Why choose a Voluntary Adoption Agency?

Voluntary adoption agencies collaborate to highlight choices for prospective adoptive parents.

Independent adoption agencies from across the UK have joined forces to highlight the choices available to people considering becoming a parent through adoption.

Nugent Adoption is one of 12 adoption agencies taking part in the #AdopterChoice campaign, launching on 11 April 2022.

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). 

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.

The CVAA champions and supports the 34 registered voluntary adoption agencies from across the UK.

CVAA CEO Maggie Jones said:

“Voluntary Adoption agencies have the advantage of being rooted in their local community while also being able to search across the country to link children with the adoptive families which are best for them. VAAs are genuinely welcoming of adopters from all walks of life and offer really high quality support for the whole of the adoption journey.”

Nugent Adoption’s Manager, Jo Lloyd said: 

“We recognise you have a choice of Agency in your decision to proceed with adoption. We hope very much that you will choose us. As a small agency, you would be joining an adoption community where we get to know our families and they get to know us. We pride ourselves on a personal, bespoke service that continues for as long as families want us; often long after an adoption order is made.”

As part of the #AdopterChoice campaign, adoptive parents have spoken of the reasons why they chose to adopt through a VAA.

Tom and Amy

Tom and Amy, adoptive parents of three daughters aged 2, 3 and 5 years old.

“We looked around at a few different agencies, both local authority and voluntary agencies but it was from Adoption Matters that we got that sense of personalised support and the interest in us. 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

“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

Anne-Marie and Bill

Anne-Marie and Bill adopted three daughters aged 2, 3 and 4 years old.

“The Voluntary Agency welcomed us as part of their family. The support we got from them was amazing as well, I could phone up with something that sounded so silly to me, but to them it wasn’t. That was our biggest gift, knowing that we weren’t alone” – Anne-Marie

Kevin and Deb

Kevin and Deb adopted siblings and then again for the second time, they adopted their daughter who had additional needs. Adopting when Deb was in her fifties and Kevin in his sixties.

“When you work with a voluntary adoption agency you are there as an adopter for the children who are right for you and the local authorities, quite rightly and quite understandably, initially focus only on their own children within that local authority and therefore you are not privvy to all the different children that could just be the right children for you” – Deb

Rhi

Rhi adopted a 5 year old daughter.

“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