This study is one of the most comprehensive of its kind in the UK and provides a clear roadmap for improving safeguarding practices and outcomes for children in adoptive and SGO placements.
Funded by the Nuffield Foundation and led by Dr Joanna Garstang and Professor Julie Taylor – in collaboration with Professor Keith Moultrie and colleagues at the Institute of Public Care at Oxford Brookes University – the study examined safeguarding in the context of adoption and special guardianship in five local authority areas in England and Wales.
We examined the experiences of 115 children who were subject to statutory safeguarding interventions after adoption or SGO through case file analysis and interviews with families and professionals.
The report (published on 26 June 2025 by the Nuffield Foundation) suggests that safeguarding concerns often arise when families, despite their best efforts, are overwhelmed by the demands of caring for their children (most often during adolescence and due to extra-familial exploitation). This is exacerbated by a lack of timely and specialist support; long waits for mental health services, inadequate pastoral support and family interventions which are not sufficiently aware of the impact of previous trauma.
The report suggests a number of ways in which local authorities and their partners can improve support and reduce breakdowns amongst this uniquely vulnerable group of children.
Professor Keith Moultrie, IPC, commented:
“This important study looked at practice in both England and Wales. We were very struck by the huge efforts that adopters and special guardians put into their children and saw many examples of good professional practice in supporting them. However, there is more to be done, and we hope that this study offers actionable improvements which could be made to support these families more effectively in the future.”
