Author(s)

Maria Kambouri^1*, Fiona Curtis¹, Yota Dimitriadi¹, Megan Ravenhill², Lucy Coleman^1,3

¹Institute of Education, University of Reading, Reading, UK.
²PACT Charity, Reading, UK.
³Vanson Bourne, Newbury, UK.

Adopters often face challenges during the process of adoption which may occasionally lead to adoption disruption. When aiming to minimise disruption, it is important to look closer at the support provided to adopters, to understand what works and what could be improved; however, there are few studies that focus on what works best. This paper seeks to address part of this gap, by exploring the benefits and challenges of a support service for adoptive parents, namely the Adopter Champions programme. The study explored the key issues faced by adopters and their experiences of the Adopter Champions programme, aiming to understand if and how such programmes can help adopters. Employing a sequential mixed methods approach, a survey was shared with 55 families that had received support from the Adopter Champions programme with four then interviewed. The findings confirm how important it is for adoptive parents to have access to support and people that can understand and advise them, such as other adopters, and therefore how this is worth investment from the government. While the study highlights the importance of having support available and for government to invest in this, it is recommended that more studies like this are conducted to identify what types of support are more beneficial for adopted parents.

Adoption, Family Support, Adoption Disruption, Support Services, Adopter Champions

Kambouri, M. , Curtis, F. , Dimitriadi, Y. , Ravenhill, M. and Coleman, L. (2024) Exploring the Benefits and Challenges of a Support Service for Adoptive Parents: A Case Study of Evaluating the Adopter Champions Programme. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 12, 437-469. doi: 10.4236/jss.2024.123029.