Supporting adoptive families Annual review 2013-2014 by Adoption UK

Supporting adoptive families ANNUAL REVIEW 2013-2014

ADOPTION UK What is Adoption UK? Adoption UK is the leading charity providing support, awareness and understanding for those parenting or supporting children who cannot live with their birth parents. More than 10,000 members provide a strong, supportive community and the largest voice of adopters in the UK.

Board of Trustees

Why families need us

April 2013 – March 2014

5,000 children were adopted last year, another 6,000 are still waiting for adoption. These children are some of the most vulnerable in our society. All adopted children have suffered the loss of being separated from their birth parents often as a result of neglect or abuse. Many have then spent a substantial part of their young lives moving through the care system. Whilst adoption offers the opportunity of a brighter future it doesn’t erase a child’s past. Parenting these vulnerable children is immensely rewarding but also challenging yet many adoptive families are left to struggle on their own. Being a parent to a traumatised child requires a different kind of parenting and adoptive parents need support to do this.

Chair: Peter Seymour Vice Chair: Linda Palmer Anita Bharucha Tony Breslin Barry Catchpole Bob Duthie Mary Greenwood Penny Jones Tony Myers Mark Roszkowski Liz Searle Roisyn Smyth

What we do We help adoptive families build brighter futures for vulnerable children. Our trusted family-finding service has helped many find new homes offering love, support and helping adopted children fulfil their potential. We work closely with our colleagues in local authorities and voluntary agencies to provide the best support. As an adoption support agency we have been consecutively rated as ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted for our services. We offer hope and understanding by providing vital support, training, community, and voice to all those involved in the adoption process which includes prospective adopters, adoptive families and professionals. Our services are unique because they are developed by adoptive families for adoptive families. We campaign tirelessly to ensure that adoptive families receive the support and encouragement they need to help make adoptions work.

WELCOME M

Peter Seymour Chair, Adoption UK

ore than ever, it’s clear that Adoption UK continues to build a legacy to be enormously proud of – we have innovated, influenced and had a lasting impact on the adoption landscape that should endure forever. When you read that one third of all adoptions suffer difficulties it’s easy to see why our support is so valued. Adopting can be tough but it’s also an amazing and rewarding journey and most importantly provides a loving home. We have welcomed and campaigned hard for the government’s support in education to all children adopted from the care system in England via the Pupil Premium fund. We continue to campaign hard for similar in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. We have achieved such incredible success because we continually ensure that the voice of adoptive families and those parenting children who cannot live with their birth families remains at the heart of our calls for change. It is the knowledge and experience of our members and the wider adoption and long-term fostering communities that informs our work. Through communicating the lived experience on behalf of our stakeholders, we strive to bring about positive change. As a parent of four adoptive children, I understand first-hand the impact of recent changes. I know that my children, who are now older, would have benefited from additional support in school during what are such formative and important developmental stages. This is now a reality in English schools but we must continue to call for a change in Welsh, Northern Irish and Scottish policy to ensure all adopted children are supported within the educational environment so that they are able to fulfil their potential. I know that I speak for many adopters when l say that access to support, whatever form that takes, is fundamental to building brighter futures for our children. During the year, the Trustee Board has also continued to change and evolve. My thanks and best wishes go to Roisyn Smith, Liz Searle and Tony Myers who all retired from their Trustee roles after 10 combined years of dedicated service. My thanks too for all the wonderful voluntary support we receive across all four nations.

Message from Sophie Twelve year old adoptee Sophie, whose family are Adoption UK members, shares her thoughts on adoption and how it has shaped her hopes for the future. “ I would like to help children without a family so they can have a happy life. With a family you can feel much happier and safer because they would also have someone to talk to if something was troubling them. I find the articles in the magazines [Adoption Today] very helpful because you can read about people in a similar situation to us. I also find the walk [adoptive family days] helpful because you can talk to children and find out things like when they were adopted and what age they were when they were adopted. I would like children to get adopted because I would like them to have a better future and life ahead of them. When you are adopted you will have more chance of finding friends, you can invite them to your house. You would have a real family. I find Adoption UK helpful because I know my Mum or Dad can call them if I had a problem. I personally think that Adoption UK should have a ‘childline’ that children can talk to other older children who have adoption issues. I would also want to help children who are anxious about leaving their foster carers. I have stayed in touch with mine. I think they are fantastic. They knew me well and could tell Mummy and Daddy about things that worried me. Some adoptive parents might not think that it is a good idea but it has helped me.” Sophie, aged 12 *image posed by model

