I am a parent or carer
Find post-adoption support, therapeutic help, education guidance, peer support and routes to request an assessment.
Waves Of Change
Links & resources
Support for the lifelong adoption journey
Finding the right help should not be another battle. This hub brings together practical routes, specialist organisations and trusted learning for adopted people, adoptive families, birth relatives, permanence carers and professionals across the UK.
Immediate danger or risk to life? Call 999 or go to the nearest Emergency Department. For non-emergency police contact, call 101.
Choose your route
Where should I start?
The clearest starting point depends on who you are and what you need today. Choose the route that is closest to your situation.
I am adopted
Find help with identity, records, birth-family contact, counselling, rights and adopted-person communities.
I am a birth relative
Find independent advice, counselling, records help and sensitive routes for tracing, contact or reunion.
I am a professional
Find research, trauma-responsive learning, practice resources and lived-experience perspectives.
Four systems, different routes
Start with the nation where you live
Adoption law, responsible agencies, funding and support pathways differ across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Use the route for your nation, even if the adoption order was made elsewhere.
England
Contact your regional adoption agency or local authority to request an assessment of adoption support needs. Where eligible, the authority applies to the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund on the family’s behalf.
Scotland
Your local authority or adoption agency is the first statutory route. Adoption.scot provides national information, while the Scottish Adoption Alliance brings together evidence, support routes and reform work.
Wales
Contact your Regional Adoption Service or voluntary adoption agency. The National Adoption Service coordinates the Welsh system and Adoption UK Cymru provides information, community and specialist services.
Northern Ireland
Adoption services are delivered through the five Health and Social Care Trusts and voluntary adoption agencies. Your Trust or placing agency is usually the first route for post-adoption support.
For families & carers
Ask for support before the situation becomes a crisis
Early life adversity can affect emotional regulation, trust, relationships, identity, learning and mental health long after a child has entered a safe family. Needing specialist help is not evidence of parenting failure.
- Contact the responsible service in writing.This may be the placing agency, local authority, regional adoption agency, Regional Adoption Service or HSC Trust, depending on where you live and when the order was made.
- Ask for an assessment of support needs.Describe the child’s needs, the effect on the whole family, current risks, what has already been tried and the support you believe is required.
- Request a coordinated plan.Ask who is responsible for social care, health, education, therapeutic support and crisis planning — with decisions and reasons recorded in writing.
- Keep a clear timeline.Record requests, meetings, decisions, incidents, referrals and waiting times. Ask for the complaints or review route when agreed action does not happen.
Adoption UK
Community, information, training, education advice, therapeutic services and advocacy for adopted and care-experienced people and their families.
PAC-UK
Trauma-informed support for adopted people, adoptive families, special guardians and birth relatives, including advice lines and child-to-parent violence support.
FamilyLine
Free emotional support and guidance for adults in England and Wales dealing with family relationships, conflict, parenting, caring or financial pressure.
0808 802 6666 · Monday–Friday, 9am–7pm
The Belay Foundation
Trauma-responsive support for adoptive, kinship and special guardianship families, including help to recruit and sustain specialist in-home support workers, disability-benefits guidance and training.
Availability, eligibility and charges vary. Belay is not an emergency, crisis, clinical or legal service.
Therapeutic support
Look for adoption-aware, whole-family practice
A therapy label alone does not guarantee that a service understands adoption, developmental trauma, attachment, neurodivergence or the pressure carried by the whole family. Ask direct questions before starting.
Questions to ask a provider
- What experience do you have with adopted and care-experienced children or adults?
- How will you assess early life adversity, loss, attachment, sensory needs and neurodevelopment?
- How are parents, carers and siblings included and supported?
- What qualifications, professional registration and safeguarding arrangements apply?
- What is the intended outcome, how will progress be reviewed and what happens if the approach is not helping?
- What are the cost, waiting time, geographical limits and possible funding routes?
Family Futures
Multidisciplinary assessment, therapeutic support, training and resources for adopted and permanently placed children and families.
PAC-UK Child & Family Services
Specialist adoption and permanence support, counselling, group work, advice and therapeutic services; eligibility and commissioned coverage vary.
Adoption UK therapeutic services
Psychology and therapy services covering trauma, attachment, neurodiversity, life-story work and family relationships; availability differs by nation.
Beacon House resources
Free and paid trauma-informed resources for families, schools and professionals alongside specialist clinical services.
Learning, behaviour & development
Education and neurodevelopment
School difficulties can reflect trauma, anxiety, sensory differences, executive-function needs, disrupted development, loss or neurodivergence. A child’s behaviour is communication — it should not automatically be treated as defiance or poor parenting.
School avoidanceTransitionsAttachment-aware practiceSEND / ASN / ALNFASDADHDAutismPDA profileSensory processingExclusionsEHCP / CSP / IDP
Adoption UK education support
Advice, training and resources to help families and education settings understand adopted and care-experienced learners.
FASD support
Adoption UK provides FASD information and services for families parenting a child or young person with known or suspected prenatal alcohol exposure.
PDA Society
Information and resources about persistent demand avoidance, including practical support for families and professionals.
