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Contact and Truth: The Unfolding Predicament in Adoption and FosteringNorth Devon CAMHS, Barnstaple, UK, lorne.loxterkamp{at}nhs.net It is now time to examine the crystallizing results of the social experiment of contact, direct and indirect, and to scrutinize the arguments supporting the predominant conviction that the benefits of regular contact are certain. Many adopted and fostered children who have suffered maltreatment at the hands of their birth parents have regular face-to-face meetings with them as well as routine communication in the form of cards or letters. It is commonly maintained that contact has to be beneficial because it is necessarily in the child's best interests in the long run, if not also immediately. But the predicament emerging from such cases of early maltreatment is that contact, the very thing that is meant to provide a remedy for harm, can itself be harmful and the likely cause of enduring emotional and psychological damage, even when it appears to be going well or well enough. Three recent cases seen in a clinical setting illustrate the experiences of children tormented by the effects of contact that is suffused with mendacity.
Key Words: direct contact • open adoption • permanent placement • postadoption
Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, Vol. 14, No. 3,
423-435 (2009) |
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