DETERMINED SUPPORTIVE UNDERSTANDING HOPEFUL OPEN 6

INTRODUCTION I

Hugh Thornbery Chief Executive, Adoption UK

t has been a very busy and successful year for us. We have continued to provide information and support to an increasing number of adoptive families across the UK. Adoption UK stands as a reliable and authoritative voice for our members and the wider adoption community. We remain committed to our values as represented on the oposite page. The last 12 months have seen remarkable changes in the adoption landscape. A consequence of the devolved powers in the UK is that reform takes place at a different pace depending on political priorities. We have been actively involved in all four nations since we believe all our members across the UK have the same needs and the right to the same level of support. In England we had reached a crisis in adoption and our work has led to the development of the Adoption Support Fund, which will bring an additional ÂŁ19.3 million to adoption support. We continue to push in Scotland for the best legislation to meet the needs of adoptive families and we welcomed the Scottish Parliament putting the adoption register on a statutory footing. In Northern Ireland we still await much needed legislative change and we continue to work closely with our colleagues in government to achieve this. In Wales, we have informed and supported the development of a national adoption agency created by the Welsh Assembly Government. This year we have seen our membership grow, were once again recognised by Ofsted as â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;outstandingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and found loving, permanent homes for so many children through our family-finding service, Children Who Wait. To achieve our priorities, we undertook a review of the structure, roles and resources required to deliver our ambitions. As a result, we appointed the new senior leadership positions of Director of Services and Director of External Relations. These changes are driven by our need to ensure that the voice of adoptive families remains central, that the charity communicates its purpose with greater clarity and passion, that our services evolve and develop to meet the full range of adoptive families needs and that there is a thriving and influential community offering peer support and a powerful voice for change. We also need to ensure we continue to raise vital funds to deliver our services and once again I am deeply humbled by all those that gave their time, money, experience and support. It has been a tremendously exciting year and I thank everyone who continues to support what is a truly inspiring charity.

*image posed by models

8 8

MESSAGE FROM A MEMBER Julia, a member of Adoption UK, says: " In our family, we have one son – Liam, aged 13 and a dog, Rosie, a miniature Schnauzer aged 3. Turning up as the new mum on the block, half way through reception year at the local infant school, surrounded by other mums who have met at nursery or NCT classes can be a challenging and isolating experience. Especially when my regressive new arrival – aged five, has clamped himself to my leg, is howling in protest at being abandoned and has to be peeled off me by a sympathetic teaching assistant. However, having joined Adoption UK in 2005, a year before our son’s arrival, I have found the support has been invaluable in enabling me to cope with such moments, providing access to other adopters with similar experiences through the buddy system and website forum. A group of North Surrey Adoption UK parents have started meeting up socially in the last year, and we have a good laugh and share our experiences. I realise that I am not alone, and am doing OK. I have also gleaned invaluable information from the magazine; other adopters share their recognisable experiences, which are comforting, and there are articles of particular interest to me, on the latest research into the long term effects of Foetal Alcohol Syndrome and lack of nurturing and abuse in early years on brain development. And also the impact of attachment disorder on learning, which I have been able to pass on to our son’s teachers, who had never heard of it. Our son is now at secondary school; a much less nurturing environment where his tricky early start can easily be overlooked. The magazine is also quick to alert me to changes to government legislation too which effect adopters and earlier this year, an Adoption UK email informed me that my son now qualified for an extra £2k Pupil Premium. The school didn’t realise this, until I passed the information on, and went on to ensure that all the children who qualified also benefited, not just our son. Thank you, and keep up the good work. I am proud to be a member of Adoption UK and hope that through its communication channels, I can also pass on my experiences and help others."

FAMILY FINDING

In 2013/2014 • We featured 2,267 profiles of children. • More than 60 local authorities used our family-finding service each month. • Our online service received more than 181,000 unique page views. • Year on year we saw a 29 per cent increase in the number of ‘requests for information’. 10

Children who wait

ISSUE 235 - OCTOBER 2014

The average time between a child entering care and moving in with their adopted family in 2013/2014 was 581 days (19 months). For many children the wait can be even longer. More than 6,000 children are currently waiting to find their forever families.

How we help Our family-finding service, Children Who Wait, is instrumental in helping prospective adopters to find their children and offer them a loving, stable and permanent home. Adoption agencies have always struggled to find suitable adoptive families for older children and sibling groups, so we play a vital role in matching prospective adopters with these harder to place children and creating many new families. The Children Who Wait team work closely with local authorities to help them feature children to find the best possible match for their forever family. One family-finding social worker recently told us: “ I regularly feature our harder to place children in Children Who Wait as this seems to bring in genuine enquiries from a broader range of adopters than we have approved locally or in our consortium. I have recently had success in placing a six year old child with her new prospective adoptive family, as a direct result of featuring her in Children Who Wait. There was a lot of interest generated as a result of her feature which gave me the added luxury of choice and thereby being able to select and identify the best match for this young child, a child who has waited but who now has a place to call home”. Wanda Parker, Senior Social Worker, West Sussex County Council Adoptive parents Noreen and Mike said: “ Thanks Adoption UK, if we hadn't had access to Children Who Wait we would not have seen the profile of the lovely little girl who is now our daughter.”

Family-finding online The launch of our new website in September 2013 allowed us to increase the functionality of our online service, allowing members to conduct their own searches and view extended profiles of featured children. Adoption agencies are now able to include more information on the children, feature extra photographs and submit video clips, improving the chances of finding a strong match for the many children waiting to find their ‘forever home’.

