Beyond the Child’s Age at Placement: Risk and Protective Factors in Preadoption Breakdown in Portugal

Purpose: The main goals were to determine the incidence of preadoption breakdown in Portugal, describe preadoptive parents’ reasons for ending placement, compare intact/disrupted placements, and identify adoption disruption risk and protective factors. Method: A matched design involving a case file analysis of 71 disrupted and 71 intact preadoptive placements was used. Results: The accumulated incidence of preadoption disruption was 5.8%. Adoptive parents’ motives for requesting removal included the child’s behavior, their own parenting limitations, and dissatisfaction with professional interventions. These three domains were present in the group comparisons and explained 54% of the variance, predicting group membership for 80.8% cases. Conclusion: Besides age at placement, other risk factors related to the child, the adopters, and the professional practices help to gain a more complete understanding of adoption disruption.

Sibling Relationships in Adoptive Families That Disrupted or Were in Crisis

Purpose: The study investigated whether sibling relationships influenced the outcomes of a sample of adoptive placements in England and Wales that had broken down postorder or were in crisis. Method: The study used secondary analysis drawing on in-depth interviews with 41 families who had experienced an adoption disruption and 42 families who described the adoptive placement as being in crisis in England and in Wales. The families contained 214 adopted and birth children. Results: Siblings placed together were statistically more likely to disrupt in comparison with sequential placements. Only 18 of the 83 families described normal sibling relationships. Placements intended to maintain sibling relationships had not done so. Conclusion: Assessments need to pay more attention to sibling dynamics. Children’s relationships might be better supported by separate placements with planned contact. Interventions are needed to improve sibling relationships.