Post Adoption Support

The value of post adoption support has been recognised more in recent years as being crucial to the success of adoptive placements. A child's need for explanation and knowledge about his background may grow as he gets older. His behaviour may increasingly reflect the impact of poor or abusive parenting in his early years.

We will support all adoptive placements through our own services or those of a family's adoption agency.

The Local Authority also has a responsibility to the birth parents of children placed for adoption and will provide support and counselling to them.

We operate a Post Adoption Letter Box service to facilitate the exchange of photographs and letters between adopters and birth family members.

The Post Adoption Letter Box Scheme

This is the means by which information will be exchanged between yourself and your child's adoptive family. The scheme is run by the Letter Box Coordinator who will try to answer any queries you may have about the scheme or pass you onto a Social Worker who will try to help you. If you have not made an agreement to either give or receive information at the time of your child's placement it may be possible to arrange one sometime later. We would be prepared to look into this for you.

It should be pointed out that the agreements mentioned above are not legally binding and are not formally linked with any Court Order.

Post adoption services in this area

This agency is now developing post-adoption services more comprehensively and is prepared to work in many ways to assist and support:

• Adopted children and their adoptive families
• Adopted adults
• Birth parents and grandparents
• Siblings of adopted children