Family-finding service for prospective adopters

Feedback “ I spend much of my time family-finding for sibling groups and 'older children', using Children Who Wait as a way to expand the search. I try to bring the children to life through the words and photos, so their personalities can shine through. A highlight of my time as a family-finder has been being able to find placements through Children Who Wait for a little boy aged six and a half who had been waiting for three years, and a sibling group of two boys aged five and a half and four and a half who had been waiting nearly two years. These boys all now have a family of their own. The adoptive families for each of these boys were fantastic, and it's great that they are now happy, and settled.” Caroline, Family-Finding Social Worker, Worcestershire County Council

MEMBERS

In 2013/2014 • Our membership rose to more than 5,500 families, benefiting more than 10,000 people. • We had 179 local authority and voluntary adoption agency members. • Our website received more than half a million (543,990) unique page views. • We supported an online community of more than 1,900 active users. • 150 families accessed our Parent Consultant and Buddy Support services. • Our helpline answered more than 4,900 calls. 12

By adopters for adopters ‘By adopters, for adopters’ has always stood at the heart of what is unique about Adoption UK. Our member support services are staffed by trained adoptive parents able to truly understand and relate to our members’ needs. Our membership of more than 10,000 prospective adopters, adoptive parents, carers, agencies and professionals is a strong, vibrant community which richly reflects our organisational values. Across this year our members have demonstrated time and again their commitment to make a difference, whether through fundraising or through the highest ever responses to our research surveys, which have directly influenced government or indeed through our active online communities.

Investing in our online community Thanks to funding from the Garfield Weston Foundation, in September 2013 we launched our new website. The new site provides a better experience for all our users and a sound foundation on which to develop new functionality and content. Our members provided valuable input into the development of the site and our much loved forums. As a result we fine-tuned the forums to give better function and organisation. Members share experiences and knowledge in the forums on subjects from school and education, to behavioural issues and information for those new to adoption.

What our members say about us Our members told us how much they value being part of a community that not only understands the challenges and rewards of adoptive parenting but that also provides knowledge, understanding and awareness of adoption-related issues. 83 per cent tell us that we have ‘helped them to understand the effects of early trauma, neglect, abuse and loss.’ Our membership has grown significantly this year and we continue to develop our membership proposition, tools and training for therapeutic parenting. This ensures we meet the needs of adoptive parents and provide the vital support and experience they can not get elsewhere.

Adoption Today 92 per cent of members rate Adoption Today as good/excellent. In 2013 we launched a new look for the magazine with a fresh layout and design. We continue to disseminate the latest news and thinking on adoption issues and therapeutic parenting, regularly featuring some of the world’s greatest adoption-related experts alongside cutting-edge research. Sitting alongside this are first-hand accounts from adoptive parents who share the challenges and rewards of their family lives, ensuring peer to peer knowledge remains at the heart of Adoption UK.

Feedback “ We have been adoptive parents for 10 years and had a lot of issues along the way with our boys. We have struggled to cope with situations beyond our control which have pushed us to breaking point and beyond. We have been left totally alone with no help from anyone. It's only through receiving information and support from Adoption UK that we have managed. Without Adoption UK we would have gone under long ago. Thank you Adoption UK for helping us to feel normal and not alone.” Adoptive Parent

COMMUNITY In 2013/2014 • We ran 58 support groups and 275 support group sessions. • We held 16 family days across the UK. • More than 70 adoptive parents act as volunteers for our network of local support groups. • 2,300 new threads were created on our online message boards. • We have more than 6,000 Twitter followers. • More than 2,700 have ‘liked’ our Facebook page.

Our support The support we offer via support groups, parent consultants, buddying and our helpline has continued to grow. During 2013/2014 we held 275 support group sessions and answered more than 4,900 helpline calls â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a 61 per cent increase from the previous year. Our support groups organise a wide range of activities including coffee mornings, evening meetings, social events and family days. They provide a warm welcome to new members and prospective adopters, immediately creating a sense of community and peer support.

Investing in our volunteers We are fortunate to have an excellent team of volunteers who are vital to the provision of high quality peer support services because of their first-hand experiences of adoptive parenting. We are enormously grateful for the energy and commitment of all our volunteers. This year we have invested in a dedicated support worker for volunteers to provide supervision and development. We have also created a new online training course for our group coordinators to support them with the skills and expertise to undertake their vital roles.

Widening our scope 13 contracts UK wide provided regular support via groups, family support services and membership to local authorities and voluntary adoption agencies. Across the UK our 58 support groups have been successfully extending their knowledge and understanding to wider groups of people. A prime example of this was our successful bring a teacher evenings in Northern Ireland. The knowledge and experiences that adoptive parents and prospective adopters have gleaned as part of their adoption journey are a vital resource for others. By sharing this knowledge more widely with friends, family members and practitioners we can effect real change at a local level.

