Chapter 1. Introduction. Part One: Birth Parents, Adoptive Parents and Children When They Entered their Adoptive Homes.- Chapter 2. Issues Facing the Birth Parents and their Implications for Open Adoption. - Chapter 3. The Children.- Chapter 4. The Adoptive Parents.- Part 2: Outcomes of Open Adoption From Care.- Chapter 5. Permanence.- Chapter 6. Post-Adoption Contact and Relationships with Birth Family Members.- Chapter 7. Progress After Placement.- Chapter 8. Adult Outcomes.- Chapter 9. Conclusion: Implications for Policy and Practice. 

“Adoption can create both a fundamental sense of hope and a profound sense of uncertainty, loss and grief. This book sets out the reality and detail of these issues in an inspiring and detailed way. We need to explore, reflect and learn from all that it tells us." – Dr John Simmonds OBE, CoramBAAF, UK

"This book helps to fill some gaps in research about the longer-term outcomes of children adopted from out-of-home care. It provides important insights about the value and challenges of open adoption." – Professor Judy Cashmore, University of Sydney, Australia

This Open Access book presents unique evidence from the first comprehensive study of the outcomes of open adoption from care in Australia. It contributes to the international debate concerning the advantages and disadvantages of face-to-face post adoption contact with birth families.

The chapters assess whether adoption provides a better chance of permanenceand more positive outcomes than long-term foster care for abused and neglected children in care who cannot safely return to their birth families. They also explore whether open adoption can avoid some of the detrimental consequences of past policies in which adoption was shrouded in secrecy and children frequently grew up with a conflicted sense of identity. The book will appeal to policy makers, practitioners and students of social policy, social work, the law, psychology and psychiatry. It should also be of interest to adult adoptees and adoptive parents, whose experiences it reflects.

Harriet Ward is an Honorary Research Fellow at the Rees Centre, University of Oxford and Emeritus Professor of Child and Family Research at Loughborough University, UK.

Lynne Moggach was Executive Specialist of Adoption at Barnardos Australia until she retired in 2019.

Susan Tregeagle was Senior Manager of Research and Advocacy at Barnardos Australia and Adjunct Senior Lecturer at the University of Sydney until she retired in 2019.

 Helen Trivedi is a Research Assistant at the Rees Centre, University of Oxford, UK.

"This book helps to fill some gaps in research about the longer-term outcomes of children adopted from out-of-home care. It brings together the findings from a constructive jigsaw of research methods, based on what was possible to obtain for adoptive parents and the children from case file records, an online survey, and interviews with both the adoptees and adoptive parents. Its particular value is in the follow-up, on average 18 years, after the adoption, and the focus on permanence, belonging and the adoptees’ contact and relationships with members of their birth family. It provides some important insights about the value and challenges of open adoption."

 – Dr Judy Cashmore, Professor of Socio-Legal Research and Policy, University of Sydney, Australia

"Adoption has come to represent the best of what we do in establishing a family for life for a child who may not otherwise have had one.  And in some respects, it represents the worst of what we do in severing a child from their family of origin.  Adoption creates both a fundamental sense of hope for the future but can also create a profound sense of uncertainty, loss and grief. The reality and detail of these issues as they work out over time is set out in an inspiring and detailed way.  We need to explore, reflect and learn from all that it tells us."

– Dr John Simmonds OBE, Director of Policy, Research and Development, CoramBAAF, United Kingdom

“The book is an important read for social work practitioners, therapists, child and family court judiciary and legal professionals, academics and students, specifically those interested or working in the areas of adoption, foster care, identity, child attachment and relationships and resilience, intervention and support following adversity. Although set within the context of the adoption policy in New South Wales it has international relevance. The book will nodoubt be of importance for many years – potentially decades - due to the global importance and enduring nature of the topic.”

– Julie Young, Research Fellow, University of East Anglia, United Kingdom 

Presents new and vivid findings concerning the extensive vulnerability of this population of children at the point of entry to care Shows that there is much to learn at an international level from the experiences of those involved in mandatory face-to-face post adoption contact - a uniquely Australian policy Provides evidence which shows how continuing post-adoption contact was experienced by adoptees and their adoptive parents. This book is open access, which means that you have free and unlimited access

Open Access This book is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this book are included in the book's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the book's Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.