There will be a series of FREE online events during this year’s National Adoption Week for adopters and prospective adopters,
adopted people and birth parents and professionals.

For professionals working within adoption:

Understanding the lifelong identity needs of adopted people – Julie Young and people with lived experience
Date: Thursday 12th October
Time:12.30pm – 1.30pm

This is the first webinar from a programme of 13 one hour webinars which will be delivered by a team of researchers from the University of East Anglia (UEA), including Beth Neil, Julie Young, Ruth Copson and Anne Murphy. The webinar series will allow for an in-depth examination of a wide range of topics related to planning and supporting safe and meaningful connections between adopted children and their birth families after adoption.

The UEA team will be joined by guest speakers, particularly people with lived experience of adoption.

The webinars will be offered to adopted people, birth relatives, adopters and professionals in the sector and the learning from this can be disseminated by those attending.

The webinars are free, but registering in advance for each event is required. All webinars will be recorded and made available after each event via a YouTube channel.

Please click here to register your attendance.

University of East Anglia logo

Adoption Counts and an adoptive parents’ experience with staying in touch
Date: Monday 16th October
Time:12.00pm – 1.00pm

Claire (family finder from Adoption Counts) will be joined by Dave (adoptive parent) to discuss the importance of maintaining connections from an adoptive parents perspective. Dave as an adoptive parent will share his own thoughts and experiences around maintaining connections, and the impact it has had on his own family and his children’s lives.

The webinar is only for professionals in the sector and the learning from this can be disseminated by those attending. The goal is to develop practitioner knowledge and skills around post adoption contact.

Click here to reserve your space for this event.

Making evidence-based decisions about contact using the Safe and Meaningful Contact GuidelinesDr Chris Burke, Clinical Psychologist
Date: Wednesday 18th October
Time: 12.00pm – 1.00pm

To encourage decisions about contact arrangements to include consideration of how face to face contact can be supported to achieve positive well-being outcomes for children, Clinical Psychologists, Dr Chris Burke and Dr Anne Woodhouse, developed a framework to aid professionals involved in decision-making. The framework, known as the Safe and Meaningful Contact (SaMC) Guidelines, helps users to organise their thinking about contact arrangements around the developmental needs of the child or young person, and to consider the extent to which contact can be supported to play a part in the child or young person’s developmental progress and recovery. The SaMC Guidelines provide practitioners with a universal process to evidence their clinical reasoning about the potential benefits and risks of contact arrangements. 

Face to face contact is not just time for the child and birth relative to be together. Sometimes contact is instigated without careful consideration of what it means to the child and without the right support for the contact system (the child, carer and birth relative) to make it meaningful. As a result, contact that may have benefited the child could unnecessarily be stopped or unsafe contact might be continued.

The webinar introduces the Safe and Meaningful Contact Guidelines through highlighting the evidence base that underpins the SaMC framework and encouraging reflective thinking about the role of contact. It also includes the perspective of a Regional Adoption Agency who are using the tool to support decision making. 

The webinar will be offered to professionals in the sector and the learning from this can be disseminated by those attending. The goal is to develop practitioner knowledge and skills around post adoption contact.

Please click here to register your attendance.

Safe and Meaningful Contact logo

National Adoption Service Wales and Western Bay Local Authority – Good Practice Guides
Date: Friday 20th October
Time: 12.00pm – 1.00pm

The National Adoption Service for Wales produced a series of Good Practice Guides in 2019 to promote consistent best practice in a number of areas of adoption work, including contact and work with birth parents.

This webinar will briefly introduce the Good Practice Guides with examples of how they have been successfully implemented in one region.

The webinar will be offered to professionals in the sector and the learning from this can be disseminated by those attending. The goal is to develop practitioner knowledge and skills around post adoption contact.

Please click here to register your attendance.

Western Bay Adoption Service logo

For adopted people and prospective adopters:

Adoption UK logo

Supporting adoptees to build a strong identity
Pre-recorded webinar

This webinar is led by a small number of adopted young people (aged 18+) and facilitated by Adoption UK (AUK). Adoptees discuss their personal experiences of being part of an adoptive family, including what they found to be the biggest challenges and the greatest help when they were growing up.

The webinar will be available on the Adoption UK website during National Adoption Week, click here to view.

Adoption UK free resources
Available to non-members during National Adoption Week

To celebrate National Adoption Week 2023, Adoption UK (AUK) is sharing a wide range of adoption resources including webinars, factsheets, and other material, available to non-members and the general public for the duration of National Adoption Week.

On the AUK website you will find a wide range of recorded webinars on issues related to identity, featuring adopted people and several factsheets and articles from recent editions of Adoption Today magazine.

The resources will be available during National Adoption Week on the Adoption UK website, view the resources by clicking here.

For everyone affected by adoption including adopted people, adoptive families, birth parents, social workers and professionals:

PAC-UK logo

Historic adoption: experiences and reflections from adoptee Jan Shine, birth mother Jill Killington and researcher Dr Michael Lambert 
Date: Monday 16th October
Time:13.00pm – 14.00pm

Jan, Jill and Michael, all involved in the demand for an apology and the subsequent Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) enquiry will talk about their experiences and impact of adoption, the enquiry and responses to it. 

