Social workers invite networking sites to collaborate over threat to adopted children

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By Lockerz

Can it be that the children are so desperatly unhappy at being snatched from their birth family that they are desperat to regain contact.

Grandparents Apart UK

 

By Joe LepperThursday, 05 January 2012

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Social workers and social networking sites must work closely to protect adopted children from unplanned contact made by birth parents, according to social care groups.

Abusive birth parents using social networking sites to contact their adopted children. Image: iStock/posed by model

Such contact can be hugely disruptive to families and in some cases put young people in danger if their birth parent had previously abused or neglected them.
The British Association of Adoption and Fostering (BAAF), the British Association of Social Workers (BASW) and The College of Social Work are among groups calling for regular meetings between social workers, adopted children and social networking sites on security issues.
Nushra Mansuri, BASW professional lead, said such meetings would help social networking sites, such as Facebook, better understand the specific security issues adoptive families and adopted children face.

She added: "One of the issues that could be discussed is how Facebook and others give information to adopted children about the risks. It could emerge that a simple message in the style of a public health warning won’t work. Instead there could be ways that more practical information can be given.

"Answers should be made clear through Facebook to questions such as what should young people do if a birth parent contacts them."
Mansuri is set to talk to members of the Child Centred Care Alliance – an umbrella lobby group for the care sector – to see if internet security and adoption issues can be raised when the alliance meets with children’s minister Tim Loughton later this month.
Julia Feast, an adoption, search and reunion consultant at BAAF, would like to see Facebook either publish or provide links to existing advice for adopted children on the risks of using social networking websites.
This includes BAAF’s adoption, search and reunion website which contains a top 10 tips section on staying safe online and another on making contact with birth relatives.
Feast said: "Advice is already out there. It would be good to see that readily available on Facebook and others sites."
BAAF advice includes ensuring only a young person’s friends can view their profile and making sure that birth parents are aware of the emotional distress that can be caused by looking up their children’s profile and other information.
Social worker and College of Social Work spokeswoman Linda James added that another problem is adopted children making unplanned contact with birth parents through social networking sites.
She said: "The curiosity that young people have for looking up their birth parents on social networking sites can be hard to resist. It is important that they are aware of the risks and Facebook can do more to promote that."