CoramBAAF: An introduction to life story work for adoptive parents
This article is all about adoption life story work. It’s written by Dr John Simmonds, Director of Policy, Research, and Development at CoramBAAF, the leading membership organisation for professionals, foster carers, and adopters. Life story work is a crucial part of an adopted child’s childhood. It helps them understand their birth history and their journey […]
Coram: Adoption activity days
When adopters are going through the matching process, they read the profile of potential matches and sometimes see a photograph. Usually, meeting the child in person doesn’t happen until the start of introductions. However, adoption activity days are being used more and more by some agencies which allow adopters to meet children waiting to be […]
Spotlight on: Coram
The next “Spotlight On” feature is Coram. This article is written by Sue Lowndes, managing director for adoption, with tips and information for people considering adoption. Beginning your adoption journey Many people are motivated to adopt because they want to offer a loving, permanent family to a child who has, or is likely to have, […]
Adoption over the decades: Coram
Adoption first became a legal order in England in 1926. Since then, the legislation and process have changed immeasurable to meet the needs of our ever-changing society. In the early days of adoption, up until the 1960s and 70s, the reasons children were adopted often stemmed from a child being born out of wedlock. This […]
Adopting a child with additional needs
The most recent statistics show that there were over 2000 children waiting to be adopted in 2022/23. Of those, many have additional needs. The sad truth is that having additional needs often means they wait, on average, 11 months longer in care than their peers. To address this concerning statistic, voluntary adoption agencies VAAs) across […]
Adoption stories: Contact and life story interview with Chris
The next series of interviews is about contact and life story work. Knowing about their birth history and learning to understand it is really important for adopted children. This post written by Dr John Simmonds, is a great introduction to life story work. I think knowing how important it is can sometimes place more pressure on […]
How are adopters matched to a child?
How we were matched Of all the parts of the adoption process, matching worried me the most. I couldn’t get my head round how our social worker would be able to pick a child that fitted our family. How could she? She’s wasn’t us. She’d spent a fair bit of time with us. But how […]
Adoption over the decades: Rebecca and Andy’s story
Next in the series of adoption stories shared by Coram is Rebecca and Andy’s experience. They are both aged 46 and adopted siblings Ellie and Freya when they were aged 6½ and 3½. Rebecca and Andy’s story The couple got together quite late in life and tried to have their own children. But they “knew […]
Adoption over the decades: Anthony’s story
The next in the series of adoption stories shared by Coram is Anthony. He is a 21-year-old university student, who grew up in London with his adoptive family. Anthony’s parents had two birth daughters aged 6 and 9 when they adopted him at 20 months, and five years later went on to adopt another son. […]
Adoption resources: Almond Blossom Nature Connections
This article is the second from Sarah Almond, sharing some of the highs and lows of her family’s adoption journey, and what inspired her to create Almond Blossom Nature Connections. You can read Sarah’s first article here which shares how her and her husband met their boys. What’s been the hardest part of your adoption […]