Adopt London East

Adoption Support

Contact

When children are adopted, most children continue to have some form of contact, direct or indirect with their birth families. There are many benefits for a child to remain in contact with their birth family. Having regular information or contact can help the child with their identity, build their self-esteem and support them to know that they are loved by everyone who is or has been in their lives. Adopted children often want to know about their roots and to make sense of their earlier experiences. Having contact helps an adopted child to move on and begin the journey of understanding their life history. Adopt London East has designated Contact Coordinators whose job it is to facilitate contact between adoptive families and birth families.

Adoption Support Fund:

Due to early trauma and separation, adopted children have often developed certain coping mechanisms that means they can find it difficult to form relationships and display challenging behaviour.

The adoption support fund (ASF) provides funds to local authorities (LAs) and regional adoption agencies (RAAs) to pay for essential therapeutic services for eligible adoptive families. Following an assessment by a social worker in the post adoption team Adopt London East can apply for therapeutic funding from the Adoption Support Fund. .

Maximum funding allocations for each child
Until the end of the financial year 2019 to 2020 the ASF will have 2 fair access limits:
• £2,500 per child per year for specialist assessment
• £5,000 per child per year for therapy

The majority of applications to the fund fall within these limits. In exceptional cases, where there is an urgent need for higher cost support, LAs or RAAs are asked to match-fund applications.

For more information please click on the link, https://www.gov.uk/guidance/adoption-support-fund-asf or speak to you one of our dedicated support staff that will be able to listen and guide you through the application process.

PAC UK:
Adoption support for residents of Barking & Dagenham, Havering,Newham and Tower Hamlets. PAC-UK is working in partnership with Adopt London East. Please see below for contact details:
tel 020 7284 0555
advice 020 7284 5879
email [email protected]
web www.pac-uk.org

We Are Family (WAF) is an independent adoption support community that operates in and around London. Membership is free and open to adopters and approved prospective adopters. They run peer-to-peer (i.e. parent-to-parent) events such as parent support groups, playgroups, family meet-ups, parties and socials. They also provide many opportunities to connect online, such as local group meet-ups on Zoom, webinars, blogs, a private facebook group and other member resources on their website (https://wearefamilyadoption.org.uk/). All events are designed and run by adopters, on a voluntary basis. Rather than offering advice, they offer community. They say it takes a village to raise a child. WAF wants to build those villages You can Join Here
https://members.wearefamilyadoption.org.uk/register

Support groups for adoptive families: Adopt London East provide 3 events a year for adoptive families. These take place in Easter, the Summer and Christmas. These are family events for parents and children and take place at child family locations in East London. There us entertainment for the children and an opportunity for adopters to meet with each other.

Support groups for birth families: Adopt London East coordinates 4 events a year which take place at locations in East London.

AC Education: Offer a wide range of course topics covering all your training requirements. There comprehensive
and in depth courses will provide you with the essential skills and knowledge that will give you the confidence to meet the needs of the vulnerable children in your care.  Please click on the link for more information to sign up. www.ac-education.co.uk

Send Local Offer

The Children and Families Act 2014 requires every local authority in England to publish a ‘Local Offer’
Local offer for children with special educational needs and disability (SEND) is the outcome of partnership working within local community.

The purpose of a local offer is to:
• provide clear information
• make provision more responsive to local needs and aspirations by directly involving children, their parents and young people as well as service providers in its development and review

By working together we can ensure that we develop provision which is responsive to local needs and leads to the best outcomes for all children and young people. A local offer is just the start of our journey.

Please click on the following to find out more about your Borough’s Local Offer.

Havering Council SEND Local Offer: Please click on the link. www.familyserviceshub.havering.gov.uk
Newham Council SEND Local Offer: please click link. https://www.newham.gov.uk/Pages/Category/Special-educational-needs.aspx
Tower Hamlets Council SEND Local Offer: Please click link. https://www.localoffertowerhamlets.co.uk/pages/local-offer/send/send
Barking and Dagenham Council SEND Local Offer: Please click link. https://www.lbbd.gov.uk/special-educational-needs-and-disability-send

Adoption Organisations

What is adoption?

Adoption is a court order which makes a child part of a new family. The adopters become their new parents and the adoptive family become the child’s new family legally. Adoption also permanently ends the legal relationship between the child and their birth family. Once an adoption order is made, it is permanent and can never be ended.

Please click below for more information for adoption organisations:

PAC UK- Please click on link: https://www.pac-uk.org/
Adoption UK- Please click on link: https://www.adoptionuk.org/
We are Family Adoption- Please click on link: https://wearefamilyadoption.org.uk/
Coram- Please click on link: https://www.coramadoption.org.uk/