Jan will talk about her own personal experience as an adoptee of the impact of historical adoption practice as well as her many years of facilitating a support group for adoptees and birth parents and working in the field as an intermediary and counsellor.  

Jill has been involved with the Movement for Adoption Apology from the start and takes us through the twists and turns to date as well as speaking about the adoption of her son (and her reunion!). 

Michael, who is a leading authority on the history of the Welfare State in the 20th century, was involved in the research for the Joint Committee on Human Rights. He will talk about the archival records, why they are significant in terms of showing positions of responsibility and accountability within the state and how they fit with lived experience and problems of access and transparency. 

Please click here to register for this event.

Film launch: Messages from adopted people and birth parents  
Date: Tuesday 17th October
Time:13.00pm – 13:45pm

The official launch of two short and powerful films made by PAC-UK and commissioned by the National Adoption Strategy Team. In “The stories we bring with us” adoptees of all ages talk honestly and openly on issues ranging from contact, reunion and transracial adoption to the emotional impact of growing up adopted. In “The Missing Piece” birth parents who have lost a child to adoption fairly recently talk about how that has impacted them, the court experience, contact and the future. The films were produced by Thunderbrain Productions. 

Introduced by Mike Hancock, National Strategic Lead at PAC-UK.

Please click here to register for the film launch

Moving forwards, not moving on – birth parent perspectives on support  
Date: Wednesday 18th October
Time:14.00pm – 15:15pm

An online event hosted by birth mother and expert by experience, Angela Frazer-Wicks MBE and birth mother and expert by experience, Kristy, who will be sharing how support has helped them move forward rather than move on in relation to their children’s adoption. We will hear what aspects of support have been helpful in the hope that this will shape support for future birth parents navigating the adoption process. We will also hear from birth father, researcher and practitioner, Dr Gary Clapton, who will be in conversation with birth father, Andy Coppenhall about birth father’s experiences in accessing support where there is a plan for adoption.  

Please click here to register for this event.

For adopted people:

Adopteens social media takeover
Date: Thursday 19th October
Time: All day

Adopted teenagers from across Yorkshire & Humber rule the feed with a day of blogs, Q and As, voice recordings and incisive content. The Adopteens service was designed and developed by adopted teenagers for adopted teenagers with PAC-UK. 

Adult adoptees in person meet-up
Date: Friday 20th October
Time:12.30pm – 16:30pm

This FREE to attend event is open to adopted people (aged 18 and over only) and will take place at PAC-UK’s fully accessible Family Action Head Office, 34 Wharf Road, London, N1 7GR. 

PAC-UK warmly welcome you to this in-person adopted person meet-up day. A chance for adopted people to meet, discuss, have lunch, share experiences and enjoy being with others who really do understand. 

We appreciate the day may be overwhelming for many, and for some people, this could be the first time they have ever met another adopted person. PAC-UK will create safe break-out spaces that can used to meet others, chill, or take a breather! 

Please click here to register for this meet-up.

These are charged for events and open to all:

Be-Longing: Empowering the adoptee voice – with special guest Anthony Lynch
Date: Monday 16th October
Time:10.30am – 12:00pm

Ticket: £5

An inspiring online event in National Adoption Week: Be-Longing – Empowering the adoptee voice, featuring special guest Anthony Lynch. During this event, Anthony will use their lived and work experience to explore how adoptees can empower themselves and others to grow beyond their trauma. 

Screening of “Be-Longing”: Our award-winning short film, “Be-Longing,” sets the stage for insightful discussions. It follows Khoji, a 9-year-old ‘looked after’ boy, and his journey within a foster family in London.

Director Q&A and Discussion: Engage with our guests as we delve into foster care and adoption, its impact on young people, and strategies for better support.

“Content Warning”

The director and participants will be talking about difficult issues of loss, family separation, grief, please be prepared for this when purchasing your ticket and be sensitive to others in the Q&A.

Click here to purchase your ticket for this event.

Be-Longing: What does “Be-Longing” mean?- with special guests Zara Phillips and Debbie Nahid
Date: Wednesday 18th October
Time:19:00pm – 20:30pm

Ticket: £5

Zara Phillips is a singer songwriter, author and adoptee advocate. Zara has written on the topic of the life long impact of being adopted her most recent book ‘Somebody’s daughter’ 2018. Over the years she has facilitated adoption groups and spoken to the mental health professionals on her adoption experience.

Debbie Nahid is a transracial and Intercountry adoptee. Debbie is a UK representative of Intercountry adoptee voices who advocate for the human rights of all adults who were adopted across international borders. She is also the cofounder of adult adoptee movement who are advocates for adult adoptees.

Screening of “Be-Longing”: The award-winning short film, “Be-Longing,” sets the stage for insightful discussions. It follows Khoji, a 9-year-old ‘looked after’ boy, and his journey within a foster family in London.

Director Q&A and Discussion: Engage with our guests as we delve into adoption and foster care, its impact on young people, and strategies for better support.

“Content Warning”

The director and participants will be talking about difficult issues of loss, family separation, grief, please be prepared for this when purchasing your ticket and be sensitive to others in the Q&A.

Please click here to purchase your ticket.