Derek Kirton
Biographic Data
| ID | 223420 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Derek Kirton |
| GIVEN NAMES | Derek |
| FAMILY NAME | Kirton |
| SIGNATURE | KIRTON D |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Kent |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 25 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 122 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 25 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1998 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2022 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Exploring the Anti-professional Turn in English Foster Care: Implications for Policy, Practice and Research
Following decades in which professionalisation was widely assumed to be a permanent (and growing) feature of foster care in England, the government signalled a clear anti-professional turn in its 2018 publication Fostering Better Outcomes (FBOs). This rejected the notion that foster carers should be regarded as professionals and indicated that there should be a return to the term foster parent. This article analyses FBO, its feeder reports and ev…
Adoption and Multiculturalism: Europe, the Americas and the Pacific edited by Jenny Heijun Willis, Tobias Hübinette and Indigo Willing (2020)
("De)racializing "common sense: Media perspectives on adoption reform in England
Adoption of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic children has long been deeply controversial in the UK, with tensions over racial/ethnic matching and transracial adoption into white families respectively. Media organisations have been key participants in these struggles, as commentators but also campaigners, yet there has been negligible research into their framing of the issues. This article explores press coverage in five national newspapers (plus …
Adoption wars: Inequality, child welfare and (social) justice
This article analyses the conflicts over adoption in England, focusing primarily on the reform programme during the years of coalition and subsequent Conservative governments, but recognising important historical antecedents and wider contexts. Various facets of adoption policy are considered, including processes through which children become available for adoption, alternative avenues for ‘permanence’, legal contestation, ‘openness’, approval of…
Neoliberalism, ‘race’ and child welfare
This article explores the significance of ‘race’ and ethnicity in the relationship between neoliberalism and child welfare in the UK, arguing that this has been somewhat marginal in both policy and academic discussion. It is based on a narrative review of key policy documents and research, and covers a range of services, from family support and child protection, to looked-after children and adoption. An overarching finding is that the influence o…
Still the ‘trusty anvil’: Media perspectives on adoption reform in England
Although media influence has long been recognised within adoption, there has been relatively little research into the nature of coverage. This article focuses on press articles from five UK national daily newspapers and their Sunday sister papers in the years 2010‒2014. This broadly coincides with the period of Coalition Government in the UK and its focus on adoption reform. Findings reveal strong support for the Government’s reform programme, it…
Neo-liberal racism: Excision, ethnicity and the Children and Families Act 2014
This article focuses on the removal in the Children and Families Act 2014 of the so-called ‘ethnicity clause’ relating to adoption. Reviewing the background to the contentious issue of adoption for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic children and the coalition’s drive to increase its scale, the article analyses the discursive resources deployed – especially during the Bill’s passage through Parliament – to justify, oppose or modify the legal change.…
(In)Sufficient: Ethnicity and foster care in E nglish local authorities
This paper examines the place of ethnicity in local authority foster care in the context of the sufficiency duty to secure adequate local placements for looked after children. The analysis draws on two main sources, namely O ffice for S tandards in E ducation, C hildren's S ervices and S kills ( OFSTED's ) annual survey of fostering agencies and inspection reports for around half the local authority fostering services in E ngland. Sufficiency is …
What is work? Insights from the evolution of state foster care
This article focuses on state foster care as a case study in the (re)configuration and negotiation of boundaries between work and non-work. Foster care can be seen as occupying a liminal position between the domains of 'work' and 'family', requiring management of the tensions presumed to exist between competing value systems. Through a review of research and policy developments, the relevant boundary issues are contextualized and explored, drawin…
Kinship by design’ in E ngland: Reconfiguring adoption from B lair to the coalition
