In the past adoption usually meant that the adopted child and his or her birth family would have no contact with each other once the adoption had taken place; this is often called "closed adoption".  From the 1990s onwards adoption has become more “open” with many children having a plan for either letter contact with birth family members or, in a minority of cases, face-to-face meetings. There is a need for information about how these more open adoptions work out.

The "contact after adoption" research study aims to answer questions about what post-adoption contact arrangements are like from the point of view of children, adoptive parents, and birth relatives. The study has focused on children adopted in England who were under the age of four when placed for adoption. The families in the study have experienced a range of different post-adoption contact plans from no contact through to face-to-face contact. The study is longitudinal and has three stages:

• Stage one: 1996-2000. Dr Beth Neil began the research as her Ph.D. study. A survey (completed by social workers) of 168 adopted children was carried out. Interviews took place with  adoptive parents and birth relatives, all of whom were involved in face-to-face  contact arrangements

• Stage 2: 2002-2004. The Nuffield foundation funded an extension of the project to follow up families approximately 7 years after adoption. The study included families where indirect contact was the plan as well as the original families having face-to-face contact. Interviews were carried out with 62 adoptive families, 43 adopted children, and 73 birth relatives (mostly parents and grandparents).

• Stage 3: 2012-13. The Nuffield Foundation is funding this further stage of the study. We will be returning to the people who took part in the study at stage 2; the adopted young people will now be mainly aged between 16 and 20 years old.

Please click on the tabs to the left to find out more about this research study. If you have been invited to take part in the study, please click on the tab about stage 3.