Adoption Matters leads the way in adoption agency partnerships

Leading adoption charity and agency, Adoption Matters has been successful in securing partnerships in 4 regional adoption agency parternships announced by the Government today.

The regional adoption agencies are groups of Local Authorities and voluntary adoption agencies (VAAs) coming together with one single purpose – to place children waiting for adoption with their forever family without delay.

The Government states that, at the moment, adoption is happening at too small and localised a scale. One study showed that in around 1 in 3 cases, children were left waiting longer than necessary due to councils’ reluctance to look outside their immediate area for the right family – a further delay to a life full of love and stability.

Encouraging local authorities and VAAs to join forces will act as a triple win, giving agencies a greater pool of approved adopters to improve matching, making vital support services more widely available to adoptive families whilst better targeting the recruitment of adopters.

Adoption Matters has been successful with the Yorkshire & Humber consortium as one of 6 VAAs working with 15 local authorities and in partnership with Caritas Care, 3 out of 4  regional agencies in the North West working with 16 Local Authorities.

Adoption Matters Chief Executive Norman Goodwin, CBE commented: “We are delighted to be involved with a number of regional agency projects.  We have shown through our partnership with WWiSH (Warrington, Wigan & St Helens Councils) that this works to assist and enhance the adoption process for both the adopter and more importantly the child”.

The Government also announced that more than 2,000 families have received life-changing help through the Adoption Support Fund worth over £7 million in the past 6 months.  Thousands of adoptive families are now accessing essential therapy services to help their children come to terms with previous traumatic experiences and settle into their new lives. All the Local Authorities in England have made applications to the fund, including a number accessing services through the Centre for Adoption Support, one of a number of innovative services delivered in partnership by Adoption Matters and Caritas Care.

Adoption Matters will be working with the following regional agencies / local authorities:

Local authority lead 

Contact us on 0300 123 1066 for further information.

Any media enquiries contact Jenny MacQuire, Marketing Manager on 01244 390 938.