Using E llen H erman's concept of ‘kinship by design’ ( KBD ), this paper analyses recent efforts to reform adoption in E ngland, arguing that they represent an attempt to curtail the powers of adoption professionals and their established practices of assessing and responding to risk. Examining policy contexts and relevant research, the paper looks at various facets of contemporary KBD in E ngland as they relate to adoptable children, the treatme…
Transracial Adoption in Britain: Politics, Ideology and Reality
Transracial adoptions by white parents are situated at the intersections of family and public policy. Debates on racial integration are juxtaposed with child rights and the private sphere of the family. In Britain, the practices of transracial adoption and ‘racial matching’ continue to invite fierce debate and discussion. Several factors, including the ongoing disproportionate representation of minority ethnic children in the public care system, …
A Suitable Case: Implementing Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care in an English Local Authority
This article by Derek Kirton and Cliff Thomas draws from a local evaluation of a multidimensional treatment foster care (MTFC) programme in England, focusing particularly on issues of implementation. These include experiences of working with the Oregon Social Learning model on which MTFC is based, its theory, philosophy and practices. The article also considers the translation of this model into a UK context and the associated questions of adapta…
The Adoption Process in England: A Guide for Children's Social Workers
A Childhood on Paper: Managing Access to Child Care Files by Post-Care Adults
Although the potential importance of care-file information for those formerly in care has long been recognised, little is known about requests for access to such records, whether in terms of scale or how requests are dealt with. The survey reported here by Jim Goddard, Julia Feast and Derek Kirton was carried out to address this gap. It was conducted in two stages during 2004 and 2005. The first stage comprised a postal questionnaire to local aut…
Still the Poor Relations: Perspectives on Valuing and Listening to Foster Carers
There has long been debate regarding the treatment and status of foster carers, but this has gained added significance in the context of moves towards professionalisation and recognition of carers as part of the children's workforce. While research studies have often touched upon the extent to which foster carers feel valued, appreciated or members of a team, less attention has been given to the perspectives of social workers and managers. Drawin…
Adoption by foster carers: A profile of interest and outcomes
This paper looks at the issue of adoption by foster carers and in particular its financial aspects. The findings stem from a wider study of remuneration and performance in foster care. Drawing on a survey of 1181 foster carers, this paper examines the characteristics of those who have considered adoption. The outcomes of such consideration, including the part played by financial concerns and anticipated loss of support in decisions to proceed wit…
Foster Carer Training: Resources, Payment and Support
This article by Kate Ogilvie, Derek Kirton and Jennifer Beecham examines key aspects of training for foster carers, using quantitative and qualitative data from a study of remuneration and performance in foster care. Three main issues are discussed: the training undertaken by foster carers and whether it is thought adequate; foster carer and supervising social worker views on NVQ level 3 training and payment for skills schemes; and how foster car…
Foster Carers: Why They Stay and Why They Leave
A Childhood on Paper: Accessing Care Records under the Data Protection Act 1998
Family budgets and public money: Spending fostering payments
In this second of two papers based on a study of payment issues within foster care, the focus is on expenditure. It is argued that the hybrid public/private nature of fostering gives rise to contradictory pressures for carers, including the status of maintenance payments as both part of family budgets and a form of delegated public expenditure. For example, carers are required in principle both to spend fixed amounts upon foster children and to t…
Love and money: Payment, motivation and the fostering task
Although the payment of foster carers has attracted greater attention in recent writing and research, coverage of the issues has been limited. In this study, based on interviews with 20 female carers, the place of payment within foster care is explored in greater depth. The focus is on charting how carers perceive their task as ‘parenting’ or ‘job’, whether and how they experience payment as compensation or as an appropriate reward for their skil…
After All These Years: Accessing Care Records
While there has been a growing body of research into the experiences of adopted people who approach agencies seeking information or contact with birth relatives, little is known about those formerly in care who access agency records. The findings here, reported by Derek Kirton, Erica Peltier and Elizabeth Webb, derive from a file analysis relating to adults previously in the care of The Children's Society who had sought access to their care recor…
Searching, Reunion and Transracial Adoption
