Evaluation of South West Adoption Network – Rural Areas Initiative

The South West Adoption Network (SWAN) aims to meet the post adoption needs of a predominantly rural population in the South West region of England. The general paucity of rural services has a direct influence on the lives of people living in rural communities, with lack of transport and child care services featuring high as areas of difficulty. People affected by adoption often already experience isolation and this may be exacerbated in rural areas, due to physical isolation and diminished access to public transport, lack of opportunity to share experiences with others in similar situations and little readily available face to face advice and counseling. These difficulties may be particularly marked for children who are placed transracially.With this in mind in October 2000 SWAN applied for a section 64 grant to focus extra resources in the most isolated rural, areas in the South West region.The Hadley Centre was commissioned to evaluate how successfully these extra resources were targeted and to identify barriers to provision of services.