Using video feedback to support adoptive families in the UK: An exploratory pilot study

Abstract

Once children are placed with adoptive families, their new parent(s) must learn to understand their unique communications and respond sensitively to them. This is essential for building the bond between parent and child and laying down successful foundations for lasting placements. The Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting and Sensitive Discipline (VIPP–SD) is a parental sensitivity-focused intervention offered to all adoptive families in the Netherlands. This small-scale study considers the experience of adoptive families offered a version of VIPP–SD adapted for adoptive families in the UK and explores the difference that this type of post-placement support can make to them. It outlines the policy framework around this area and provides a summary of existing research, showing the impact of video intervention on parental sensitivity and attunement. The experience of the intervention, as described by the participating adoptive parents, suggests that there are clear benefits in offering it to adoptive families in the UK.