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Birth parents’ perceptions of professional practice in child care and adoption proceedings: implications for practice
Author(s) -
Smeeton Joe,
Boxall Kathy
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
child and family social work
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.912
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1365-2206
pISSN - 1356-7500
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2206.2011.00759.x
Subject(s) - perception , subject (documents) , scale (ratio) , nursing , empirical research , psychology , medical education , medicine , library science , geography , neuroscience , philosophy , cartography , epistemology , computer science
This paper explores non‐relinquishing birth parents’ experiences of contested child care and adoption proceedings. It highlights the perceptions and voices of birth parents which are rarely prioritized in dominant discourses of professional practice in this area. The paper reviews previous related research and also discusses a small‐scale empirical study which elicited the perspectives of three birth parents whose children had been made subject to care proceedings and placed for adoption in England. Drawing on previous research and this study, the paper makes range of practice recommendations for sensitive professional practice with birth parents during contested child care and adoption proceedings.