Adoption help and support

There are a range of support services to adoptive families, adopted children and birth relatives. If you want help but you are not sure what you need you can ask us for an assessment of your support needs.

Adoption support fund

We can apply to the Adoption Support Fund to obtain funding for Therapeutic support for children and their adopters. If you think you or your child or children need such support please contact the adoption service where in the first instance we will complete an Adoption Support Assessment to identify what support is required and if applicable apply to the fund on your behalf to secure those services.

For more information visit the First 4 Adoption website

The range of support services provided includes:

a letterbox service and mediation for the exchange of information between adopted children and birth family members
mediating, facilitating and supervising direct contact arrangements.
services to support family relationships
assessments for support services including financial support
a support group for adopters
workshops for adopted young people
training workshops for adopters
social events
individual social work support to adoptive families through an adoption social worker
Access to specialist services including educational psychology, health and the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS).

View the documents below to learn more about the processes and support available:

Access to your files

Adults who have been adopted can request access to their original adoption files which hold information about the circumstances of their adoption. We will be able to help you with this and offer you support throughout this process.

If you would like to request access to your personal file you can contact the Adoption Service to have a confidential discussion. Alternatively you can request this formally in writing.

If you prefer, we may put you in touch with a adoption support agency called After Adoption. To contact After Adoption you can telephone them on 0800 0568 578.

If you require any further information please contact the Adoption Service.

Help for birth families

We offer help, advice and support on all aspects of adoption to birth families, both during the adoption process and afterwards.

An Adoption Social Worker would be pleased to offer help and advice or if you prefer, we can also put you in touch with a voluntary adoption support agency called After Adoption Yorkshire. This confidential service is paid for and arranged by the local authority to give independent advice and support to birth parents whose children are being adopted or have been adopted. If you wish to contact After Adoption Yorkshire you can the PAC-UK website or phone them on 0113 2302100.

Our own Adoption Service is able to give advice to you about how to keep in touch with your child after adoption via the Contact Letter Box Service.

Also, we will be pleased to work with you to help you contribute to your child’s life story book which is a special book of photos, memories, stories of a child’s birth family members and history. This is to help explain to your child about their birth family, where they have lived and why adoption is their plan.

Birth family support group

There is a Birth family Support Group every six weeks. It offers an opportunity to meet with other families going through the experience of their family member being adopted and information, support and advice from two experienced and sensitive Adoption Social Workers. It is in a confidential setting and all Birth Families are welcome. Please contact us if you would like further information.

For more information read these helpful documents:

Search and reunion

We offer support to adults who have been adopted as well as birth parents and families of adoptive children searching for each other. Each case is treated with care to ensure the views of all people involved are taken into consideration as well as maintaining confidentiality throughout the process. There are detailed rules about this process.

For adoptive adults we will assist you to access birth records and give advice on tracing birth relatives. We can also assist birth families when searching for adults who were adopted and offer support in managing reunions with each other.

If this is something you would like more information about then please contact us using the contact details at the bottom of this page for a confidential discussion. When phoning ask to speak to a Adoption Duty Social Worker.

If you would prefer, we can put you in touch with a adoption support agency called After Adoption. North East Lincolnshire has an arrangement with this specialist organisation to provide confidential support services to local people with regard to file access and also search and reunion work. This is a particular area of expertise for this organisation and the service user feedback we receive is excellent.

If you would like to contact After Adoption you can telephone them on 0800 0568 578.

If you require any further information you can contact the Adoption Service.