Adoption and foster children system: research mandate awarded
NRP 76 had put out for tender a research mandate on the "Removal of children and adoptions in coercive situations" and "Child placement in families". The mandate has now been awarded.
The reasons for placing a child with a family that is not its biological family - whether this placement is time-limited or indefinite in the context of an adoption - historically used to depend on legal provisions, norms and social conventions and still do so today. It was decided that an overview of the available knowledge and existing knowledge gaps was needed before NRP 76 could generate new insights in this subject area. Dr Andrea Abraham, lecturer on child well-being at the Bern University of Applied Sciences (Department of Social Work), and her team will elaborate an overview of the current empirical knowledge about the adoption and foster children system in Switzerland. They will do this by means of a literature and source text review as well as interviews with experts.
Based on the results, the Steering Committee of NRP 76 will decide whether any follow-up studies are needed.