The new report, Recommendations for best practice in respect of adoption by the Public law working group: adoption sub-group (published 7 November 2024) recommends that there needs to be a greater focus on contact with adopted children’s birth families as long as it is safe.
Family Futures has been facilitating contact for adopted children and families in the UK for over 26 years. Contact with birth relatives that is supported by a therapist and in the context of life story work can be an important part of a young person’s development, helping them understand who they are and strengthening their sense of identity.
We have found from our research and listening to children, adoptive families and birth relatives, however, that there can’t be a ‘one size fits all’ approach when it comes to contact as each child’s experience and trauma history is unique. The report and the consultation responses reference this point but we believe that in order to achieve a truly child-centred approach to contact in adoption and ensure it enhances every child’s wellbeing, there must be an assessment of their unique needs by specialists trained in trauma and attachment.
The first task for adults has to be ensuring children feel safe and have a formula for a secure attachment to their adoptive parents. Where there are mental health issues and the contact would be traumatising it should not go ahead.
It is vital to make an informed decision based on a full child assessment, particularly in 21st century adoption, where the majority of children have a history of trauma and significant harm before being removed from their birth families. Where a child’s trauma history is not taken into account, the child is at risk of being re-traumatised and set back on their journey of recovery, attachment and healing in their adoptive family.
We have seen that a child’s needs for contact will change as they get older, ebbing and flowing through childhood. It is clear that an order made at placement will not necessarily be fit for purpose in a year’s time, let alone many years later.
The experience of contact with birth relatives needs to enable all parties (children, adoptive parents and birth parents) to feel empowered, and for this to be achieved, there needs to be professional support made available for all concerned. The child’s feelings about contact should be explored and acknowledged so that they see contact as something that is done for them and not to them.
This will require a significant increase in resources and government funding for the assessment and facilitating of contact for children where it is in the child’s best interests. At the moment, the Adoption Support and Special Guardianship Fund (ASGSF) does not cover this. For such a seismic change to be successful and benefit children and families, the extra resources need to come with it.
We believe it’s important to hear the views and lived experience of adopted people when thinking about adoption policy and practice. Family Futures brought together a range of opinions about contact and maintaining relationships with birth families at our 25th anniversary conference, Contact in Context. Listen to the live podcast episode recorded during the conference to hear adopted people, adoptive parents and professionals’ lived experiences and opinions.
Family Futures is a member of CVAA, the Consortium of Voluntary Adoption Agencies. Read CVAA’s response to this report here.
See our publication Contact: a Family Futures Framework and the Executive Summary here.
See our videos and resources about contact in adoption from a range of perspectives here.
