Evaluation of Adoption UK ‘It’s a piece of cake?’ training programme

Adoption UK has been running 'It’s a Piece of Cake?' for five years. Twenty five courses are run each year with a total of approx 350 attendees. The training programme is unique in that it offers training to adopters once a child is placed. The traditional model has been to offer pre-placement training and this has often been linked with assessments of suitability to adopt. The aims of the evaluation will be to understand how well the programme is working, to understand which parts of the programme have the most impact and to make recommendations for the improvement of the course.

The Hadley Centre will be responsible for the design and analysis of pre, post and follow up questionnaires to the participants of two training programmes. Questionnaires will be completed by participants before the training programme begins, at the end of the training and again 6 months later. The questionnaire will incorporate standardised measures – SDQ, GHQ and EFR. People on the waiting list for the programme will form a control group.The Evaluation Trust will be responsible for interviewing a retrospective sample of adopters, focus group discussions and reviewing key documents.

Funder: Lloyds/TSB.