Derek Kirton, Julia Feast and David Howe Report on findings from qualitative interviews with transracially adopted adults, carried out as part of a research project by The Children's Society. Findings show that those adopted transracially shared many experiences with other adopted people, including almost invariably feeling that they have gained from searching and/or reunion. For many transracially adopted people, issues of racial and ethnic iden…
Race, Adoption and Tomorrow's Social Workers
Derek Kirton summarises responses from student social workers to a questionnaire on attitudes to race and adoption. The respondents were mainly second-year Social Work (DipSW) students specialising in work with children and families. Two key findings emerged from the survey. Firstly, questions of race and adoption evoke very diverse responses, with an overall tendency towards ‘soft’ support for same-race adoption. Secondly, perspectives are signi…
A Very Blinkered View: Adoption and the Care of Children
Transracial Adoption in Britain: Politics, Ideology and Reality
Transracial adoptions by white parents are situated at the intersections of family and public policy. Debates on racial integration are juxtaposed with child rights and the private sphere of the family. In Britain, the practices of transracial adoption and ‘racial matching’ continue to invite fierce debate and discussion. Several factors, including the ongoing disproportionate representation of minority ethnic children in the public care system, …
Love and money: Payment, motivation and the fostering task
Although the payment of foster carers has attracted greater attention in recent writing and research, coverage of the issues has been limited. In this study, based on interviews with 20 female carers, the place of payment within foster care is explored in greater depth. The focus is on charting how carers perceive their task as ‘parenting’ or ‘job’, whether and how they experience payment as compensation or as an appropriate reward for their skil…
What is work? Insights from the evolution of state foster care
This article focuses on state foster care as a case study in the (re)configuration and negotiation of boundaries between work and non-work. Foster care can be seen as occupying a liminal position between the domains of 'work' and 'family', requiring management of the tensions presumed to exist between competing value systems. Through a review of research and policy developments, the relevant boundary issues are contextualized and explored, drawin…
A Childhood on Paper: Managing Access to Child Care Files by Post-Care Adults
Although the potential importance of care-file information for those formerly in care has long been recognised, little is known about requests for access to such records, whether in terms of scale or how requests are dealt with. The survey reported here by Jim Goddard, Julia Feast and Derek Kirton was carried out to address this gap. It was conducted in two stages during 2004 and 2005. The first stage comprised a postal questionnaire to local aut…
After All These Years: Accessing Care Records
While there has been a growing body of research into the experiences of adopted people who approach agencies seeking information or contact with birth relatives, little is known about those formerly in care who access agency records. The findings here, reported by Derek Kirton, Erica Peltier and Elizabeth Webb, derive from a file analysis relating to adults previously in the care of The Children's Society who had sought access to their care recor…
Kinship by design’ in E ngland: Reconfiguring adoption from B lair to the coalition
Using E llen H erman's concept of ‘kinship by design’ ( KBD ), this paper analyses recent efforts to reform adoption in E ngland, arguing that they represent an attempt to curtail the powers of adoption professionals and their established practices of assessing and responding to risk. Examining policy contexts and relevant research, the paper looks at various facets of contemporary KBD in E ngland as they relate to adoptable children, the treatme…
Still the Poor Relations: Perspectives on Valuing and Listening to Foster Carers
There has long been debate regarding the treatment and status of foster carers, but this has gained added significance in the context of moves towards professionalisation and recognition of carers as part of the children's workforce. While research studies have often touched upon the extent to which foster carers feel valued, appreciated or members of a team, less attention has been given to the perspectives of social workers and managers. Drawin…
A Childhood on Paper: Accessing Care Records under the Data Protection Act 1998
Searching, Reunion and Transracial Adoption
Derek Kirton, Julia Feast and David Howe Report on findings from qualitative interviews with transracially adopted adults, carried out as part of a research project by The Children's Society. Findings show that those adopted transracially shared many experiences with other adopted people, including almost invariably feeling that they have gained from searching and/or reunion. For many transracially adopted people, issues of racial and ethnic iden…
Adoption wars: Inequality, child welfare and (social) justice
