Help and support for young people aged 18+ years

Hello and welcome to Adopt South

As you turn 18 years old and step into adulthood, we understand that being adopted can bring many new thoughts and feelings about your life.

You can reach out to us, and we can support you* with:

• Adoption Support - getting advice or support with day-to-day things that you feel affect you in regard to being adopted.
• Accessing your Adoption and Birth Records
• How to continue or review your Keeping in Touch arrangements (Contact) with your birth parent(s) and other family members

We are here to help you in any way we can.

How we can support you

Adoption support for young people

Figuring out who you are can be difficult at times, and you might feel that because you were adopted, getting through day-to-day challenges may seem harder. Our Adoption Support Team are here to help you! Our team understand that adopted young people can feel different when growing up. We provide lots of advice and support to help young people which can include therapeutic sessions with you, advice and strategies you can use yourself, or we can direct you to other organisations that might be able to help you too. We will offer ideas or find ways to help you so that education, relationships or employment might be easier for you.

You can access Adoption Support up to the age of 21 years or 25 years if you have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). We are here if you would like to call us, arrange a call back or you can send us an email on [email protected] (sorry, we don’t have WhatsApp at the moment) and we will get back to you quickly during our opening times.

Please call our friendly Adoption Support Team’s Advice and Support Line on 0300 3000 001 or request a call back from a member of our team.

We are open Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5:00pm (closes at 4:30pm on Fridays). Please note we are closed on Bank Holidays.

Accessing your Birth and/or Adoption Records

As an 18+ year old, you now have the right to access your Birth and Adoption Records yourself and make decisions about the information which is now available to you.

Deciding on accessing your Adoption and Birth Records can be a big decision for you. You might be unsure, feel certain, or change your mind on what you would like to do. We understand for many young people, it can take time to make this decision to find out about yourself and your family. Everyone who has been adopted has a different adoption journey, so we will go at your pace to make sure that you are supported.

Accessing your Adoption Records can take a little more time than your Birth Records, as we have to request these from the local authority who organised your adoption. We understand that this can be a difficult time waiting to find out the information about yourself and your family. The Adopted Adults Team will help and speak to you initially on the phone before meeting with you either virtually or in person to explain the process and how they will help you. They will keep you updated on the progress, so you know what is happening.

Please call the Keeping in Touch and Adopted Adults Advice and Support Line who will be able to support you. Available Monday to Thursday 8.30 am-5pm, and Fridays 8.30am–4.30pm on 03707 795 000. You can also email us with your questions at [email protected] (sorry we don’t have WhatsApp right now) and we will get back to you very quickly.

Keeping in Touch (Contact)

Once you turn 18 years old, Keeping in Touch arrangements which were agreed by your adoptive parent(s), become your responsibility. This means you can make decisions on what you would like to do. Going forward, you have a range of Keeping in Touch choices to consider:

• Continue with your adoptive parent(s) being involved with your Keeping in Touch arrangement.
• Until you are 21 years old, your Keeping in Touch arrangement with your birth relative comes directly to yourself rather than your adoptive parents.
• Ask for your Keeping in Touch arrangement to be reviewed (you might want to organise things differently).
• Pause/or stop your Keeping in Touch arrangement.

Birth family can include your birth parent(s), siblings or any other family members. They may already be in your Keeping in Touch arrangement, or perhaps you would like to make contact with them in the future.

If you are thinking of reaching out to your birth family, it’s always a good idea to access your Adoption/Birth Records first and find out as much as possible about you and your family. We know this is a big decision for adopted young people. Sometimes it is not possible to contact or find birth relatives and they may not respond for many reasons. Whatever you decide, we are here to help you with contacting your birth family.

Our friendly team can help you with the choices available to you and answer any questions on your Keeping in Touch arrangements. You may not know straight away. There is no rush for you to make a decision, and you can change your mind if you decide at another time, you’d like to look at another option that’s right for you.

More information on adopted young people’s views can be found on the University of East Anglia’s website, in the Centre for Research on Children and Families (CRCF) section.

You can also watch The Stories We Bring With Us, a PAC‑UK film where adopted people share messages and insights for adoptive parents.

Please call the Keeping in Touch and Adopted Adults Advice and Support Line who will be able to support you. Available Monday to Thursday 8.30 am-5pm, and Fridays 8.30am–4.30pm on 03707 795 000. You can also email us with your questions at [email protected] (sorry we don’t have WhatsApp right now) and we will get back to you very quickly.