Assessing prospective adoptive parents, foster carers, kinship carers and special guardians is an extremely complex task, and one that happens within a pressurized time frame.

Currently, assessments draw substantially on interviews, which can generate a lot of information but little analysis to enable professionals to establish a meaningful understanding of parenting capacity. Children with histories of trauma, loss and hurt need to join families in which parents exhibit the ability to be good at relationships, are able to manage their own stress and bond with the child in their care. Now fully updated and expanded to cover the assessment of kinship carers and special guardians, this book combines the latest findings from neuroscience with research on what makes good assessments and provides guidance and tools for making thorough, analytical and effective assessments.

With contributions from leading experts including Dan Hughes, Jonathan Baylin, Kim Golding and Julie Selwyn, it will provide you with the information you need to ensure the best possible chance of placement success.

Chapter 1: Introduction, Joanne Alper, Adoptionplus. Chapter 2: Why are you frightened of being parented? Understanding developmental trauma, Kim S. Golding, Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust. Chapter 3: The home study and assessment of applicants: research evidence, Julie Selwyn, University of Bristol. Chapter 4: Adoptionplus: a new agency, a new approach, Joanne Alper, Adoptionplus. Chapter 5: Parenting well and staying well: understanding the qualities needed for parenting children with developmental trauma, Kim S. Golding and Ben Gurney-Smith, Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust and Adoptionplus. Chapter 6: Understanding developmental trauma, parental attachments, caregiving and PACE, Dan Hughes, Quittie GlenCenter for Mental Health. Chapter 7: The parenting brain, John Baylin, Norman Broudy MD& Associates. Chapter 8: Assessing potential kinship placements, Joanne Alper and Ailsa Edwards, Adoptionplus and Children in Need Chapter 9: Reflective functioning and parenting, John Baylin, Norman Broudy MD& Associates. Chapter 10: Conclusion, David Howe, University of East Anglia.