‘In Time and in Tune’ — The Fostering Attachments Group: Capturing Sustained Change in Both Caregiver and Child

‘In Time and in Tune’ — The Fostering Attachments Group: Capturing Sustained Change in Both Caregiver and Child

Ben Gurney-Smith, Charlotte Granger, Anna Randle, Jenny Fletcher · Adoption & Fostering

An evaluation of the Fostering Attachments Group assessed foster carers and adopters before, after and three months after participation. Carers reported sustained improvement in understanding children and some perceived behavioural difficulties, including hyperactivity. The study also examined carers’ thinking about children’s mental states.

Limitations: Fostering and adoption are combined; adopter-specific effects are not separated in the abstract. Carer-reported change without a randomised comparison does not prove programme effectiveness. Only the publisher-deposited abstract was reviewed; regional coverage and additional methods are not inferred where unstated. UK research context does not confirm an exclusively England/Wales sample. Author affiliations include Oxfordshire County Council’s adoption support and foster-care services. This evaluates a parenting intervention involving service practitioners; that relationship should be considered. Evidence-provider note: adoptive parents supplied some or all questionnaire/interview assessments of the adoptee’s outcomes. These proxy reports are not the adoptee’s own account; other evidence sources, where present, are described in the summary.

Research type

Pre-post programme evaluation

Source reviewed

Abstract

Peer reviewed

Yes

Age group

Children