Whatever you think of Independent Reviewing Officers, the National IRO Managers Partnership website offers some really interesting articles and resources on all sorts of things and their latest share focuses on contact after adoption.

The site talks about another platform called Research In Practice (RIP) and it is their website that features information about contact after adoption and covers topics like reviewing contact plans and listening to children. We haven’t had the chance to read these materials yet but we would be very interested to hear your views.

Th RIP Home Page says:

“This website supports practitioners working on making positive post-adoption contact plans and supporting birth relatives and adopters through contact planning for their child.

The materials on this website bring together knowledge from research and practice. They draw on research by Professor Beth Neil at University of East Anglia. Research in Practice has worked with Beth and practitioners across England to share expertise and produce accessible and practical resources for professionals involved in this work.”

Here are some links from the posts:

• Planning and reviewing contact plans
• Supporting birth relatives
• Supporting adopters
• Listening to children
• Letterbox contact
• Film clips of interviews with children and their families

This effort reminds us  of the brilliant Family And Children’s Resource Programme over in America, which offers videos on best practice social work. We’d love to see RIP develop their content to include these kinds of videos, too.