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Edited by Malcolm Hill.
BAAF Adoption and Fostering
£14.95
ISBN 1 903699 14 2

Those unfamiliar with the Scottish legal and policy framework will find this book surprisingly accessible, and its themes familiar.

It is a collection of papers written by Scottish practitioners, academics and policy-makers, and highlights the complexity of practice within this field. The papers have all previously been published in Adoption and Fostering, BAAF Adoption and Fostering's quarterly journal, during the past 20 years. They trace the development of policy trends, and explore many of the issues practitioners face.

With contributions from such notable figures as John Triseliotis, Moira Borland, Lydia Lambert, and Malcolm Hill, the collection offers an authoritative overview of the more familiar debates and some of the less well-known areas. For example, the views of birth fathers after adoption; the views of carers' own children; the assessment of Asian families; and intercountry adoption.


There is always more one would want to see included in such a collection (for example, the perspectives of non-consenting birth parents) but this is an interesting and challenging read, meriting space on every practitioner's bookshelf.

Lynne Wilson is senior lecturer in social work, University of Lincoln.