Birth parent support: PAC-UK
Parents who have their children removed from their care are among the most vulnerable in our society. They often have a history of experiencing poor parenting themselves which has led to poor life choices. I’m very lucky that I had the kind of childhood that I did. It gave me the tools and skills to […]
Adoption stories: interview with birth mum Sammy
This article of the year is a very honest interview with Sammy, a birth mum. Her daughter was taken into care and subsequently adopted. Birth parent’s voices are the ones that often get lost in the noise and aren’t heard, so I’m very grateful to Sammy for sharing her experience. You can follow her on […]
Adoption stories: Contact and life story interview with birth mum Sammy
This week’s interview about contact and life story work is with birth mum Sammy. I’m really grateful she’s agreed to give us an insight into things from her perspective. It’s so important that adopters understand the importance of contact for birth families. It’s sometimes the case that they don’t feel able to reply to our […]
Adoption stories: Contact and life story interview with Hayley
This week’s contact and life story interview is with Hayley. She shares how she and her husband manage contact and the types of things they have started to explore in terms of life story work with their young daughter. Introduce yourself and your family I’m Hayley, my husband Lee and I adopted our daughter when […]
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 […]
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 […]
Indirect contact: The settling in letter
I can’t begin to imagine what it is like being told by a court that I can’t parent my child. And then having to say goodbye to them, knowing I won’t see them again for many years. One thing adopters can do to help birth parents deal with this unimaginable time, is to make sure […]
Creating a life storybook: Storydo
Having an accurate and age-appropriate life storybook is really important to help our children understand their birth history. The standard of life storybooks provided by local authorities varies massively. Some are brilliant. Some are completely inadequate. We’ve been really lucky because both of our girl’s books are brilliant. They contain a fair amount of detail […]
Small Business Spotlight: Jane Miller, parenting coach
Jane Miller is a parenting coach and helps foster carers and adopters support their children in dealing with their early childhood experiences. In this article, she shares some of the horrific experiences she endured during her time with her birth mum and in foster care, and how she now uses them to support adopters and […]
Sliding doors
Have you seen the film “Sliding Doors” starring Gwyneth Paltrow? It’s about how life can sometimes turn out very differently if you miss a train, or take a wrong turn. The film starts with Gwyneth being sacked from her job and running to catch the train home. In one version she catches the train and […]