How to contact us for advice
We provide advice to parents, grandparents, relatives, friends and kinship carers who are involved with children’s services in England or need their help. 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.
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). For Textphone dial 18001 followed by the advice line number. Or you can ask us a question via email using our advice enquiry form.
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.
Our get help and advice section describes the processes that you and your family are likely to go through, so that you know what to expect. Our webchat service can help you find the information and advice on our website which will help you understand the law and your rights.
At present, there is no nationwide map showing the services available to birth families including parents before, during, and after adoption proceedings have occurred. Therapeutic support, for example, is often cited in family court proceedings as a necessity if a parent is to safely keep that child, or any future child, at home. Unfortunately, such support may either not available, or the parent may not know how or where to access it.
Local practice is often extremely variable with very different opportunities in one part of the country to another. This means that, too often, birth families including parents and other relatives are unable to find and access these vital services even when they are available. How families are assisted in navigating the adoption process, in understanding their rights and options, and what support is available at each stage, can have a significant impact upon all involved.
Data gathering for the map is beginning this spring, with local authorities, regional adoption agencies, charities, and the public urged to submit the details of services offering support to birth parents.
“I am delighted we are able to support Family Rights Group to take forward this important piece of work mapping birth family support services which will help show where services exist as well as identifying gaps in support.”
“The loss of a child to adoption, is the most draconian and traumatic steps that the state can take. It is crucial that birth families, where a child may or has been adopted, knows how to access the emotional or practical support they need. This mapping project, funded by the Regional Adoption Agencies’ Leaders programme, will ensure that birth parents find it easier to locate and access those vital services that are available.
“We hope this project will also shine a light on local and regional disparities in the availability of services for birth parents, birth siblings, and wider family members and encourage local authorities to commission them where gaps exist.”
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