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Our advice service

Are you a parent, kinship carer relative or friend of a child who is involved with, or who needs the help of, children’s services in England? We can help you understand processes and options when social workers or courts are making decisions about your child’s welfare.

Our advice service is free, independent and confidential.

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By phone or email

To speak to an adviser, please call our free and confidential advice line 0808 801 0366 (Monday to Friday 9.30am to 3pm, excluding Bank Holidays). Or you can ask us a question via email using our advice enquiry form.

Discuss on our forums

Our online advice forums are an anonymous space where parents and kinship carers (also known as family and friends carers) can get legal and practical advice, build a support network and learn from other people’s experiences.

Advice on our website

Our get help and advice section has template letters, advice sheets and resources about legal and social care processes. On Monday and Wednesday afternoons, you can use our webchat service to chat online to an adviser.

 

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Adopt Thames Valley

About this service

Support is available for birth relatives before and after the adoption takes place to talk about and manage the life transition of having a child adopted. Direct support is provided to birth relatives to meet the adoptive parents of their child/children. Support is provided to maintain the contact plan (direct and indirect) and adapt to it as it changes throughout the child’s life. There are support groups that run monthly for birth mothers throughout the Thames Valley region.

This service is available for birth families in

Reading, Swindon, West Berkshire, Windsor and Maidenhead, Wokingham, Oxfordshire, Bracknell Forest

Contact details

Who is the service for?

  • The child’s birth mother (or pregnant mother)
  • The child’s birth father
  • The child’s brothers and sisters, including half siblings and step siblings
  • The child’s wider family and friends (including grandparents, aunts/uncles)

At what point in the adoption process is support available? When adoption is:

  • Being planned (including during court proceedings)
  • Has taken place

What support is available?

  • General advice and information about adoption
  • Counselling or therapeutic support
  • Support groups for birth families affected by adoption
  • Advice and information about contributing to a child’s life story work or life story book
  • Support for contact with an adopted child, including letterbox contact (contact is sometimes described as ‘keeping in touch’ or ‘family time’)
  • Support for birth family members to access adoption records and information held by children’s services or another adoption agency
  • Information and support about reconnecting with an adult relative who was adopted as a child (some services included in this map may charge a fee for this)

Where is support available?

  • In person, at a flexible location, such as your home
  • In person, at a specific location
  • Online, including virtual meetings or webchat
  • Over the phone

How to access the service?

  • Contact us directly if you want support (this is also known as self-referral)

How much support is available?

  • The amount of support is flexible, based on how much support is needed

Key details about the service

  • One-to-one support is available at this service
  • Additional support for people with disabilities, including learning difficulties and learning disabilities, is available at this service
  • Confidential interpreters or translation services are available at this service

Has the service been independently evaluated, with input from family members who have used the service?

No, not at this point
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