Online communities Our online forums provide prospective adopters and adoptive parents with a place to talk about their lives, share experiences and ask questions 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It truly represents peer to peer support. Our forum users have a huge range of experiences and you can find people talking about issues from going through the adoption process, to how to find a child, right through to those experiencing difficulties with their schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s understanding of adoption-related issues or just living with a child who has experienced trauma, neglect or abuse. The forums are also a place where adopters talk about latest therapies and strategies and share positive, happy family experiences. We are incredibly thankful for the energy and commitment that our forum users offer by supporting one another. Our Twitter and Facebook communities allow us to reach a diverse audience and help us spread the message about the needs of adoptive children, the challenges and rewards of adoptive parenting and raise awareness of key campaigning issues. They also enable us to share sources of support and information with those who need them.

What itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s like to be a group coordinator " Adoption UK relies on groups and people like us to help support prospective adopters and adoptive parents in our areas. In return we get a great deal of excellent support from Adoption UK, from both Head Office and Area Coordinators, and in my case the East Sussex County Adoption Team who we are in partnership with. The most rewarding aspect for me as a coordinator is seeing prospective adopters go through the process of joining our group; getting the support they need from people who have experienced the whole process of adoption, being matched and then having a child or children placed with them. In many cases these people then go on to support newer members of the group." David Gott, Support Group Coordinator

SUPPORT In 2013/2014 • Our helplines answered more than 4,900 calls and almost 1,900 email enquiries from prospective adopters and adoptive parents. • The top five issues for helpline callers were: the adoption process, education, post-adoption support, tracing and behaviour issues. • We supported 94 families through our Parent Consultation service and 56 families through our Buddy service. • We launched seven new factsheets covering placement, post-adoption depression, disruption, education and three new factsheets for Scotland.

Family support From a simple question to more in-depth needs, wherever parents are on their adoption journey our Family Support Service is accessible to everyone. Parenthood can be hard for anyone and the journey, whilst enriching and rewarding, can be challenging.

Peer to peer support For more than 40 years we have provided unique and highly valued peer to peer support. Adoption can be a lengthy and intrusive process and the ability for families to access a professional service delivered by other adoptive parents provides a safe environment to explore any issues they may be experiencing. Adopters have stated that they prefer peer to peer support because it allows them to be open and honest without fear of failure. This helps parents feel more confident about learning new techniques to support their family.

Buddies and Parent Consultants Our Buddy support service provides short to medium term early intervention and support to adopters who have had a child recently placed and to those further on in their adoption journey that need reassurance. Our 26 Buddies are experienced adoptive parents and draw on their own experiences in supporting others. In 2013/2014 the service received 100 per cent positive feedback from all those supported. Our Parent Consultant service is a short and medium term service to support, educate, signpost and empower prospective adopters and adoptive parents who Parent Consultant are struggling to secure support and/or understand their child’s behaviour. Demand Service increased by 25 per cent in 2013/2014 and the service received 100 per cent positive 'issues analysis' feedback, with 85 per cent of families saying that they felt ‘their situation had moved forward as a result of the intervention.’ 7% 8%

Working in partnership 179 agencies value the support and service we provide to them whether this be through providing training or information to their staff or delivering support and services to their adopters. 13 partnership contracts with local authorities provided more specialised services across the year. Working in partnership with agencies we develop products to meet the needs of adoptive parents. In 2013/2014 this led to the innovation of two new workshops. Overwhelming feedback from our members demonstrated the need for further information on Sensory Integration, which we developed for Surrey. We also launched Domestic Abuse and the Adopted Child for St David’s Children Society. Those are now available as stand alone training modules.

Ofsted – outstanding We were delighted once again to receive this accolade.

32%

9% 9% 11%

24%

 32% Behaviour  24% Attachment  11% Verbal aggression  9% Physical aggression  9% Safeguarding  8% I dentified further

services for child  7% Education

KNOWLEDGE

In 2013/2014 • 31 trainers, all adoptive parents, deliver our training courses and programmes. • More than 830 people attended our conferences. • Almost 600 adopters and practitioners attended 13 innovative Learning Connect events. • We ran 27 training workshops, for more than 400 people. • 97 per cent of attendees say they have ‘gained valuable knowledge’ from attending our events. 18

Sharing knowledge Our training services are one of the more visible ways in which the knowledge and experience of adoptive parents is passed on to the next generation of adoptive families, enabling those families to develop appropriate strategies to support and care for children that suffer from the effects of early trauma.

New training We have a long history of delivering workshops specialising in therapeutic parenting. Developed by and for adoptive parents, we offer a unique perspective on caring for a child who has had a difficult or traumatic start to life. In 2013 we introduced two new workshops – Sensory Integration and Domestic Abuse and the Adopted Child. Both offer adoptive parents and practitioners new levels of insight into supporting and parenting vulnerable children. To reflect the needs of those parenting older children we developed the conference ‘Am I Bovvered – What Teenagers Want’ featuring Louis Sydney. 70 adoptive parents attended to gain an insight into parenting adopted teens. In conjunction with the Fostering Network we also hosted a conference on ‘Alcohol and Abuse’ with Professor Helen Minnis and Dr Raja Mukherjee. This helped adoptive parents, foster carers and practitioners to gain a wider knowledge of Foetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS).

