Adoption East Midlands newsletter March 2023

Understanding the importance of birth family contact and the impact this has on an adopted young person’s sense of identity, has been gaining more national attention in recent years. Fuelled by research conducted by Professor Elsbeth Neil, at the University of East Anglia, more and more adoption agencies have been working together to understand how positive contact with birth family can strengthen an adoptee’s sense of identity, and bolster communication within adoptive families.

Chaired by our very own Head of Service, Shelagh Mitchell, regional adoption agencies across the midlands have been collaborating over the last year to listen to adoptive voices and share ideas and best practices. This is all to support more meaningful keeping in touch arrangements, which has led to us introducing new areas of focus within our offer of support.

At Adoption Support we know every family is different, and every adopted child needs a different kind of contact with their birth family. We’ve been working closely with our adopters and adopted young people, who have shared their feelings around yearly Letterbox contact not being enough as they grow up.

With this in mind, we’re excited to be able to offer consultations to families who want to think about more creative and direct ways adoptees can connect with their birth families. These will be with our Adoption Support Social Worker, Bev, who will be here to offer guidance, structure, and security as you explore more ways you can keep in touch with birth family.

We’re very grateful to Maggie, an adoptive mum, who has shared her experience around the work we’ve done to facilitate a more meaningful relationship between her daughter and her birth dad.

Maggie’s comments reflect the complexities and uncertainties there are for adoptive families considering 'doing something a bit different', but also the absolute benefit to her daughter of us being able to support this, and how positive it has been for her emotional wellbeing and sense of identity.

We’re very excited to introduce our new Birth Family Support team. Consisting of an advanced practitioner and family support workers, our team is here to support birth families throughout their child’s adoption journey, whether it be pre or post birth order.

Support for birth parents and family members can range from helping birth parents come to terms with the adoption plan decision, to helping birth family members write their Letterbox letters or preparing for more creative keeping in touch arrangements.

This service is offered to birth families whose children were known to Nottinghamshire County Council, Nottingham City Council, and Derby City Council, and have been referred to us directly by their child’s permanence team social worker. Families can also self-refer by contacting our information line. Birth families of children known to Derbyshire can request support from Derbyshire County Council directly by contacting 01629 533190.

Visit our website below for more details about the support we offer and how to contact our information line.

Finally, our young people’s events are back for the April Easter holidays. These are proving more and more popular every time we run them so we strongly urge you to book your child’s place now to avoid disappointment.

Take a look at our upcoming events to find out how to book