After Adoption
Key Facts
Location
Project Criteria
Contact
Louise Parry
Email
Project funding
£72,645
Funding round
The focus of this project is to support adoptive parents around Contact. 'Contact' describes the link maintained between the adopted child and the birth parents or other relatives who are unable to parent that child. Maintaining such links has been widely demonstrated to be in the best interests of the child.
However, contact can be a contentious issue. Children may desire contact but become distressed by it. Adoptive parents may feel resistant to this source of distress, and feel that its costs outweigh its benefits. Others oppose the very idea of contact, believing it could undermine their bond with the child. Where contact-related anxiety and heightened emotions are not dealt with, contact can become divisive and put additional pressure on families already dealing with complex adoption issues. For contact to be successful and constructive, the adoptive parents - as well as the children and birth relatives - must be well prepared and committed. Crucially important outcomes are possible for adopted children whose contact arrangements are well managed and supported.
Our Parenting Fund project is delivering quarterly Contact Days: training, information sharing and practical support for adoptive parents. Experienced, new and potential adopters will attend, and share their experiences. The Days explain the facts about contact to help demystify it, and make it a less anxiety-provoking proposition. We are working towards involving birth parents and adopted adults in the Days too, either in person or via video/audio recordings, to enable adoptive parents to view contact from a new and more positive perspective.