Support for Adopted Adults connected with our agency

Support for Adopted Adults – Step by Step Guide

STEP 1 –  Please contact us by completing our ENQUIRY FORM HERE and give as much information as you can. This information will help inform our post adoption support team in locating your records.

STEP 2 – We will contact you via email to acknowledge receipt of your enquiry as soon as you submit it online.  We will notify you when we can move forward with our work. Please note that the timescale for this can take up to 6 weeks depending on the demand for our support.

STEP 3 – We will then advise you of any further searches that need to be undertaken and direct you to an appropriate agency if required.

STEP 4 – Once we have located your information, we will discuss the next steps with you.  You may simply wish to have the information at this stage or you may be considering proceeding to making contact.

STEP 5 – If you decide that you would like make contact with a birth relative, we would recommend you approach a professional independent tracing service as this is something Adoption Matters do not offer.  We can discuss this in more detail.  Please note, this independent service will incur a cost which you can agree with the service provider.

STEP 6 – Once the location of your birth relative has been identified, we will, at a time that feels right for you, proceed to attempt to make contact with them. We do this through a letter initially, followed up with telephone call/s to discuss the reason for our contact with them. Sometimes, the person we are searching for needs some time to consider this information.

STEP 7 – Once this initial contact has been made, we will contact you to advise how the contact has been received and share more information. Your  post adoption support worker may need to offer support to your birth relative as they may need some time to process the information. We will also support you at this time and keep you fully updated.STEP 8 – It may take some time for the person who has been found to consider the full implications of the contact. Some people may not want contact with the person who is searching for them. If however, they do, we will discuss this with both parties about what feels comfortable. We would make an appointment to meet with you at one of our offices to discuss this further. We will also meet with the person found. Most people like to start with an exchange of letters and often photographs. This can progress to phone calls, emails and often a face to face meeting in which the post adoption support worker will support both parties.

STEP 9 – If the contact does progress to meeting one another, this is carefully planned and discussed at each stage. We will identify a mutually agreed date and venue for the contact to take place. The post adoption support worker will be present at this meeting if you wish. We will also contact you following the meeting and offer any ongoing support you may need.

STEP 10 – If you have reunited with one relative and wish to go on to reunite with other family members, this can also be supported by a post adoption support worker. Similar to the above process, we will undertake reading of files, making contact, supporting any contact and arranging reunion. If there are any further reunions after this, we will work with all parties post-reunion and provide any support that is needed.

If you require any further help or guidance, our friendly post adoption support team will be able to assist you, just complete our short enquiry form here or contact us on Freephone 0300 123 1066 and a member of the team will be in touch.