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We investigated risk and facilitating factors related to families’ change in finances and employment over 5 years following adoption of a child from local authority care in a prospective, longitudinal study of children placed for adoption between 2014 and 2015 (N = 96). Parents completed questionnaires at approximately 5, 21, 36, 48 and 60 months post-placement. We used time series analysis to examine the impact of child (e.g. pre-placement experiences, mental health), family structure (e.g. number of siblings, parent relationship status), and parent (e.g. mental health) factors on change in household income and parent employment status after adoption. We also examined the tendency for parents to comment on employment and finances and the emotional valence of their comments to gauge their concern about their circumstances. Children’s mental health problems were associated with primary caregivers reducing their time spent in employment and parents’ tendency to comment on their financial and work circumstances. Children who experienced more moves in care were more likely to have a primary caregiver not in full-time work, as were children with higher prosocial behaviour scores. Being in full-time work was associated with parents’ symptoms of anxiety. We also detected associations between structural features of the family and changes in income and employment. This study represents one of the first empirical investigations of factors associated with the socioeconomic features of adoptive families’ lives and informs ongoing discussion regarding the support needs of families and the timing, nature, and delivery of post-adoption professional services.

Background Depression is typically more common in females and rates rise around puberty. However, studies of children and adolescents suggest that depression accompanied by conduct problems may represent a different subtype not characterised by a female preponderance, with differing risk factors and genetic architecture compared to pure‐depression. This study aimed to identify aetiologically distinct profiles of depressive symptoms, distinguished by the presence or absence of co‐occurring conduct problems. Methods Latent profile analysis was conducted on a school sample of 1648 children (11–12 years) and replicated in a sample of 2006 twins (8–17 years). Results In both samples pure‐depressive and conduct‐depressive profiles were identified. The pure‐depressive profile was associated with female gender, while the conduct‐depressive profile was associated with lower cognitive ability but not with gender. Twin analyses indicated possible differences in genetic aetiology. Conclusions There was evidence for aetiologically heterogeneous depression symptom profiles based on the presence or absence of co‐occurring conduct problems.