COVID Support

The COVID pandemic has affected everyone in different ways so here at Adopt London we have introduced some support that you might find useful in these unsettling times, for you and your children.

This support is available to adopters and special guardians from any of our 23 London Boroughs Barking & Dagenham, Barnet, Brent, Camden, Croydon, Ealing, Enfield, Hackney, Hammersmith & Fulham, Haringey, Havering, Hounslow, Islington, Kingston, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Newham, Richmond, Southwark, Sutton, Tower Hamlets and Wandsworth.

 

Support for families during the COVID pandemic

We have commissioned services to provide a variety of online support for adoptive families and those with a Special Guardianship Order. If you are an adopter please consider joining WAF Talks or the Adopt London Virtual Choir. Information about support available for Special Guardians during the Pandemic is available here.

Here are some resources that you might find useful:

Watch our short animated film ‘Closer & Stronger’ produced in the first lockdown to promote the support available.

 

WAF Talks

Adopt London is working in partnership with We Are Family (WAF) an independent adoption support community that operates in and around London. Membership is free and open to adopters and approved prospective adopters who are in Stage Two of their assessment. This project is called WAF Talks and it provides 2-3 webinar events a month during COVID-19 and beyond, to provide specific information relevant to parents at this difficult time. You can even catch up on some of their recent sessions, for example:

  • Boosting Personal Resilience with Simon Pimenta
  • The role of virtual heads with previously looked after children with Virtual School Heads
  • Therapeutic Parenting: 17 Tips for Survival and Thrive-al with Sally Donovan, Author, Speaker and Therapeutic Parenting advocate
  • 5 strategies for parents of children who have difficulty managing their aggression with Tosha Schore
  • Practical support for families that live with Childhood Challenging Violent and Aggressive Behaviour with Al Coates MBE
  • Communicating with Children using Life Story Therapeutic Tools with Richard Rose
  • Attachment Sense: The Sensory Side of Attachment with Caireen McGlashan, Children’s Occupational Therapist (OT)

All WAF Talks webinars and meetings are recorded for future access by WAF members, so you never have to miss out. For more details about future webinars, see our blog. In addition to the webinars, WAF also provides many opportunities to connect online, such as local group meet-ups on Zoom, blogs, a private Facebook group, and other member resources on the WAF website. All events are designed and run by adopters, on a voluntary basis. Rather than offering advice, they offer community.  To sign up for a free WAF membership visit their website.

 

Join the Adopt London Choir

 

Adopt London is offering adoptive parents and their social workers a unique and free opportunity to be part of the Adopt London Virtual Choir. Sessions provide an opportunity to come together and feel uplifted alongside other adoptive parents. Regardless of your singing ability, we will build positive memories of our time during the COVID pandemic. See our blog for more information.

The Adopt London virtual choir will continue to run via the App Zoom in 2021 by vocal coach and foster carer Megan Tanner. They meet every Tuesday for one hour at 7:30pm and work on around 3 songs every six weeks.  Choir meetings are recorded and then made accessible via a private Facebook group just in case  you miss a session. Any approved adopter that lives in one of the 23 Adopt London boroughs you can email Megan at hellomegantanner@gmail.com to request a choir place,  we have spaces available now, please include your full name and the borough you live in or RAA that you are linked to.

If you needed a further incentive to join the virtual choir, listen to well-known singing coaches and adopters David and Carrie Grant tell us more about the benefits of singing together.

 

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