World class speakers We were particularly pleased to host world-renowned Dan Siegel MD in May 2013 and Dan Hughes PhD in November 2013 at our annual conference and again in Belfast in January 2014. 150 prospective adopters, adoptive parents and practitioners heard from Dan Siegel, MD. Siegel is the founder of interpersonal neurobiology who has advised governments on childhood development, written best-selling parenting books and lectured around the world. US clinical psychologist, Dan Hughes is universally recognised as one of the foremost experts by adoptive parents and practitioners alike. More than 400 professionals and Adoption UK parents attended our annual conference where Dan’s work with Adoption UK was recognised at the event with a lifetime membership to the charity. Workshops

Learning Connect events Thanks to generous funding from Esmée Fairbairn Foundation our innovative programme of Learning Connect events were attended by almost 600 people. These events bring together and combine the wisdom, experience and expertise of adoptive parents and practitioners to help generate solutions together. Across the year we delivered 10 of the education focused ‘Life in the Classroom’ events, two ‘Life Story Work’ events and one which addressed ‘Social Networking and Contact’. The feedback from these events has been overwhelmingly positive with parents and practitioners alike claiming a shared insight into one another’s experiences of parenting or working with adopted children.

Domestic Abuse and the Adopted Child Sensory Integration Telling About Adoption Children Who Struggle at School Parenting Adopted Teenagers Foetal Alcohol and Drug Affected Children Contact and the Adopted Child Getting Ready for Placement Insights and Strategies for Practitioners

CAMPAIGNING & POLICY

Influencing change This year we have maintained a strong presence with parliamentary circles in all four UK nations. Our Chief Executive and the Development Managers in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales continue to be closely involved in all the key government adoption initiatives, including being part of stakeholder groups, advising on draft legislation and pushing for changes in law, policy and practice. We have proactively submitted consultations, written evidence and represented the views of adopters in response to government calls for information and views and have influenced, through our campaigning work, changes in policy.

Timeline of change May 2013

Adoption UK research on adoption support gap conducted for Department for Education.

September 2013

£19.3m investment announced for the Adoption Support Fund in England.

October 2013

The first ever funding for adopted children in school announced through the Pupil Premium.

January 2014 Adoption UK Chief Executive appointed Chair of Adoption Support Fund expert advisory group and member of the Government’s Adoption Leadership Board. March 2014 Adoption UK conducted research on adopted children’s experiences of education, highlighting the need to support older children in school. We’re using this evidence to lobby for all adopted children in the UK to have support in school. March 2014 The Children and Families Act we influenced becomes law introducing: • Duty on adoption agencies to inform adopters about their right to request an assessment of their support needs • Education, Health and Care plans to better support children with special educational needs • Shared parental leave for adopters • Parity between adoption pay and leave

Read all about it With the increased political interest, we gained high profile coverage of adoption in the media. Adoption UK’s coverage reached more than 54 million people, worth a financial value of nearly £1.6 million. Highlights included appearances on ITV’s Daybreak, Sky News and key features in The Telegraph, The Guardian, The Times and BBC.

“ Adoption UK has been instrumental in supporting the development of adoption reforms to better meet the needs of vulnerable children and their adoptive families. The Adoption Support Fund [in England] will help ensure the families in most need are able to access crucial services when they need them.” Edward Timpson, Children and Families Minister

RESEARCH In 2013/2014 • Across the year we had more than 4,600 responses to our surveys. • We supported the ground-breaking research ‘Beyond the Adoption Order’. • We continue to collaborate with the University of Manchester’s Social Outcomes and Early Life Experiences (SOCiAL) team.

Adoption support survey We gained some high-level insight into peoples’ experiences of being assessed for, and accessing, adoption support with our adoption support survey (May 2013). The survey was created on behalf of the Department for Education (DfE) and ran in May 2013. The overwhelming response, with almost 1,700 people completing it, revealed the importance with which adoptive families regard adoption support. The survey highlighted the significance of adoption support, with more than three-quarters (78 per cent) of prospective adopters claiming they would be ‘wary or would not consider adopting at all if adoption support was not available’. More than half of adopters surveyed had never received an official assessment of their adoption support needs. The results of this survey and subsequent focus groups were crucial evidence for the DfE as they developed plans for an approved adoption support system. These research initiatives and our lobbying were instrumental in establishing the £19.3m Adoption Support Fund for England.

