detailed two-year analysis focused on three who used spoken language. Observations, conversations, tests and developmental histories documented gains in language and cognition after prolonged early deprivation.

  • The Experience of Adoption (1) A Study of Intercountry and Domestic Adoption from the child's point of view

    2007 · United Kingdom

    At age 11, 180 children adopted domestically in the UK or from Romania were interviewed about adoption. Few overall differences were found between groups. Children adopted later from Romania reported more difficulty talking about adoption and feeling different from their families; further analyses suggested their difficulty profiles helped explain these differences.

  • The Experience of Adoption (2): The Association between Communicative Openness and Self-Esteem in Adoption

    2008 · United Kingdom

    Interviews with 47 UK infant adoptees and 133 Romanian adoptees at age 11 examined communication about adoption and self-esteem. Children who found adoption harder to discuss tended to have lower self-esteem or feel different from their families. Parents underestimated some children’s communication difficulties. Having an adopted Romanian sibling was associated with easier discussion.

  • The experience of adoption and its relationship with identity formation in adults

    2023 · United Kingdom

    The thesis includes a systematic review of birth-family searching and an empirical qualitative study with 15 adopted adults examining adoption communication, birth-family contact, identity and self-esteem.