Birth family support
How can we help you?
If social workers are making plans for the adoption of your child, you may be confused and upset and want to talk to somebody independent. You may want advice about what is happening and have somebody explain how the process works, what will happen next and what this will mean for you and your child.
How can we help your family?
We recognise that you may have relatives who might also need support. They can access support through independent birth parent support services.
We can help by:
- Giving you information about the process of adoption;
- Directing you towards other support services, such as; housing, benefits and counselling;
- Arranging to meet with you;
- Speaking to you on the phone;
- Sending you information;
- Helping you to consider information that you may wish your child to have in the future;
- Answering any questions that you may have;
- Offering birth family support groups.
What happens next?
At your child’s Looked after Review, when the adoption plan was discussed, the independent reviewing officer would have spoken to you about this service and about making a referral for you.
It’s your choice, if and when to use our service. You can choose to access it at any point when you feel ready. The support we offer is independent from the social work team.
We will contact you once we receive a referral to see if you want to take up support. If you want support more quickly you can contact one of our teams nearest to where you live:
Staffordshire: 01889 256435
Stoke-on-Trent: 01782 235020
Telford & Wrekin: 01743 250138
Shropshire: 01743 250138
