Supporting Adoptive Families: Participant Perceptions of a Statewide Peer Mentoring and Support Program

Abstract

Recently, state child welfare systems have begun to acknowledge the challenges faced by adoptive families, and have responded with specialized programs to support and stabilize these families and prevent placement disruption and adoption dissolution. Adoption Support for Kentucky (ASK) is a consortium of parent-led adoption support groups, operating in 32 locations. To date, few published evaluation studies of such programs exist. This article reports results from six focus groups (n = 42) and a statewide survey (n = 251) of ASK participants. Study findings indicated that participants attended meetings primarily for emotional support and information exchange. They reported high levels of satisfaction with ASK, and many believed the program had stabilized their families and prevented an adoption disruption.