Life story work is vital for adopted children to help them learn about their history and understand why it wasn’t safe for them to live with their birth family. When we first learned about it and letterbox contact, in my head I imagined every local authority and adoption agency had a big red letterbox in it’s reception where contact letters were posted by adopters and birth families.
Obviously, it doesn’t quite work like that. But until relatively recently, it was the case that physical letters were sent the post-adoption support teams who then checked and sent them out to the appropriate people. This was obviously a time-consuming exercise and one that often meant contact letters were delayed or even lost in the process.
That was our experience of letterbox contact in the first few years of our daughter being home. We started the process and sent our letter in July, but it was often nearly Christmas before we got copies of any replies. With offices relocating and team changes, and moving into different buildings, it’s easy to see how vital letters can become lost.
We live in a digital era, so it makes sense that precious memories and life story information moves with the times and becomes digital too. Digital information can be extremely secure and a much easier way to access information quickly. So, I was delighted when I was contacted by Virtual Memory Box, who shared details of their new service which is being piloted in the North East.
Virtual Memory Box
A digital innovation, already changing the lives of children in care, is now expanding to work with Regional Adoption Agencies (RAAs) to help more young people and families.
Virtual Memory Box, a tool that keeps memories safe and secure, is now working with Adopt North East to pilot the solution for RAAs, to support communication between adopted young people and their birth families.
Developed by Newcastle-based software house Nebula Labs, and successfully piloted with South Tyneside Council, it became obvious that Virtual Memory Box could benefit all children in care. Local authorities across England are now signed up as partners, offering the platform to thousands of looked-after children.
Adopt North East is the largest adoption agency in the North East. Since it was set up in 2018, Adopt North East has found hundreds of forever families for children and supported over a thousand adoptive families.
Using a virtual memory box in adoption
Nik Flavell, Head of Service for Adopt North East, said, “We know from research and through talking to young people that they would much prefer to use a digital tool to share and receive information about their family to help them develop and understand their identity.
“We are really excited to be the first RAA to partner with Virtual Memory Box to develop a secure, efficient and user-friendly tool specifically for those involved in adoption. We already work with North Tyneside Council, who use Virtual Memory Box to support their young people in care, so we know the positive impact it has had there, and we think it will be a game changer for us.”
Christian Brock, Virtual Memory Box MD said, “We are delighted to be working with Adopt North East on this development – our aim is to make Virtual Memory Box as accessible and useful for as many looked after children and their carers as possible. We are working with many local authorities across the country to make it easy for young people in care, and the adults in their life, to keep precious memories safe and secure. Now, to be working with Adopt North East and other RAAs nationwide is the next logical and exciting step in our mission.”
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