Adopted children and education We surveyed over 1,500 adopters parenting 2,101 children about their experience of the education system in the UK. The rich information we gathered enabled us to gain a deeper understanding of the challenges some adopted children face and best practice in supporting adopted children in school. We used the information to influence improvements in education systems across the UK for example the Pupil Premium in England. We know from our membership that adopted children frequently experience significant difficulties in school due to early trauma they may have experienced and schools have a key role to play in building brighter futures. “ We had not expected child The ability to manage both academically and socially is crucial to succeeding in aggression and violence to school. However, the idea that adoption alone will transform a child’s life persists, with feature so strongly in parental more than three in four parents telling us that some people expect their child to do accounts of challenging well in school because they are now in a stable, loving family. behaviour. We had expected ADHD and attachment difficulties to feature as causes of disruption and although parents described great difficulty in managing these This ground-breaking study by the Hadley Centre for Adoption and Foster Care behaviours: on their own, they Studies, was funded by the Department for Education, and supported by were not difficulties that broke Adoption UK. The study began with a survey of parents who adopted a child families. Violence to parents between April 2002 and March 2004 in 13 local authorities. 390 adoptive parents, and to siblings was the main caring for 689 children took part in the survey. reason (80 per cent) young While the majority of parents (66 per cent) reported that their adoptions were people had to leave home.” going well, the study focused on adoptions that were in great difficulty. A quarter Extract from of parents described major challenges with children who had multiple and Beyond the Adoption Order: overlapping difficulties. Challenges, interventions and The research report concluded with a clear set of recommendations for change. For adoption disruptions by the the first time ever there is central government money and these recommendations Hadley Centre for Adoption will inform how the Adoption Support Fund is spent. and Foster Care Studies You can read more about the research at www.adoptionuk.org/research

Beyond the Adoption Order

THANK YOU In 2013/2014 • 35 runners ran 470 miles for us. • 6 cyclists cycled 2,000 miles for us. • 8 bungee jumpers and skydivers jumped over 70,000 feet for us.

YOUR SUPPORT Charitable trusts and corporate sponsors

We are extremely grateful and would like to say another big ‘thank you’ to the charitable trusts and corporate sponsors who have supported the charity this year. It has enabled us to continue with our vital work, as well as to develop innovative new services and activities. In particular, we would like to recognise the invaluable partnership we hold with PMC Retail and thank them for the enthusiasm and support they have shown through various challenges and initiatives over the last decade.

Challenge events and community Our members, supporters and staff members continued to help raise thousands of pounds to support our work and services during the year. From daredevil bungee jumping and skydiving, marathon running to long-distance cycling, and coffee mornings to community events; we were delighted and hugely grateful that so many people went out of their way to make a real difference to adoptive families’ lives. Our Chief Executive, Hugh Thornbery, led the way in June 2013 by completing the London to Paris cycle challenge and raising more than £3,000 to support the charity’s work. Adoption UK staff, supporters and members of staff from PMC Retail then followed suit in October 2013 by assembling the first-ever Adoption UK running team for the 2013 Oxford Half Marathon. Collectively they raised more than £6,000 to support our work.

Individual giving During 2013/2014, our generous individual supporters continued to make a real difference through individual giving. Whether by one-off donation, a monthly direct debit amount or through payroll giving, funds raised through individual giving helped Adoption UK to reach more families, develop innovative new services, fund research, raise awareness and lobby government for improvements to adoption legislation.

Legacies We were very grateful to once again receive support through legacy giving in 2013/2014 and hope that more choose to support the charity in this way, in the years to come. You can find out more about legacy giving and all of our fundraising activity on our website by visiting www.adoptionuk.org/support-us

Ways to support Adoption UK • Become a regular giver and pledge from just £3 per month. • Ask your employer about Payroll Giving. • Get active – take part in a challenge event. • Organise a fundraising event and encourage your community, school or workplace to get involved. • Help us fundraise via easyfundraing.org.uk Clothes for Charity, Charity Flowers and Give as you Live. • Include a gift in your Will.

In 2013/2014 • More than 4,350 family memberships • 142 agency members • 31 support groups • 3 family days attended by more than 300 people • 5,629 helpline and email enquiries

Feedback “ Adoption UK, working in partnership with Essex Adoption Agency, provides a variety of support services to the adoption community in Essex. All Essex adopters are given one year’s free membership of Adoption UK. Regular coffee mornings are part of the programme of support, as well as evening sessions where speakers are invited to talk to adopters on a wide range of topics. The partnership that Essex has with Adoption UK has had, and continues to have, a positive impact on the lives of adoptive families in Essex, whilst at the same time enabling families to access independent support and advice.” Essex County Council

ENGLAND Policy

We have been lobbying the UK Government to make additional support available to adoptive families and in September 2013 welcomed the £19.3 million investment in adoption support in England. Our Chief Executive chairs the Adoption Support Fund expert advisory group to ensure the fund works effectively in practice and to advise on the best types of support.

Research In this year we were delighted that research we conducted (on behalf of the Department for Education) was able to demonstrate the need for adoption support and in turn resulted in significant change occurring. We also input to a significant research study by the Hadley Centre for Adoption and Foster Care Studies into challenges, interventions and adoption disruption. Our members responded to this research with more than one quarter describing major challenges with children who had multiple and overlapping difficulties.

