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01244 390 938
Modern adoption is changing and recognises the need for children to have connections to their past, when safe to do so.
Adoption is not a line in the sand, adopted people shouldn’t have to close the door on all connections to their life from before they were adopted. For the person who is adopted, it is one life – and issues around identity and belonging can come to the fore.
Safe and well managed contact with birth family members (and other people who were important in their earlier life such as foster carers) can be enormously beneficial for an adopted child or young person. It can help them understand their life story and stay connected to important people in their lives. Adult adoptees lived experience and research tells us how beneficial this is for adopted adults’ wellbeing and identity; however, contact must be meaningful and safe for the child and all parties need to agree at an early stage.
For this reason, contact with birth family is increasingly common.
At Adoption Matters, we talk openly and honestly about direct contact with all our prospective adopters during the early stages of their assessment and the importance of how this may impact adopted children. But again, we also know that direct contact is not appropriate for all cases, and it has to be in the best interests of the child / children.
Contact can either be direct (in person) or indirect (via letters, photographs or digital exchanges). ‘Letterbox contact’ as it is often called, with birth family is extremely common. Where children have siblings in other placements, it is highly likely their Adoption Order will include some degree of contact with each other – either direct or indirect
Many adopted children are curious to meet birth parents and other birth family members before they are 18 years old when they are able to access their records. Social media makes this more common.
We offer training and ongoing support around contact, so please do reach out to us with your concerns or worries.
