Practice note 2: Infancy contact research

As the nations leader in concurrent planning, Coram researched the effects and implications early placement have on the emotional development of infants and young children

This briefing summarises evidence from a recently published study of the impact of frequent contact with their birth parent(s) on the development of infants and young children placed in foster care pending a decision on adoption. This was a small-scale, retrospective, qualitative study that sought to explore the tension implicit in seeking to maintain and nurture existing attachments between birth parents and infants while fostering security and the development of new attachments with foster carers. The findings suggest a clear need for further detailed and wider-scale research into long-term outcomes and the wide range of variables that influence them.