What can we offer?

When you adopt a child you agree to care for them emotionally, financially and physically as if they were your own, but love is not always enough; sometimes families will need help

We understand that adoption is for life and we will try to offer a service that meets adopters’ needs or we’ll help adoptive families to find the support they need from other providers when necessary.

Our team has social workers who are experienced in the recruitment, assessment, preparation and support of adopters. We know that for adoption placements to succeed they must be well supported. We encourage families to keep in touch and stay on our mailing list to receive our regular communications about the support service available.

Our team of adoption social workers have specialist training in working with families with children who have experienced loss and trauma. These early experiences affect children in many different ways and we have experienced workers to help you talk through any difficulties. Most staff members have had additional training in Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP) – an effective approach to working with children with attachment difficulties developed in USA by Dr Dan Hughes.

Every adopter is entitled to advice about support services and to an assessment of their adoption support needs, but Adopt South West does not have to provide support in response to an assessment. Access to these services depends on your circumstances but you can ask for an assessment at any time, no matter how long after the adoption.

Events

We coordinate a number of events and support activities throughout the region. These include workshops, training events, and therapeutic parenting courses for adopters to expand their knowledge on particular topics. These events provide an opportunity for adopters to meet each other and hear about specific topics of interest.

We arrange social events for families and children to get together and also some summer activities for children and young people to participate in.

And once a year we hold an Adopter Conference – this is your opportunity to hear a renowned international speaker talk about topical new developments in the adoption field.

Regular communications

As well as promoting events and news on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram, we send regular newsletters to all adopters with news of events around the county as well as other items of interest and also email updates, as and when needed. To subscribe to our Adopt South West newsletters for adopters, please email adoptsouthwestsupport@devon.gov.uk

What else?

  • Advice and information about adoption issues that affect your child and your family and support to prevent the disruption of an adoption.
  • Therapeutic services for adopted children including a monthly consultation Clinic run by The Consultancy and a fortnightly clinic run by Catchpoint. Other therapeutic services may be provided by Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) or private practitioners.
  • Therapeutic parenting courses based on the DDP approach to parenting are co-led by us with clinical psychologists.
  • We also provide Graduate Consultation  groups for those who have completed the course with regular training up dates and a Preparation for Therapeutic Parenting Group for those waiting to go on a course to familiarise you with the approach.
  • Parents of Teenagers group is being run by The Consultancy for parents with teenagers to focus on the challenges of adolescence.
  • Respite care may be available to support your child if this is considered appropriate.
  • Annual Adoption Conference – your opportunity to hear a renowned international speaker talk about topical new developments in the adoption field.
  • Links into other professional support both inside and outside of the service including specialist educational psychologists linked to our team, medical advisers, CAMHS and private therapists.
  • Ongoing programme of  workshops and training opportunities for adopters. Knowledge and information are key to help you develop your parenting skills and meet the needs of your child. We aim to keep you well informed so we organise events and additional training opportunities which include workshops and the Therapeutic Parenting courses.

How long is the adoption support for?

We support adopters, children and families throughout the adoption process and beyond – our support doesn’t just stop when the adoption order is granted; adoptive families can approach us at any time.

Talk to us

Call 0345 155 1076 or email adoptsouthwestsupport@devon.gov.uk