Contact between Children Placed Away from Home and their Birth Parents: Ryburn’s ‘Reanalysis’ Analysed

Abstract

Ryburn has critically reviewed our article on the research issues in the study of contact between children placed away from home and their birth parents (Quinton, Rushton, Dance, & Mayes, 1997). We argue that Ryburn seriously misrepresented our position. He also presented a ‘reanalysis’ of the studies we discussed, supplemented with references to other studies that we did not quote, which aimed to show that our conclusions were wrong. In this article we respond to Ryburn’s critique and raise questions concerning his interpretation of data and methods of reviewing that suggest that his conclusions from the research are unreliable.