ABSTRACT
Adoption has had a long-standing presence in the UK and over the last 20 years has been firmly embedded in government policy as an option for children who have come into State Care and cannot safely return to the birth parents or other family members within the child’s timescale. The child’s urgent need to establish a strong relational world centred on the adults who they experience as their parents cannot be underestimated. This chapter explores the development of adoption over time, its impact on the child throughout childhood and beyond, as well as the contributions of the framework of attachment, neuroscience, and consequences of maltreatment.