This article analyses the conflicts over adoption in England, focusing primarily on the reform programme during the years of coalition and subsequent Conservative governments, but recognising important historical antecedents and wider contexts. Various facets of adoption policy are considered, including processes through which children become available for adoption, alternative avenues for ‘permanence’, legal contestation, ‘openness’, approval of…
Neo-liberal racism: Excision, ethnicity and the Children and Families Act 2014
This article focuses on the removal in the Children and Families Act 2014 of the so-called ‘ethnicity clause’ relating to adoption. Reviewing the background to the contentious issue of adoption for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic children and the coalition’s drive to increase its scale, the article analyses the discursive resources deployed – especially during the Bill’s passage through Parliament – to justify, oppose or modify the legal change.…
Adoption by foster carers: A profile of interest and outcomes
This paper looks at the issue of adoption by foster carers and in particular its financial aspects. The findings stem from a wider study of remuneration and performance in foster care. Drawing on a survey of 1181 foster carers, this paper examines the characteristics of those who have considered adoption. The outcomes of such consideration, including the part played by financial concerns and anticipated loss of support in decisions to proceed wit…
Foster Carer Training: Resources, Payment and Support
This article by Kate Ogilvie, Derek Kirton and Jennifer Beecham examines key aspects of training for foster carers, using quantitative and qualitative data from a study of remuneration and performance in foster care. Three main issues are discussed: the training undertaken by foster carers and whether it is thought adequate; foster carer and supervising social worker views on NVQ level 3 training and payment for skills schemes; and how foster car…
A Suitable Case: Implementing Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care in an English Local Authority
This article by Derek Kirton and Cliff Thomas draws from a local evaluation of a multidimensional treatment foster care (MTFC) programme in England, focusing particularly on issues of implementation. These include experiences of working with the Oregon Social Learning model on which MTFC is based, its theory, philosophy and practices. The article also considers the translation of this model into a UK context and the associated questions of adapta…
Family budgets and public money: Spending fostering payments
In this second of two papers based on a study of payment issues within foster care, the focus is on expenditure. It is argued that the hybrid public/private nature of fostering gives rise to contradictory pressures for carers, including the status of maintenance payments as both part of family budgets and a form of delegated public expenditure. For example, carers are required in principle both to spend fixed amounts upon foster children and to t…
Exploring the Anti-professional Turn in English Foster Care: Implications for Policy, Practice and Research
Following decades in which professionalisation was widely assumed to be a permanent (and growing) feature of foster care in England, the government signalled a clear anti-professional turn in its 2018 publication Fostering Better Outcomes (FBOs). This rejected the notion that foster carers should be regarded as professionals and indicated that there should be a return to the term foster parent. This article analyses FBO, its feeder reports and ev…
("De)racializing "common sense: Media perspectives on adoption reform in England
Adoption of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic children has long been deeply controversial in the UK, with tensions over racial/ethnic matching and transracial adoption into white families respectively. Media organisations have been key participants in these struggles, as commentators but also campaigners, yet there has been negligible research into their framing of the issues. This article explores press coverage in five national newspapers (plus …
Neoliberalism, ‘race’ and child welfare
This article explores the significance of ‘race’ and ethnicity in the relationship between neoliberalism and child welfare in the UK, arguing that this has been somewhat marginal in both policy and academic discussion. It is based on a narrative review of key policy documents and research, and covers a range of services, from family support and child protection, to looked-after children and adoption. An overarching finding is that the influence o…
Foster Carers: Why They Stay and Why They Leave
Race, Adoption and Tomorrow's Social Workers
Derek Kirton summarises responses from student social workers to a questionnaire on attitudes to race and adoption. The respondents were mainly second-year Social Work (DipSW) students specialising in work with children and families. Two key findings emerged from the survey. Firstly, questions of race and adoption evoke very diverse responses, with an overall tendency towards ‘soft’ support for same-race adoption. Secondly, perspectives are signi…
A Very Blinkered View: Adoption and the Care of Children
