Since 2015 over 25,000 looked after children have entered adoptive placements in England. Estimates suggest that 92% of these children entered care due to experiences aynonymous with the prodromal stages of developmental trauma. It is therefore critical for adoptive families to have access to successful post-adoption therapeutic support strategies that demonstrate efficacy in practice-based settings. Therefore, the current service evaluation aimed to evaluate the success of a brief Theraplay®-based neuro-collaborative therapeutic package focusing on reducing the trauma presentations in adoptive children within adoptive families. Between September 2017 and January 2019, the effectiveness of a ten week therapeutic intervention was evaluated utilising a within subject pretest-posttest design with 47 families. The intervention included one hour of family therapy based on the principles of Theraplay®, one hour of therapeutic re-parenting training for parents, and one hour of sensory integration and mindfulness activities for children. Therapeutic outcomes were measured using the TSCYC, CBCL, BRIEF-2, and ACC. Significant reductions in difficulties were reported in levels of anxiety, anger, post-traumatic stress arousal, sexual concerns, social problems, thought problems, inhibiting impulses, self-monitor, emotional control, behavioural regulation, and non-reciprocal interactions. This service evaluation suggests that the brief Theraplay®-based neuro-collaborative therapeutic package shows promise in reducing the behavioural presentations of developmental trauma in adopted children. The evaluation provides support and awareness for the use of neuro-collaborative Theraplay®-based interventions as post-adoption support strategies.

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

Seminal / Historically Significant Theories
Skills & Method
Special Topics
Cultural and Social Diversity

Jack Purrington PhD

Appearances