0117 935 0005 / activities@ccsadoption.org

In 2000, all adoption agencies in the South West of England combined to form the South West Adoption Consortium (SWAC). Despite all of the changes in social care and adoption since then, SWAC continues to thrive.

Membership now consists of the 3 Regional Adoption Agencies (RAAs) in the South West: Aspire Adoption, funded by the local authorities of Dorset, Bournemouth, Christchurch, and Poole (BCP); Adopt South West, funded by the local authorities of Devon, Somerset, Plymouth, and Torbay; Adoption West, funded by the local authorities of Wiltshire, North Somerset, BANES (Bath and NE Somerset), Bristol, South Gloucestershire, and Gloucestershire.

Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly are also members of SWAC.

There are also 3 Voluntary Adoption Agencies (VAAs) who are full members of SWAC. These are Barnardo’s, CCS Adoption and PACT.

What does SWAC do?

SWAC exists to:

— Facilitate family finding and matching of children across all adoption agencies in the South West region, whether statutory or voluntary.

— Provide a focus and conduit for communication between all adoption agencies within the South West region through timely information sharing and promoting best practices in adoption and permanence.

— Provide a hub in the South West region to facilitate good communication at national & regional levels in relation to adoption and permanence.

— Promote positive working relationships and the sharing of best practices between the statutory and voluntary adoption sectors in the region.

— Act as a focal point to access funding and as a steering group for projects which will provide opportunities to develop and improve adoption practices.

— Identify and promote workforce development across all agencies in SWAC.

— Identify and provide a collective response to common challenges in adoption and permanence across the SWAC agencies.

Newsletter

Download and read our regular monthly newsletter for anyone working in a SWAC agency to keep you updated with the activities.

SWAC Newsletter

Contact details

— Heather Freeman is the Project Lead and can be contacted via email at heather.freeman@ccsadoption.org.

— The SWAC team can be contacted via email at swac@ccsadoption.org.

Adoption Exchange

SWAC is committed to running 3 Adoption Exchanges a year for agencies to profile children and for prospective adopters from across all the SWAC agencies to attend.

Profiling Events

The monthly virtual profiling events are held via Teams on the first Monday in the month. These provide an opportunity for the 3 RAAs and Cornwall to profile their children waiting to those representing prospective adopters from across all the SWAC agencies.

Best Practice Meetings

These meetings are held virtually and provide safe reflective spaces for practitioners in adoption agencies across the South West to discuss common issues, and to share good practice and dilemmas.

Open Sessions

These sessions are open to anyone, in any role in a SWAC agency and are run multiple times a year. Topics are chosen to reflect interest from across the different service groups.