CYP Now - Adopted people ‘need greater support’ to access records, finds research

Local authorities should be held to a minimum standard to support adopted people access their records to help maintain a sense of identity and facilitate contact with birth families, new research finds.

Adopted people should be given greater support to access details about their backgrounds, research finds. Picture: Adobe Stock

Two studies from the University of East Anglia’s (UEA) Centre for Research on Children and Families, published to mark National Adoption Week (17 – 23 October), suggest that maintaining relationships, formed prior to adoption, supports adopted people to have a better sense of their own identity.

One of the studies, carried out by UAE and intermediary service Joanna North Associates, investigated the speed at which adoption agencies and local authorities respond to request from intermediaries to support reunions between adopted adults and their birth families.

Before intermediary services can put people in touch with each other, they must ask the agency holding the adoption records to check a person’s file for contact details, background information and to make sure that the adopted person has not placed a veto on being contacted by birth relatives.

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