Services for adopted
adults
Starting the Search
If you are adopted and wish to know more about your origins, the
law gives you certain rights.
Adopted people who have reached their eighteenth birthday may apply
to the Registrar General for access to their birth records at the
following address:
Office for National Statistics
General Register Office (Adoptions Section)
Smedley Hydro
Trafalgar Road
Birkdale
Southport PR8 2HH
If you were adopted before the 12th November 1975, and you do not
know your birth name, you are required
to attend a counselling interview with an adoption worker before having access to your original birth
record.
If you were adopted on or after 12th November 1975 you may choose
whether or not to attend a counselling interview with an adoption
worker. However, we know from experience
that finding out about your birth family and perhaps wishing to
trace them is a complex process and we offer counselling and support
concerning the emotional and practical issues which can arise.
You will be given advice by the General Register Office about
counselling services and you will be given the choice of receiving
your counselling from one of the following:
-The Adoption agency which arranged your adoption
-The Local Authority where you live now
-The Local Authority for the area where your Adoption Order was
granted
-If you live overseas, the Registrar General will provide a list of
approved adoption agencies in that country if any are available.
You will also receive information from the General Register
Office or from this Society about two Adoption Contact Registers
through which adopted people and their birth families can register
their wish to have contact with each other: the General Register
Office Adoption Contact Register and the NORCAP Contact Register
What will happen if I contact CCS Adoption?
You can contact us by telephone,
fax, e-mail or letter.
If you were adopted through the Catholic Children's Society
(Diocese of Clifton) you may apply to this Agency for access to your
adoption records either via the General Register Office or directly
to us.
A formal application should be in writing and we will require the
following information.
-Your name now
-Your name on adoption (if different from your current name)
-Your original birth name (if you know it)
-Your date of birth
-Your address and telephone number
We will acknowledge your application. We aim to provide prompt
allocation of an experienced post-adoption worker who will make
contact with you to arrange a counselling interview. Sometimes
there may be a delay when there is a very heavy demand for Post
Adoption Services, in which case we will advise you about the
estimated waiting time.
Next Steps
Your counselling interview with a post-adoption worker will usually take place at our
offices at Pennywell Road, Easton, Bristol but if you are
unable to travel to Bristol, it may be possible for your counselling
interview to be undertaken by your local Diocesan agency for children and
families, or by your Local Authority and we will copy your records
to them.
The counselling interview gives you the opportunity to talk about your
adoption and your wishes in seeking information about your origins.
The post-adoption worker will also help you to consider the possible effects
of any enquiries you may decide to make in order to locate your
birth family. You will be asked to provide proof of your identity:
passport, utility bills etc.
Adoption records are confidential, but we will share with you as
much information as we can about yourself and your birth family
without breaking the confidentiality of a third party, whose consent
may be required before we can share their papers.
You may bring someone with you, a partner, adoptive parent or friend
if you wish.
If after you have learned of your background you decide you wish to
trace your birth relatives, your post-adoption worker will offer help and
advice on how to do this and can act as an intermediary if anyone is
located.
Contact us
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Services for Birth
Relatives
CCS Adoption offers support, advice and intermediary services to
birth relatives of adopted adults who were placed through the
Catholic Children's Society (Diocese of Clifton).
CCS Adoption have been offering intermediary services to birth
relatives for a number of years. From 30 December 2005, The
Adoption and Children Act 2002 gave birth relatives the right to
request an intermediary service from Adoption Agencies or Adoption
Support Agencies.
What will happen if I contact CCS Adoption?
You can
contact us by telephone, e-mail or letter.
A formal application for a
post-adoption service for birth relatives should be in writing with
proof of your identity together with as much information as possible
about the adopted person.
We will acknowledge your
application. We aim to provide prompt allocation of an
experienced post-adoption worker who will make contact with you to
arrange a counselling interview. Sometimes there may be a
delay when there is a very heavy demand for Post Adoption Services,
in which case we will advise you about the estimated waiting time.
After you have made your
application, you will be invited to our offices at Pennywell Road,
Bristol, and assisted to fully consider the implications of
contacting the adopted adult; for them, their adoptive family and
for you and your family. If you cannot travel to our offices we will
suggest you approach your local Diocesan Society. If we agree to act
on your behalf, your post-adoption worker will explain the steps CCS
Adoption may be able to take to trace your relative.
Not everyone wishes for contact with their adopted adult relative to
be made on their behalf. You may only wish to talk about what
happened around the time of adoption. You may just want the
opportunity to discuss how you feel about what happened and how your
life has been affected. You will be welcomed and offered
support.
