An investigation of family finding and matching in adoption : briefing paper

The objective of the study was to examine the effectiveness, outcomes and costs of different family finding methods and matching practices in adoption. The use of postplacement services was also explored. The research was funded by the former DCSF, now the Department for Education, and was based on 149 children who had an adoption recommendation at panel (82 sampled retrospectively1 and 67 sampled prospectively in ‘real time’2). The study was conducted in 10 English local authorities, selected because they used one of the four different approaches to family finding and matching, identified in the preliminary survey which formed the first part of the study (Dance et al 2010)