Adoption UK

Adoption UK provides support, awareness and understanding for those parenting or supporting children who cannot live with their birth parents. All adopted children have suffered the loss of being separated from their birth parents, often as a result of neglect or abuse. Parenting a traumatised child requires a different kind of parenting and adoptive parents need support to do this.

The Adoption UK helpline is often the first port of call for adopters in need of support. Last year alone it received over 5,000 calls – many from families in crisis where breakdown of the adoption was a real possibility. Helpline advisors offer support on a wealth of adoption-related issues, including attachment, early trauma and how to access vital support services. It is a service that can make all the difference to successful outcomes for adopted children.

5,000 children were adopted last year in the UK and another 3,000 are still waiting for adoption. Children Who Wait is Adoption UK’s trusted family-finding service. It works closely with local authorities across the UK to help find forever families for those children waiting for adoption – especially those deemed ‘harder to place’ such as older children, sibling groups and children with disabilities.