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Contact between Children Placed Away from Home and their Birth Parents: Research Issues and Evidence

School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol, UK

Alan Rushton

Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK

Cherilyn Dance

Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK

Deborah Mayes

Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK

The importance of maintaining contact between children temporarily or permanently looked after away from their birth parents is now believed to be so important to their psychosocial development as to be written into the Children Act. This position has been argued both on the basis of the rights of children and birth parents and on the claimed strength of the research evidence concerning the positive effects of contact and the negative consequences of its absence. The quality of the research evidence is reviewed. It is concluded that evidence on either the beneficial or adverse effects of contact is not strong and that the design and/or analysis of existing studies contain a number of weaknesses that preclude clear research-based guidance to practitioners.

Key Words: adoption • contact • fostering • research • review

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