ACCESS TO BIRTH RECORDS
- Adopted Person Access to Birth Records and Intermediary Service
As a registered Voluntary Adoption Agency St David’s offers an all-Wales Access to Records and intermediary service which supports the rights of you as an adopted person to access your adoption information and be supported in connecting with birth relatives. This service is delivered in partnership with Adoption UK and in conjunction with the Regional Adoption Agencies in Wales.
As an adopted person you may have reached a stage in your life where you would like to understand more around the circumstances of your adoption and gain more information about your identity.
We will support you by
- Sensitively sharing information in a way that is agreed
- Helping you gain understanding around any information shared.
- Assisting in tracing and making contact with your birth family.
We are here to act as a support professional to help you through what can be an emotional process. We understand it will have taken you some time to decide to seek more information about your adoption and early life and we are here to listen, guide and support you.
The service we offer is broken down into two separate stages
- Access to Records
It is the right of you as an adopted person to access your adoption records to find out your personal adoption information. We are here to support in accessing adoption records and will then work through this with you to discuss the information and support you in gaining understanding.
Elements of the process
- Following information being shared by the Regional Adoption Collaborative, we will have an initial consultation meeting with you.
- We will prepare the information to be shared with you.
- We will meet with you to discuss the information and support your understanding.
- We will discuss with you, your views on searching for birth relatives.
- Intermediary Service
After accessing your personal adoption information, you may choose to search for, and in some instances, contact your birth relatives. We are here to support in searching for birth family members and we are able to approach the relatives you wish to make contact with on your behalf. We will also offer support in establishing contact and preparing for potential reunions.
Elements of the process
- An initial discussion meeting with you to check identity and obtain permissions.
- Research undertaken to search for birth family members.
- Initial contact made with birth family members.
- Feedback provided to you as the adopted person.
- Support with contact arrangements.
Our Support
During the process we will also check to see if birth parents may have expressed a view regarding contact. Sometimes, they may have requested that they are not contacted, and we will discuss this with you and support you with this information.
We recognise that this will be an emotional time and can be difficult to wait for a response from a birth family member. We are here to support you in searching for family members and are able to approach relatives you may wish to make contact with on your behalf. We will work with you to help with establishing contact, exchanging letters and preparing for a possible reunion.
We know that having professional and experienced intermediary support during this time can help in determining the best outcomes for all, and that this support provides reassurances, guidance, and information during this emotional process.
Throughout this time, you are also able to access further support through the services offered by our partners Adoption UK. This service is optional and you can be referred at any time should you wish.
Adoption UK Service
The adopted person’s PATHway is a response to the recognition that adoption can impact on people through out their life and finding specialist support is not easy.
PATH is Adoption UK’s therapeutic service. They are a team of psychologists, psychotherapists, therapeutic practitioners and peer support workers offering a range of support to people affected by adoption.
There is increased awareness of the need for adopted people to access their adoption records and understand their life story. However, this can be a challenging process, and emotional support can help during this time. The support offered is a unique blend of clinical and peer support and can include
- Access to Adopted Person PATHway – following an initial clinical consultation to ensure that the programme is appropriate AUK will provide one-to-one support through a Peer Support Partner (PSP) alongside six-sessions of therapeutic groups. The PSP will have lived experience of adoption and having accessed birth records and birth family tracing.
- Access to Individual Therapy –There may be times when people feel they need some additional support and because of the nature of their experiences it may be beneficial to explore this one-to-one. AUK will provide individual therapeutic support with a psychologist or psychotherapist.
We understand that everyone will be affected by their experiences differently and that during the process of accessing information or considering contact with birth family members you may be affected in different ways at different times. At times you may feel it would be beneficial to access additional levels of support offered by Adoption UK. A referral for this support can be made at any time.
Contact
We understand that making a decision to access more information around the circumstances of your adoption is complex and emotional. We are here to support you and offer our professional advice and guidance. If you would like more information or and information conversation, please contact
Email: info@stdavidscs.org
Telephone: 02920 667007
One of our trained and experienced Social Workers will then be in contact to arrange a time to speak with you.
