Memories, Childhood and Professional Power: Accessing the Care Files of Former Children in Care

Dr Jim Goddard is Senior Lecturer in Social Policy at the University of Bradford . His main research interests are in the fields of leaving care and adults who grew up within the care system. He has written on education and care, leaving care legislation and wider policy developments with respect to looked after children. He is the joint author of Contemporary Child Care Policy and Practice (Macmillan, 2004) and joint editor of The Politics of Childhood: International Perspectives, Contemporary Developments (Macmillan, 2004). Julia Feast is Policy, Research and Development Consultant for the British Agencies for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF). She has played a key role, over many years, in highlighting the needs of adults who were adopted as children. She has several publications in that field. Dr Derek Kirton is Lecturer in Social Policy and Social Work and the University of Kent . He has a wide-ranging and longstanding research interest in social work, particularly in relation to adoption and foster care. He has written widely on the subject of transracial and intercountry adoption.