Children

Across the UK there are children, of all ages and backgrounds waiting to become part of a permanent adoptive family.

Children placed with Nugent adopters could be from any of the Local Authorities throughout England, Scotland and Wales. All circumstances will be different, but for all children there will be some reason why they can’t stay with their birth families. There are some situations where a birth family may decide that they are unable to raise a child themselves and request adoption, though these cases are extremely rare. More often, children will have been removed from their birth families due to concerns about their welfare. They may have had negative experiences of neglect and/or abuse, and so may need some extra help and support.

Adoption is a lifelong commitment which is both rewarding and hard work. Once an adoption order is made it cannot be changed, so everyone must be sure that it is for the best and, more importantly, that it is in the child’s best interests.

Some children sadly wait much longer for their adoptive family, these children include:

• Older children above the age of 4 years

• Children from minority ethnic and culturally diverse backgrounds of all ages, including babies and pre-school children

• Children with disabilities of all ages, including babies, and children whose future development is uncertain

• Children with learning difficulties

• Sibling groups of children of all ages

Nugent Adoption therefore particularly welcomes people who feel that they could meet the needs of any of the above children.

Unlike in the past when adoption was secretive and often hidden, today’s adoption is an open process. Children who are adopted have a right to knowledge about their birth family and to the reasons why they were adopted. Nugent Adoption recognises the significance of past events and relationships to the overall well-being of the child or young adult.

In order for children to develop a realistic understanding of the circumstances which led to their adoption, children need to know information about their birth family and sometimes they need to maintain a level of contact with them. How birth family links are maintained is always based on the needs of the child and maintaining that contact always focuses on the child’s long term well-being and security in their adoptive family.

There are many different ways that a child can maintain contact with members of their birth family, which may mean birth parents, grandparents or siblings. Often an exchange of letters – known as Letterbox Contact – takes place through the adoption service. Sometimes contact is face to face; we call this Direct Contact. This is less common and only happens if it’s deemed to be in the child’s best interest. As an adoptive parent you would always be fully informed about the contact plan for a child before the child was placed with you and you would need to be in agreement with the plan, otherwise you may not be quite the right family for that child.