Adopted people & adult adoptees
England & Wales
Scotland
Northern Ireland
Specialist support
Identity, records, contact and lifelong support
Adoption does not end in childhood. Questions about identity, belonging, medical history, grief, records and birth-family relationships can emerge or change at any stage of life.
Birth records and contact register
GOV.UK explains access to original birth information and the Adoption Contact Register. Adults aged 18 or over can apply; the route differs for some people adopted before 12 November 1975.
National Records of Scotland
Guidance on original adoption records, appointments to view papers and adoption certificates. Birthlink can also help with records, tracing and supported contact.
Tracing and contact
NI Direct explains the General Register Office for Northern Ireland’s Adoption Contact Register and routes for tracing or contacting birth relatives and adopted adults.
PAC-UK FamilyConnect
Specialist advice and intermediary support for adult adoptees, descendants and birth relatives seeking information or possible reconnection.
Approach reunion carefully. Searching and contact can bring hope, grief, uncertainty and unexpected information. A consent-led intermediary or adoption-aware counsellor can help everyone prepare without assuming that contact will be wanted or safe.
Birth parents, siblings & relatives
Information, counselling and supported contact
Birth relatives may need independent advice, help understanding the process, support around grief and loss, records guidance, letterbox or direct-contact support, or help exploring reunion later in life.
PAC-UK birth-family support
Specialist counselling, group support, letterbox help and services for birth parents and relatives affected by adoption or permanence.
Family Rights Group
Independent advice for parents and kinship carers involved with children’s services in England, including a free confidential advice line.
0808 801 0366 · Monday–Friday, 9.30am–3pm
Birthlink Scotland
Support for people affected by adoption with a Scottish connection, including tracing, information, counselling and the Adoption Contact Register for Scotland.
Legal advice & rights
Find independent legal advice early
Adoption, permanence, children’s services, complaints and human-rights issues can cross several areas of law. The right adviser and legal system depend on where you live and on the decision, action or risk involved.
When to consider advice
Do not wait for a situation to become irreversible
Independent advice may be useful where support has been refused or withdrawn, a local authority proposes accommodation or care proceedings, child-protection action is under way, there is a dispute about records or contact, or a complaint may need to move to a legal remedy.
Important: PATCH does not provide legal advice. A listing is signposting only, not a recommendation or guarantee. Check the adviser’s current practising status, expertise, jurisdiction, fees and legal-aid availability before instructing them.
Free and legal-aid starting points
England
- Child Law Advice — family and education law information for parents, carers and young people in England.
- Find a legal-aid adviser or family mediator.
England and Wales
- Civil Legal Advice — free and confidential advice for people who qualify for legal aid and whose problem is within scope.
Scotland
- Scottish Child Law Centre — free, confidential advice on Scots law relating to children and young people.
- Scottish Legal Aid Board solicitor finder.
Northern Ireland
- Children’s Law Centre — specialist information, advice and representation for children and young people.
- NI Direct legal-aid information.
Official routes to find a regulated legal adviser
England and Wales specialists already signposted by PATCH
These links appeared on PATCH’s previous resources page and were rechecked in August 2026. Confirm current role, jurisdiction, availability and suitability directly.
Research, lived experience & learning
Build understanding around the whole child
These resources can help families and professionals explore early adversity, attachment, relational safety, neurodevelopment, recovery and lived experience. They are learning resources, not a substitute for individual clinical assessment.
Trauma & relational practice
Neurodevelopment & difference
Lived experience & reflection
Use evidence with care. Check who produced a resource, the evidence behind it, whether it applies to your situation and when it was last updated. No single theory or approach explains every adopted person’s experience.
When things feel urgent
England
Scotland
Wales
Northern Ireland
Crisis and urgent support
PATCH is not an emergency or clinical crisis service. Use the services below when someone needs immediate or urgent help.
Call 999 now if someone is in immediate danger, there is a risk to life, violence is being used or threatened, a serious injury has occurred, or a crime is in progress.
Go to the nearest Emergency Department when urgent in-person medical or mental-health assessment is needed. For non-emergency police contact, call 101.
NHS urgent mental health
111
Call NHS 111 and select the mental-health option for urgent help that is not an immediate emergency.
NHS 24 Mental Health Hub
111
Call NHS 24 and choose the mental-health option. The Mental Health Hub is available 24 hours a day.
NHS 111 Wales
111 · press 2
Free urgent mental-health support for people of all ages, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Lifeline
0808 808 8000
Free, confidential crisis support for anyone in Northern Ireland in distress or despair, open 24/7.
Samaritans
116 123
Free, confidential listening support at any time, from any phone across the UK and Ireland.
Childline
0800 1111
Free, confidential support for children and young people by phone or online, 24 hours a day.
Breathing Space — Scotland
0800 83 85 87
Confidential support for people in Scotland aged 16+ who feel low, anxious or depressed. Check current opening hours online.
Ask PATCH for specific signposting
If you cannot identify the right route, email PATCH with your nation or region, who needs support, the broad issue and the services already contacted. You can also tell us about a useful service, a broken link or a gap in this directory.