Searching, Reunion and Transracial Adoption
Derek Kirton, Julia Feast and David Howe Report on findings from qualitative interviews with transracially adopted adults, carried out as part of a research project by The Children's Society. Findings show that those adopted transracially shared many experiences with other adopted people, including almost invariably feeling that they have gained from searching and/or reunion. For many transracially adopted people, issues of racial and ethnic iden…
Family budgets and public money: Spending fostering payments
In this second of two papers based on a study of payment issues within foster care, the focus is on expenditure. It is argued that the hybrid public/private nature of fostering gives rise to contradictory pressures for carers, including the status of maintenance payments as both part of family budgets and a form of delegated public expenditure. For example, carers are required in principle both to spend fixed amounts upon foster children and to t…
Love and money: Payment, motivation and the fostering task
Although the payment of foster carers has attracted greater attention in recent writing and research, coverage of the issues has been limited. In this study, based on interviews with 20 female carers, the place of payment within foster care is explored in greater depth. The focus is on charting how carers perceive their task as ‘parenting’ or ‘job’, whether and how they experience payment as compensation or as an appropriate reward for their skil…
After All These Years: Accessing Care Records
While there has been a growing body of research into the experiences of adopted people who approach agencies seeking information or contact with birth relatives, little is known about those formerly in care who access agency records. The findings here, reported by Derek Kirton, Erica Peltier and Elizabeth Webb, derive from a file analysis relating to adults previously in the care of The Children's Society who had sought access to their care recor…
Foster Carers: Why They Stay and Why They Leave
A Childhood on Paper: Accessing Care Records under the Data Protection Act 1998
Adoption by foster carers: A profile of interest and outcomes
This paper looks at the issue of adoption by foster carers and in particular its financial aspects. The findings stem from a wider study of remuneration and performance in foster care. Drawing on a survey of 1181 foster carers, this paper examines the characteristics of those who have considered adoption. The outcomes of such consideration, including the part played by financial concerns and anticipated loss of support in decisions to proceed wit…
Foster Carer Training: Resources, Payment and Support
This article by Kate Ogilvie, Derek Kirton and Jennifer Beecham examines key aspects of training for foster carers, using quantitative and qualitative data from a study of remuneration and performance in foster care. Three main issues are discussed: the training undertaken by foster carers and whether it is thought adequate; foster carer and supervising social worker views on NVQ level 3 training and payment for skills schemes; and how foster car…
Still the Poor Relations: Perspectives on Valuing and Listening to Foster Carers
There has long been debate regarding the treatment and status of foster carers, but this has gained added significance in the context of moves towards professionalisation and recognition of carers as part of the children's workforce. While research studies have often touched upon the extent to which foster carers feel valued, appreciated or members of a team, less attention has been given to the perspectives of social workers and managers. Drawin…
A Childhood on Paper: Managing Access to Child Care Files by Post-Care Adults
Although the potential importance of care-file information for those formerly in care has long been recognised, little is known about requests for access to such records, whether in terms of scale or how requests are dealt with. The survey reported here by Jim Goddard, Julia Feast and Derek Kirton was carried out to address this gap. It was conducted in two stages during 2004 and 2005. The first stage comprised a postal questionnaire to local aut…
The Adoption Process in England: A Guide for Children's Social Workers
A Suitable Case: Implementing Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care in an English Local Authority
This article by Derek Kirton and Cliff Thomas draws from a local evaluation of a multidimensional treatment foster care (MTFC) programme in England, focusing particularly on issues of implementation. These include experiences of working with the Oregon Social Learning model on which MTFC is based, its theory, philosophy and practices. The article also considers the translation of this model into a UK context and the associated questions of adapta…
Kinship by design’ in E ngland: Reconfiguring adoption from B lair to the coalition
Using E llen H erman's concept of ‘kinship by design’ ( KBD ), this paper analyses recent efforts to reform adoption in E ngland, arguing that they represent an attempt to curtail the powers of adoption professionals and their established practices of assessing and responding to risk. Examining policy contexts and relevant research, the paper looks at various facets of contemporary KBD in E ngland as they relate to adoptable children, the treatme…
