Page, Roddy and Alex, Jacqui and Robert, Julie and Nick, Lucy B, Diane and James, Collette and Adam, Jessica, Robert and Marilyn, Simon , Kate, and Tristan and Scott mention contact
How did it feel having your child taken into care?
“...the only contact I was to have was a letter once a year and no photographs and I wasn’t allowed any other contact with her. And I was gutted isn’t quite the word I would use,”
Have you made contact with your birth child?
“I have letter contact once a year and this contact is via the post adoption box”
“At the end of this visit I remember picking my daughter up, giving her a massive hug and I was crying, in fact crying isn’t the word I would use, I was sobbing and she just looked at me and she just threw her arms around me and hugged me ”
How would you feel if your child wanted to see their birth family in the future?
“They may or may not want to seek out the birth parents. Whether they do or not, you have to accept has got really no relevance, it doesn’t reflect on you or your parenting abilities… It is something they will feel the need to do, or not do, and so sup”
Does your child have contact with their birth family?
“And both sets they will have letterbox contact, which is classed as indirect contact, twice a year… with both, both grannies.”
Does your child have contact with their birth family?
“It’s also a direct way for the children to be reassured that their birth mother is still well, and equally for her to see the children are still being fed.”
Does your child have contact with their birth family?
“...the interesting thing is it is a bit like marrying in to a family they are a bit like in-laws, you adopt and they are in-laws and so Christmas, Birthdays you contact each other and wish each other well ”
Has your adopted child started to question his/her identity?
“Mum and dad, they’re the people that have looked after me. I’ve only grown up only knowing them as my mum and dad and my sister as my sister, so why should it… why should it be any different? I’ve got, got a good home. And… That’s all that mat”
Do you think siblings should be adopted together or separately?
“ I think it depends on the needs of the child doesn’t it and what age group and things, but I mean even our baby is going to be included in the contact once a year at the moment until he gets older.”
When can adopted children and birth parents look for each other?
“There’s also a national adoption register that people can put their names on which can help to connect people up. ”
Does your child have contact with their birth family?
“...it’s so helpful. It doesn’t in anyway detract from our relationship with the child. It adds to it. It is not a threat. It’s just, makes the child feel slightly more at one with the world. ”
Have you decided to look for your birth family?
“My parents are the people who raised me and the people that love me. My biological parents are the two people I share chromosomes with. ”
Why do some children continue to have contact with birth family after adoption?
“I think it can also help adopters in helping their children what has gone on in the past and to help them see that their parents are OK. ”
Does your child have contact with their birth family?
“...they will naturally type in birth families details at some point and find them, so it is a worry now for us and I don’t really think it is so much of a worry as when they are eighteen…”