The need for adoption work to be based upon the best available evidence is plain; but it is particularly important in the light of the radical changes that adoption has undergone in recent times. It now covers a wide range of social arrangements for children, adopters and birth parents, and presents new and often perplexing challenges. Adoption Now brings together up-to-date and authoritative research on adoption. It provides an overview of studies commissioned by the Department of Health to identify the principal messages about adoption policy and practice to emerge from its programme of research over the last few years. Roy Parker, Professor Emeritus, University of Bristol, details the most important and reliable ?messages? obtained from the research. These conclusions are made readily available in an accessible form, with the main points highlighted throughout the text. The studies are extensive and comprehensive, ranging across: the processes which adoption entails; children joining new families; single-parent adoption; transracial adoption; children talking about their adoption; and the support provided and needed during and after placement. This unique volume includes:

• children's views of their experiences of being adopted
• neglected issues such as the relations between children and other members of the family
• the different stages of the adoption process
• implications of the research for both policy and practice

The much-needed careful re-examination of adoption practice and policy will be assisted by this thoughtful, practical and comprehensive distillation of the most important results from studies that span many of the key issues that now surround adoption.