Transracial Adoption in Britain: Politics, Ideology and Reality
Transracial adoptions by white parents are situated at the intersections of family and public policy. Debates on racial integration are juxtaposed with child rights and the private sphere of the family. In Britain, the practices of transracial adoption and ‘racial matching’ continue to invite fierce debate and discussion. Several factors, including the ongoing disproportionate representation of minority ethnic children in the public care system, …
What is work? Insights from the evolution of state foster care
This article focuses on state foster care as a case study in the (re)configuration and negotiation of boundaries between work and non-work. Foster care can be seen as occupying a liminal position between the domains of 'work' and 'family', requiring management of the tensions presumed to exist between competing value systems. Through a review of research and policy developments, the relevant boundary issues are contextualized and explored, drawin…
(In)Sufficient: Ethnicity and foster care in E nglish local authorities
This paper examines the place of ethnicity in local authority foster care in the context of the sufficiency duty to secure adequate local placements for looked after children. The analysis draws on two main sources, namely O ffice for S tandards in E ducation, C hildren's S ervices and S kills ( OFSTED's ) annual survey of fostering agencies and inspection reports for around half the local authority fostering services in E ngland. Sufficiency is …
Neo-liberal racism: Excision, ethnicity and the Children and Families Act 2014
This article focuses on the removal in the Children and Families Act 2014 of the so-called ‘ethnicity clause’ relating to adoption. Reviewing the background to the contentious issue of adoption for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic children and the coalition’s drive to increase its scale, the article analyses the discursive resources deployed – especially during the Bill’s passage through Parliament – to justify, oppose or modify the legal change.…
Neoliberalism, ‘race’ and child welfare
This article explores the significance of ‘race’ and ethnicity in the relationship between neoliberalism and child welfare in the UK, arguing that this has been somewhat marginal in both policy and academic discussion. It is based on a narrative review of key policy documents and research, and covers a range of services, from family support and child protection, to looked-after children and adoption. An overarching finding is that the influence o…
Still the ‘trusty anvil’: Media perspectives on adoption reform in England
Although media influence has long been recognised within adoption, there has been relatively little research into the nature of coverage. This article focuses on press articles from five UK national daily newspapers and their Sunday sister papers in the years 2010‒2014. This broadly coincides with the period of Coalition Government in the UK and its focus on adoption reform. Findings reveal strong support for the Government’s reform programme, it…
Adoption wars: Inequality, child welfare and (social) justice
This article analyses the conflicts over adoption in England, focusing primarily on the reform programme during the years of coalition and subsequent Conservative governments, but recognising important historical antecedents and wider contexts. Various facets of adoption policy are considered, including processes through which children become available for adoption, alternative avenues for ‘permanence’, legal contestation, ‘openness’, approval of…
("De)racializing "common sense: Media perspectives on adoption reform in England
Adoption of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic children has long been deeply controversial in the UK, with tensions over racial/ethnic matching and transracial adoption into white families respectively. Media organisations have been key participants in these struggles, as commentators but also campaigners, yet there has been negligible research into their framing of the issues. This article explores press coverage in five national newspapers (plus …
Adoption and Multiculturalism: Europe, the Americas and the Pacific edited by Jenny Heijun Willis, Tobias Hübinette and Indigo Willing (2020)
Exploring the Anti-professional Turn in English Foster Care: Implications for Policy, Practice and Research
Following decades in which professionalisation was widely assumed to be a permanent (and growing) feature of foster care in England, the government signalled a clear anti-professional turn in its 2018 publication Fostering Better Outcomes (FBOs). This rejected the notion that foster carers should be regarded as professionals and indicated that there should be a return to the term foster parent. This article analyses FBO, its feeder reports and ev…
Political science (22 works) · Child Welfare and Adoption (21 works) · Sociology (18 works) · Psychology (16 works) · Law (14 works) · Law (13 works) · Medicine (11 works) · Public relations (10 works) · Foster care (9 works) · Nursing (9 works)