Adopter choice: making adoption work for you
Independent adoption agencies from across the UK have joined forces to highlight the choices available to people considering becoming a parent through adoption.
Coram Adoption is one of 12 adoption agencies taking part in the #AdopterChoice campaign. Supported by the Consortium of Voluntary Adoption Agencies (CVAA), the campaign aims to raise awareness of the options available for anyone thinking about adopting a child or children.
People wishing to adopt can choose to apply through their local authority, a regional adoption agency or a voluntary adoption agency (VAA) like Coram Adoption.
Voluntary adoption agencies (VAAs) are independent, not-for-profit organisations which are smaller than most statutory agencies and offer a personalised service to adopters from all backgrounds. VAAs work in partnership with local authorities and regional adoption agencies across the whole of the UK to find families for children in care who are unable to stay with their birth relatives.
As part of the #AdopterChoice campaign, adoptive parents have spoken of the reasons why they chose to adopt through a VAA:
"Our experience has been fantastic! It’s been really personalised, it's been really supportive. It’s been fundamental to where our family life is now. The key factor in that has been the support from the voluntary agency from our first contact with them up until today and the support we are still receiving."
- Amy, a mum of three
"It felt like our social worker was entirely in our corner and they didn’t have any agenda or priorities of their own, they were just solely focused on making the best match they could for both the children and also for us."
- Tom, an adoptive parent
"One of the great things about a voluntary adoption agency is that they often focus on children who wait longer for a placement. As we were looking at adopting an older child, we thought that was really useful."
- Rhi, an adoptive parent
Find out more about the experience of being an adoptive parent and the types of children you can adopt below. You can get in touch with our dedicated adoption team here.