Forced adoption support services scoping study Daryl Higgins, Pauline Kenny, Reem Sweid and Lucy Ockenden Report for the Department of Social Services by the Australian Institute of Family Studies February 2014

91Findings from consultations: Part 2—Specific issues for different service types/sectors

This section discusses the results of the consultations in terms of what service providers perceive to be the major issues for them in their capacity to deliver quality services to those affected by forced adoptions, and what they think can/should be done to enhance the current system.

91.1Post-adoption support services

92Referrals between service providers

The post-adoption support services that participated in the scoping study largely reported a healthy network between each other. It is not uncommon for the services to refer clients to each other when necessary. Similarly, each jurisdiction’s departmental adoption information service has developed a relationship with their state post-adoption support service to assist in transmitting information and referrals. The quality of the relationship, however, varies across staff and states.

The International Social Services agency (a search and contact agency specialising in interstate and overseas adoption tracing) provides referrals to local agencies where appropriate. Similarly, the Salvation Army’s Family Tracing Information Service (a national and international search and contact service) refers clients to post-adoption support services on its website.

Peer-support groups that operate independently from post-adoption support services are often more localised and vary in the degree to which they have strong or positive referral networks. Past history of poor responses from service providers has meant many individuals are sceptical about the quality of the response they will get, and don’t have resources to actively engage in professional networks (e.g., attending conferences or activities run by professional bodies or associations).

93Referrals to mental health professionals

Although the majority of post-adoption support services state they offer counselling, the findings from the service mapping and stakeholder consultations indicate that most post-adoption support services do not feel they have the capacity to provide ongoing counselling to their clients in-house and rely on referring clients to mental health professionals (typically GPs in the first instance and, through them, psychiatrists and psychologists). In most instances, this was a reflection of limited resources, and the need to focus on immediate support needs of new clients who are accessing information or making contact.

There was also a sense that where long-term counselling/therapeutic services are needed, it is because of recognised mental health disorders. These disorders require support from professionals who are highly trained to deliver evidence-based services for mental health issues and have knowledge and understanding of forced adoption practices.

Some agencies have developed a register of therapists (counsellors, psychologists, psychiatrists, etc.) that are experienced in working with adoption-related issues. However, a consistent theme across all consultations was the limited number with appropriate skills and training, as well as the lack of affordable access to services. Despite ATAPS having been funded to address this, at the time of data collection (Sept–Dec. 2013), stakeholders had not yet observed any changes in terms of increased accessibility, or confidence that professionals receiving referrals would have the appropriate skills and training to provide a sensitive and effective service.

Opportunities for enhancing post-adoption service that were identified by stakeholders are summarised below.

94Resources and service delivery

Stakeholders identified the need for additional resources in order to improve service delivery in areas such as:

greater capacity to provide the services in a timely manner so clients can participate or withdraw from the services when necessary;

expanding services to be more holistic, so that staff can build relationships and support clients throughout their journey;

internal supervision and support mechanisms for staff members and volunteers, as talking to grief-stricken or traumatised clients can be very intense emotionally;

provision of emotional and informal support for people who aren’t ready to participate in formal counselling or therapy—as not all people affected want trauma-focused therapy;

providing the option of (free, or subsidised) therapeutic retreats; and

fostering safe and supportive environments that provide physical safety and emotional safety—i.e., clients are treated with respect and understanding.

There were divergent views as to whether services need to assist adoptive parents deal with issues surrounding why they chose to adopt, repressed guilt or to help them support their adopted son/daughter with their issues. A number of services noted the potential benefits for adopted individuals to have support and encouragement from their adoptive parents.

Rather than establish or fund a new national service, stakeholders felt that distributing funding state-by-state to existing providers was a more efficient use of the limited funding that has been promised. While the idea of having the opportunity to apply for small grants to enhance specific aspects of service provision was welcomed, stakeholders wanted a very simple application process, as smaller agencies don’t have the resources to spend a lot of time writing applications, or experience in doing so.

However, as discussed earlier in the report, there are many affected individuals who perceive the funding of services with past involvement in forced adoptions or current involvement with adoptions to be completely inappropriate. This is a sentiment that appears to be held not just by mothers, but by many adopted individuals also.

One possible solution to this dilemma is allocating funding to existing generalist services who have expertise in the area of providing support to those affected by forced adoption, and whose model of delivery could be expanded across jurisdictions. However, there are few agencies that do not have some connection to former agencies or institutions. Although Relationships Australia is not a “new” service provider (it goes back to the 1950s with the establishment of the National Marriage Guidance Council of Australia), it does not have the same history of welfare services and connections to institutions and hospitals associated with forced adoption. Generalist welfare/counselling agencies such as Relationships Australia have the needed infrastructure to operate services professionally. Relationships Australia were often identified as being a well-known and trusted service provider based on the findings of the AIFS National Study; so to build on their capacity by rolling out training to their counsellors would provide national accessibility. However, there may be a range of other agencies that could provide a similar service, if appropriate steps are put in place to provide apologies, transparency relating to past practice, or other elements of restorative justice (as outlined previously).

95Information and support

Stakeholders identified the need for better resources to assist with people seeking adoption information. This includes:

national coordination of brochures and information booklets about past adoptions, searching, and making contact with family;

development of a new national website that provides a space to support service providers, as well as space for the general public to obtain information and to share stories;

development of websites that provide dedicated (and some would argue separate) supports for mothers, adopted individuals and other family members; and

a mobile phone application to increase the accessibility of information and supports (though cost may be prohibitive).

96Training and research

Stakeholders identified the need for training, opportunities to conduct and learn from research and the evaluation of services. This includes:

access to free, national training for agencies that deliver therapeutic services;

establishing an expert panel to develop training packages, best practice principles, service standards and guidelines;¹⁴

improving the capacity of the workforce to provide services and training opportunities to existing services in regional areas, including extending training and knowledge of forced adoptions to the broader workforce, such as community health professionals, particularly in regional areas;

developing models for sharing resources and facilitating training sessions among different agencies;

conducting further research and evaluations on which service types, and which particular interventions, are the most effective for people affected by forced adoption; and

strategic planning and development of a training model for post-adoption services to extend the capacity of the workforce.

Stakeholders also emphasised the critical importance of deep content knowledge of past practices in order for services to be effective:

A new service will take a long time to get the adoptions expertise to complement their therapeutic expertise. We know about the secrecy. We know what they were told at the time. We need the training to underpin services.