Partnership We were delighted by the launch in November 2013 of an Adoption UK/ Family Futures partnership where we provide parent mentors to support both prospective and approved adopters who have been through Family Futures' personalised i-Adopt recruitment process. We are also in the second year of our successful partnership with First4Adoption the national gateway for adopters in England, providing extra capacity on their helpline, web development and e-learning modules. Our partnerships with local authorities continue to grow. We have two additional contracts in 2013/14 with Birmingham and Sheffield offering buddy and parent consultant services and we continue to build on our strong foundation of support groups in key regions, refining the service to ensure that groups are educational whilst also offering the critical peer to peer support that we specialise in.

Membership Our AGM in Birmingham was another sell out attended by more than 400 delegates to hear first-hand from Dan Hughes about the science of parenting in order to create healthy attachments.

N. IRELAND Policy

We continued to push hard for the necessary legislative changes to take place in Northern Ireland to refresh the outdated adoption legislation and bring it in line with the rest of the UK. Our Development Manager sits on a number of committees including the Regional Adoption and Fostering Taskforce (RAFT). We were delighted that during this year there was positive news for unmarried and gay couples who were previously excluded from adopting and may now do so. Additionally adopted children of primary school age also received recognition of their needs (previously only those in care were). This year also saw the funding of a new position in Northern Ireland – an Advocacy and Support Officer who will provide vital advocacy and support for members.

In 2013/2014 • 365 family memberships • 5 agency members • 9 support groups • 3 family days attended by more than 600 people • 396 helpline and email enquiries

Research We were proud to produce the first ever survey in N.I. of adopters views and experiences of the service they received through the entire adoption journey. The Listen Up Speak Out survey has been used by all stakeholders in Northern Ireland as evidence/proof of adopters views and will be instrumental in formulating the new adoption legislation.

Partnership We were most grateful to the Health and Social Care Board (HSCB) for their continued support and funding for membership and other activities. This allows us to serve adoptive families in N.I. by providing access to our services and knowledge like the publication of schools booklet Let’s Learn Together. The funding received from HSCB continued to allow all newly-approved adopters to have the option of receiving free membership of Adoption UK for three years. We continue to work in partnership with others like BAAF to best support the communities we serve.

Membership Our members were delighted to welcome Dan Hughes to Belfast for a sell out conference in which they heard first-hand about his theories and techniques for attachment therapy. Our membership increased to support 365 families and our incredibly popular family days provided great opportunities for more than 600 people to get together. We also introduced a new support group representing young adults.

Feedback “ We really appreciate these days and all the work that goes on behind the scenes, so thank you!” “ This was our first event we attended and we were pleasantly surprised! Thanks so much for a wonderful day. It’s good to know that other adoptive families are sharing in our wonderful experience!” Responses to attending one of our family days

In 2013/2014 • 299 family memberships • 22 agency members • 7 support groups • 7 family days attended by more than 220 people • 277 helpline and email enquiries

SCOTLAND Policy

We continue to push for the best legislation to meet the needs of adoptive families in Scotland. We met with the Minister for Children and Young People to discuss the problems adoptive families face when seeking adoption support in Scotland. We also emphasised the need for ongoing support in education. This year the Children and Young People Act received Royal Assent on 27 March 2014 putting the adoption register on a statutory footing. We remain members of the Volunteer Adoption Agency Group which works collaboratively to ensure that the voice of the voluntary sector is heard.

Research In 2013 we took part in a research study with Professor Helen Minnis and her team at Glasgow University involving 34 adopted children in a detailed psychological assessment to help us better understand the complex problems adopted children face. We look forward to partnering on other projects in the future.

Partnership Feedback “ Meeting and spending time with a variety of adopted children helped my son to feel his situation and history doesn't strike him out as different from everyone else. I overheard him and a child his age speaking about being adopted, they both looked very comfortable. My child normally chooses not to discuss this with people outside our home. My son's confidence within himself has grown." Adoptive parent, Wiston Lodge Family Day

We were delighted to secure funding through the Scottish Government/National Lottery. This funding has allowed us to develop and expand our support groups as well as continue to provide members with regular support and communication through our events, helpline and factsheets. We are developing relationships and building foundations geographically beyond the central belt to ensure that we are able to reach and support more of our Scottish members. We have also provided a dads' group, which offers specific support to our adoptive fathers. Glasgow City Council have extended their partnership contract with us for a further year to provide five evening meetings/support groups per year along with family events and preparation groups. The strength of this partnership allows us to reach more adoptive parents and prospective adopters and to support them across their adoption journey.

Membership Our membership numbers have remained steady and we have strong relationships with local authorities and voluntary adoption agencies. Currently 70 per cent of Scottish local authorities and 100 per cent of voluntary agencies have Adoption UK membership. We regularly receive positive feedback, in particular our Wiston Lodge family events are incredibly popular and are now planned on an annual basis.

WALES Policy

Across this year we supported work to overhaul the adoption system in Wales and were delighted when the new National Adoption Service was formally announced. This service will simplify the adoption system providing one point of entry for prospective adopters, and in turn reduce the time children wait to be adopted. Our Development Manager Wales, sits on the National Adoption Service Group to ensure the voice of adopters informs this groundbreaking change and to ensure provision of post-adoption support is central to the new service.

