Support available for adopters | How we can help

There is a range of adoption support services available to children adopted from care. Adoption@Heart’s adoption support offer starts at the very beginning of the adoption process and continues throughout childhood from early years to teenage and beyond. We provide a wide and extensive range of adoption support services for adopters and their children, birth families and adopted people.

Due to early developmental trauma and separation, adopted children have often developed certain coping mechanisms that means they can find it difficult to form relationships and display challenging behaviour.

You will have learned various techniques during your preparation training on how to cope with this but as you get to know your child you will become aware of the complexities of their issues.

It’s important to recognise at this point that this is the norm and that there are a range of support and therapies available to help you and your child overcome these difficulties.

Adoption Support and Training

Whatever your level of parenting experience, we can help you use your life experiences and skills to provide a safe, loving home for a child whatever challenges they throw at you.

We have developed our adoption support package which includes a training programme delivered virtually, which makes it accessible for local and interagency families. You will find out training package here with details of how to book a place.

Support groups

Support for adoptive parents/families Please come along and join us in our warm, friendly, informal evenings. It will give you the opportunity to meet up with other adopters and build up your support networks. In addition we will be having regular guest speakers to discuss various topics in adoption such as contact, theraplay, attachments etc.

The groups will take place every second Tuesday of the month, 7-8.30pm on the following dates:

Tuesday 14th November, 7-8.30pm
Tuesday 12th December, 7-8.30pm

These sessions will be virtual until we are able to host them face-to-face.

For more information, or to attend one of the events, please contact your social worker or call the duty line on 01902 553 818.

We look forward to meeting you.

Young People’s Group

We are passionate about providing adopted children and young people with a safe space where they can socialise with their peers, have fun, make new friends, and talk about things that are important to them.

For more information, including dates and times, visit our Young Adoptee Group pages

Children’s guide to adoption

Our children’s guides are designed to help adopted children understand adoption and what is happening on their journey in to their new family. They also help children understand what support is available to them, how Adoption@Heart fits in to their adoption journey, and where to go if they need more help or support.

Our children’s guides are available to download below:

Children’s Guide to Understanding Adoption (PDF 610kb)
Children’s Guide to Adoption Support (PDF 447kb)

Support for adoptive families

We recognise that it can be difficult to ask for help, if you think your family would benefit from more specific therapeutic support, please contact us rather than waiting for a crisis, via the duty phone number: 01902 553 818.

A referral for adoption support can be made by an adoptive parent/carer or a professional (consent must be obtained).

An assessment of support needs may be undertaken by a member of our Adoption Support team to identify what services would suit you best.

Adoption Support Fund

The government’s Adoption Support Fund (ASF) can be used to fund specialist therapeutic support for your family.

You will need an assessment of your support needs to access the Fund.

To request this please contact us via the duty phone number: 01902 553 818.

Education Support

Many adopted children can find school difficult. They may display complex behaviour due to the trauma they experienced at critical times in their development. Consequently, the new environment may make them feel threatened and unsafe and this disrupts their learning.

As such adopted children can benefit from a range of educational and funding support to help them reach their potential. This includes:

priority access to schools as well as choose which school best meets your child’s needs. (More information on GOV.UK at school admissions and the school admissions code)
a request of an assessment of your child’s special educational needs from your local authority.
free early education for your child from the age of two
Early Years Pupil Premium – £300 of extra funding for every adopted 3 and 4 year old in early years education.
Pupil Premium Plus – £2300 of extra funding for state-funded schools to help meet each adopted child’s educational needs. Please note - PP+ for previously looked after children is allocated directly to and managed by the school and the onus is on the parent, carer or guardian of the child to make the school aware

Virtual School Heads (VSH) have a duty to promote the educational achievement of all children looked after and previously looked after. They can provide advice.

Support for adoptive parents/families We know how traumatic losing a child can be. We know that you will always be family to your child. We aim to help you improve the outcome for any future children you may have.

Family Ties Service

Family Ties is the support service for birth parents and relatives who are impacted by a child having a plan of adoption.

If social workers are making plans for the adoption of your child, you may be confused and hurt and want to talk to someone independent. You might want advice about what’s happening and have someone explain how the process works, what will happen next and what this will mean for you and your child.

