Post-adoption contact

Adoption permanently alters the adopted child’s family identity and relationships, and links two previously unconnected family systems into one adoptive kinship network. The purpose of post-adoption contact is to facilitate meaningful communication and interaction across this network of relationships. This chapter reviews research relating to birth family contact for children adopted from care, focusing on the various forms post-adoption contact can take; national and international differences in approaches; relationships with siblings after adoption; contact via digital communication technology; the outcomes and impact of contact for children; the process of contact planning and maintenance; frameworks for supporting contact; and rights considerations. The research shows that post-adoption contact with birth relatives can be beneficial to adoptees, particularly in terms of identity development and facilitating more open and well-informed conversations within their adoptive family. However, contact can be emotionally challenging, especially for children who have experienced prior maltreatment, and requires careful assessment, flexibility and support to meet the unique needs of each child and their kinship network. Contact plans should safeguard children’s sense of security in adoptive family relationships while promoting their right to connection with significant birth kin.