In 2013/2014 • 335 family memberships • 10 agency members • 11 support groups • 3 family days attended by almost 300 people • 469 helpline and email enquiries

The number of children adopted in Wales rose by 33 per cent over the previous year.

Research We took part in a research study by Cardiff University on the provision and experience of adoption support services in Wales. 91 adoptive families with 147 children contributed to the research commissioned by the Welsh Government to inform planning. One of the unexpected findings from the study was the number of adopted families in Wales – more than one third – who had at least one Welsh speaking family member. We also used the valuable feedback from our welsh members to continue to push hard for support in education in Wales, akin to that now received in England, via the pupil deprivation grant.

Partnership We established a partnership with St. David’s Children Society adoption agency to ensure even more adoptive families receive first-class support from Adoption UK. All families adopting through St. David’s will be members of Adoption UK until their child turns 18 years old. In partnership with Dr Julie Hudson we ran two one-day courses providing training for parents in the PACE model – one for younger children and one for teenagers. We also ran Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP) Level 1 training in conjunction with BAAF.

Membership Our 11 support groups provided vital community and support to adopters in Wales reaching more than 297 people. Across the year we have developed two new groups, one in North Wales and one in South Wales broadening our reach across the country. We also provide requested groups for grandparents, a dads’ group and a lesbian and gay adopters group. Our membership this year has grown by almost eight per cent, enabling us to support a further 36 families in Wales.

Feedback “ We attended the funday at Swansea community farm. It was great to see old faces and meet new people. Going to events like this has at last enabled us to explain adoption to our daughter who has learning difficulties. She commented that 'John can't go because he isn't adopted!'" " The therapeutic horse was amazing – I never thought my daughter would have the confidence to ride bare back.” Adoptive parents, Swansea Family Day

FACTS & FIGURES

Income

In 2013/2014 75 per cent of our expenditure went directly to supporting the needs of adoptive families.

Expenditure Our expenditure increased by 16.3 per cent during the year mainly due to the increased support we provided but also much needed investments in technology, staff and research that will allow us to develop and grow the charity in future years.

We are reliant on generating income to achieve our goals and serve the needs of adoptive families. Our total income for the year 2013/2014 increased by 2.5 per cent rising from £2,229,330 in 2012/2013 to £2,284,814 in 2013/2014. Our income is made up of membership subscriptions, services (including family-finding), adoption support, fundraising, trading and training. We generated a surplus of £151,470 which grew our unrestricted reserves to £865,491 equating to 4.9 months expenditure, in line with Charity Commission guidelines and our own reserves policy.

£2,229,330 £2,284,814 £1,690,569 £1,765,636

2011

2012

2013

2014

Income over four years

Investing in the future

Demand for our support is on the increase and so too is the need to innovate and develop our services. With this comes the necessity for us to grow our fundraising income substantially in the years to come. Our main income streams of membership, adoption support and other services (including family-finding) generated £2,108,913 income and cost £1,946,615 to provide in 2013/2014. Because of the need to reduce the number of children waiting for adoption our family-finding service continued to thrive during the year. We expect to see this income stream impacted next year as a new national adoption register for England is launched by the Government and a strong adopter recruitment drive takes place.

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE • We plan to develop our membership proposition, improving the membership experience and ensuring it remains excellent value for money. • We are developing a strategic approach to adoption support services to influence national developments and our own services. • There will be further investment in our online and social media activities improving access to information and services. • We will retain our approach to peer to peer support. • We are increasing our capacity to work in partnership with local authorities and other agencies. • We will develop research proposals with key academic institutions. • A new fundraising strategy will broaden our donor base and increase income.

Head Office Linden House 55 The Green South Bar Street Banbury OX16 9AB Phone 01295 752240 Email info@adoptionuk.org.uk Wales Office Penhevad Studios Penhevad Street Cardiff CF11 7LU Phone 029 2023 0319 Email wales@adoptionuk.org.uk

Our vision is a world where all children and young people unable to live with their birth parents can find security and happiness with permanent families who have the right support to build brighter futures. We provide our members with the highest level of service, support and education. We campaign for change for you at the highest policy levels. We are proud to once again be rated â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;outstandingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; by Ofsted.

Scotland Office 172 Leith Walk Edinburgh EH6 5EA Phone 0131 555 5350 Email scotland@adoptionuk.org.uk Northern Ireland Office 545 Antrim Road Belfast BT15 3BU Phone 028 9077 5211 Email northernireland@adoptionuk.org.uk

Helpline 0844 848 7900 Monday to Friday 10am-4pm

www.adoptionuk.org

For details on any of our policies on confidentiality, data protection, child and vulnerable adult protection, equal opportunities and complaints procedures, please contact any of our offices. Registered Charity No. England and Wales 326654 and Scotland SC037892 Registered Adoption Support Agency (Service No. 66957)