Referrals can be accepted by Family Ties from the point that a plan of adoption is being considered for your child. We can help explain what is happening through the adoption process at each stage, assist in writing letters through a Keep in Touch arrangement and help prepare information for the child’s file. We also offer advice and guidance to birth parents going through the process and arrange groups with people who have had similar experiences.

Our Birth Parent Support Workers have significant experience in supporting birth parents who have experienced the loss of their children to adoption. We work with birth parents of all ages and backgrounds, whether they have recently experienced, or are in the process of experiencing, the adoption of their children, or if the children were adopted decades ago because of the stigma of being unmarried parents.

If you would like to make a referral for Family Ties, either as a birth parent or a professional, please complete a referral form.

If you would like to speak to us before making a referral, you can call 01902 553 818 and ask to speak to the Duty Worker, or email familyties@adoptionatheart.org.uk.

Keeping in Touch Service can:

Help write a keeping in touch letter. Most people find the first one particularly difficult.
We understand that adopted children benefit from having an understanding of their family history: therefore, we can also support you in maintaining indirect contact with the adoptive family through our post adoption contact service, which involves an exchange of letters between the adopters and the birth family, on an annual basis.
This service enables recent, up-to-date information about birth families to be shared with adoptive parents and communicated sensitively with the child. Knowing that their birth families are still interested and care about them can significantly help with a child’s development and mental wellbeing. Birth families can also be reassured that the child is happy and secure.
If you are a birth relative enquiring about post adoption contact please contact our duty worker on: 01902 553 818.

Accessing your Adoption Records

We know that finding and accessing adoption records can be a difficult and emotional time. Deciding to find out more about your birth family is a huge step. If you are an adopted adult and live in one of our three local authorities (Dudley, Walsall or Wolverhampton) or Sandwell Children’s Trust, we can help you find out more about your birth family history.

This involves supporting you to access your adoption records and providing information and advice about how to trace members of your birth family, if you make that the decision to do so.

You must be over the age of 18 years to access your records. It is advisable that any adopted adult accessing their adoption records for further information discusses this with an experienced post-adoption support professional. Accessing this information may trigger difficult feelings and emotions and we would recommend taking some time to process the information that has been shared with you.

If you were adopted before 12th November 1975 and don’t know your birth name, you will be required to attend a ‘counselling’ interview with our post adoption support team to receive the birth record information needed to apply for a copy of your birth certificate.

You can find details of how to apply for this information on the adoption records section of the Government’s website. Just name Adoption@Heart as the Adoption Support Agency you would like to receive the information, and the General Register Office will send this to us so we can arrange to meet with you.

If you were adopted before 12th November 1975 and do know your birth name, you may simply apply for your original birth certificate using the Government’s birth certificate application form.

If you were adopted after 12th November 1975 you will not be required to attend a ‘counselling’ interview, but this is still available to you and we would often advise attending a meeting with us as this process is a difficult time and our experienced post-adoption support professionals are skilled in helping you.

To make a referral please complete a referral form.

If you would like to speak to us before making a referral, you can call 01902 553 818 and ask to speak to the Duty Worker, or email accesstoadoptionrecords@adoptionatheart.org.uk.

Tracing Birth Relatives

You may have been looking for your relatives for some time or this could be the first time that you have started your search. There will be a lot of information for you to take in and a lot you will need to provide if you are able to. We would always suggest talking this through with someone close to you who can support you along your journey.

Our experienced post-adoption support professionals will do their utmost to answer questions you may have and will be open and honest with you during every step of the way. The process of locating and establishing contact with birth relatives is provided via Intermediary Agencies. Adoption@Heart is not a registered intermediary agency, so whilst we can support you to access your adoption records and provide advice about tracing and making contact, we cannot locate or get in touch with relatives for you. There are several Intermediary Agencies who provide this service and it is recommended that you use such a service to contact birth relatives on your behalf as this will enable you to receive valuable practical and emotional support. Here you can search for Intermediary Agencies. Intermediary Services should only be provided by Ofsted-registered Adoption Support Agencies.

For Professionals

If you are professional supporting a service user who is accessing an Intermediary Service, and the adoptee was placed for adoption by Walsall, Dudley or Wolverhampton Council, or Sandwell Children’s Trust, you may wish to get in touch to request our view, as the Appropriate Adoption Agency, on the provision of an intermediary service.

To request this, please complete the referral form.