Exploring the Lived Experiences of Compassion Fatigue in Parents who Adopt Children with Trauma Histories

The challenges of caring for children with early life adversity have been identified as contributing to feelings of compassion fatigue (CF)-an emotional disconnection resulting from repeated exposure to another's trauma. Although extensive studies have focused on contributors to trauma-inducing workplace stress and well-being, research on trauma-related stress in the home, especially in adoptive parent populations, is relatively underexplored. This study aimed to understand how adoptive parents make sense of their experiences of parenting adopted children, identify core components of CF, understand parents' perceptions of contributing factors and explore wider relational impacts. Parents were recruited from Adoption UK via email invite. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with twelve parents to form a holistic picture of adoptive parents' experiences. Data were analysed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis. Findings yielded three overarching and interrelated themes: (i) a parent not a therapist; (ii) strained connections; and (iii) support is a mirage. Findings support recent literature highlighting the reality of CF in adoptive parents and the need to develop more preventative structures and responsive systems of support adapted to the needs of adopted children but also the unique needs of their families to help prevent mental health crises across the family and adoption breakdowns. Adoptive parents raising children who have come from challenging and traumatic family backgrounds may experience stress levels greater than biological parents. Indirect exposure to and a lack of knowledge of their adopted child's trauma may impact their ability to parent and lead to feelings of emotional exhaustion, burnout and disconnect from the child, also known as compassion fatigue. Many studies have explored stress and well-being at work, but there are few that discuss stress within the adoptive family home and the direct impact on parent mental health. This study focuses on the views of twelve adoptive parents and their understanding of the challenges of caring for a child with a complex life history, what these challenges look like to them and the wider impact of these. Parent narratives highlighted the ongoing struggles they face and the need for better support to prevent and respond to not only the needs of the adopted child but also the needs of the entire family to help avert parent mental health crises and possible adoption breakdowns.