After meeting with a post-adoption
worker you may decide that you would like an intermediary service.
Individual circumstances will be carefully considered, including the
age of the adopted adult.
We are not always able to find
people and when we are successful, the response of adopted adults
and their families varies. Some wish no contact, some agree to an
exchange of information via CCS Adoption and some arrange to meet.
It is the adopted person's decision. Your post-adoption worker will
talk to you in more detail about the range of possible responses and
any issues that may arise.
For some adopted people, their birth relatives' approach may come at
a difficult time e.g. recent bereavement, exams, marriage. They may
not feel able to respond at this time, but they may return to CCS
Adoption at some point in the future. You can leave information
about yourself for the adopted person's file.
If contact is established by your post-adoption worker with the
adopted person we will act as an intermediary on your behalf and try
to obtain current information and possibly arrange a reunion.
If the birth relative lives abroad, they will be asked to seek a
counsellor experienced in adoption issues. The counsellor may offer
support before, during and after the search. We will liaise with the
counsellor. The Office for National Statistics has suggested
counsellors in many countries.
Contact us
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Services for
adoptive families
The law changed in 1976 to enable adopted adults to have access
to their original birth records. These days we prepare families for
this when they apply to adopt and indeed, many birth and adoptive
families now maintain contact throughout their child's life.
If your son or daughter has decided to apply for access to their
birth records, and possibly go on to search for their birth family,
this may raise a range of issues and feelings for you.
-How will other children react?
-Does it mean I have failed as a parent?
-I feel excluded and afraid that I will lose his or her affection
-Where do I fit in? What can I do to help?
-I am pleased that he or she will be able to fill in some of the
gaps
-It reminds me of the time when we were unable to have children and
had no choice or control
From 31 December 2005, under the Adoption and Children Act 2002,
birth relatives gain the right to ask for intermediary services.
Birth relatives will not be given identifying information about the
adopted person and their adopted parents. Currently, CCS
Adoption provides support and intermediary services to birth
relatives if they request it.
If you would like the opportunity to talk through some of these
issues, you can see a post adoption worker at the Agency's office at Pennywell
Road, Bristol, or we could refer you to a Diocesan Society nearer
your home.
Contact us
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Services for those
connected with Nazareth Houses in Bristol and Cheltenham.
Brief History
After the First World War, the number of children who were
thought to be in need of a place in a residential home increased
rapidly. There being no welfare state, as we now know it, this
responsibility was largely left to and accepted by the major
Christian denominations.
The Nazareth Houses in Bristol and Cheltenham were residential homes
for children, and were owned and run by an order of nuns, The Poor
Sisters of Nazareth. They were providing care for children from the
1920s. Nazareth House, Cheltenham closed in 1965 , Nazareth House,
Bristol closed in 1970.
If you were cared for in either of the Nazareth
Houses as a child or are related to someone who was cared for in
Nazareth House who were not placed for adoption, Nazareth
House Headquarters will have these records. Please contact
Nazareth House Headquarters direct:
Nazareth House Headquarters
Sisters of Nazareth General Archive
Nazareth House
Hammersmith Road
London
W6 8DB
Tel: 020 874 83549
If you were cared for in either of the Nazareth
Houses as a child (or a relative) and were then placed for
adoption please contact CCS Adoption as we will hold these
files.
We provide information, support, counselling and intermediary
services to adults who
were cared for in either of the Nazareth Houses as children and were
then placed for adoption and birth relatives
of adults who were placed in Nazareth Houses during their childhood
who were then adopted.
Please see section 'Services for Adopted Adults'
above.
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Post Adoption Support
Groups
As well as offering individual support from this agency,
we have good links with the following organisations who provide
independent support:
NORCAP
www.norcap.org.uk
112 Church Road, Wheatley, Oxfordshire OX33 1LV
Tel: 01865 875000
A national support group, supporting adults affected by adoption.
Services include telephone helpline, counselling, support and advice,
newsletter, tracing, contact register, intermediary services and local contact leaders and groups.
Adoption UK
www.adoptionuk.org
General membership enquiries: 01295
752240
Telephone helpline: 0870 7700 450
A national self-help group run by adoptive parents with local
co-ordinators and groups.
SWAN – South West Adoption Network
www.swan-adoption.org.uk
Tel: 0845 601 2459 (Local call
rate)
Regional independent adoption support services in the South West.
Advice, counselling, intermediary services, groups and workshops
providing post adoption support in the South West.
N.P.N. (Natural Parents Network)
www.n-p-n.co.uk
Tel: 0161 287 8737
A self-help organisation for natural parents and relatives.
Contact us
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