Examining rates and risk factors for post-order adoption disruption in England and Wales through survival analyses

Dinithi Wijedasa*, Julie Selwyn

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

14 Citations (Scopus)
445 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Purpose: This paper reports findings from two research studies that set out to calculate the rate and predictors of post-order adoption disruption in England and Wales.

Methods: All available national level administrative data on adopted children in England and Wales were analysed, supplemented by national surveys adoption managers. Complete national datasets were available for12 years in England and for 11 years in Wales.

Results: Of the 36,749 and 2,317 adoptions considered, 565 in England and 35 in Wales had disrupted over the follow up period. Kaplan-Meier analyses indicate that cumulative post-order adoption disruption rates were 3.2% and 2.6% respectively for England and Wales. Cox regression models indicate that being older than four years adoptive placement, adoptive parents taking longer than a year to legalise the adoption, being a teenager and previous multiple placements in care were risk factors for post-order adoption disruption.

Conclusion: The post order adoption disruption rate is low. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)179-189
Number of pages11
JournalChildren and Youth Services Review
Volume83
Early online date6 Oct 2017
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2017

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