A critical exploration of current research relating to motivational factors of adoptive parents

Background The Children and Families Act (2014) set out to address the large number of looked after children awaiting placement, one method of doing was to increase the recruitment numbers for non-kinship adoptive parents. In order to do this, the motivational factors for those considering non-kinship adoption should be explored. Methodology A literature review using a systematic approach was employed. Electronic databases were searched using predefined terms (e.g. ' adoption', 'motivation' ). Literature was then subjected to inclusion and exclusion criteria, and asked critical questions composed by the researcher. 8 pieces of relevant and appropriate literature were then selected for further analysis within the review. Results Thematic analysis of the 8 pieces of literature found three main themes relating to the motivations to adopt; infertility, experience of adoption and altnristic motives. There was some discrepancy in the categorisation of motivations within the literature, leading to overlap of the three main themes. Conclusions Motivations are often complex and overlapping, however a systems theory approach can be a useful method of conceptualising motivations. This involved defining the themes of motivations as interacting systems which were either closed or opened. With this in mind, recommendations for adoption practice were made based on each system/motivation in order to support recruitment and assessment of prospective adoptive parents.