To order our brochure, we would ask you to register on our site. You can register here and it only takes a couple of minutes. When you have filled the registration form, we will send you and email to verify your email address. Once this is done, you can log in and order our brochure.

Below we provide a set of links to organisations and data sources that you may find useful.

Adoption UK	Adoption UK is a charity aiming to provide support, awareness and understanding for  those parenting or supporting children who cannot live with their birth parents
After Adoption	After Adoption offer independent services to support individuals and families at any stage of the adoption journey
First for Adoption	first4adoption provides information for people interested in adopting in England
Adoption Register	The Adoption register operates an online database that stores the details of children waiting to be adopted where their own agency has not found the right adoptive family to match them. Similarly the database also holds the details of approved adopters who are waiting to be matched with the right child for them
Adoption Link	Adoption Link is an online service where adopters and family finders can share profiles directly to help children find new parents and to help adopters build families
Ofsted	Ofsted is the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills. All independent adoption agencies have to be registered with Ofsted

 

At Jigsaw we offer lots of support for families – during and after your adoption, since we believe that you shouldn’t be on your own when things get on top of you or you just feel you need some advice.

Post-placement support for families

Children will have a statutory social worker from their Local Authority to offer support and supervision. It is expected that there will be full preparation of the child prior to placement in recognition of the child’s need at all stages of their development.

Adoptive families can draw on the services of Jigsaw’s family support workers according to assessed need as well as services of therapists affiliated to the agency.

The Jigsaw team may supervise a child on behalf of a Local Authority when appropriate.

We will work with adoptive families to promote the attendance of children at school and we’ll liaise with education colleagues in Children and Young People’s Directorates, as appropriate. The same time we will work with schools to offer advice about strategies for dealing with attachment and trauma issues.

Individual support can be made available for adoptive parents’ birth children if appropriate.  Adoptive parents will be encouraged to attend Jigsaw’s regular support groups.

Support plans are reviewed up to the making of an adoption order.

Post Adoption Support

It is recognised that adoption is a lifelong process and that families will need to call on support after an adoption order is granted.

Jigsaw Adoption will give children a copy of the Agency Children’s Guide to Post Adoption Support.

In addition, we will provide the following support:

•             Telephone/postal/e-mail information and advice service

•             Liaison/short term counselling/initial assessment and referral to specialist local services, e.g. Child and Adolescent Mental Health Teams, Multi-professional Support Teams, Education specialists, which may be available in relation to matters such as:

• challenging behaviour
• attachment issues
• contact issues
• educational/medical/legal issues
• life-story work
• information about and implications of events in the birth/adoptive family
•  letterbox contact system as and when appropriate. This may include administrative support
• recording and monitoring, liaising regarding contact, e.g. advice on writing letters, help in renegotiating level of contact etc.; Counselling in preparation for tracing, intermediary services, reunion and post reunion support

•             access to workshop/support groups for members of adoptive families

•             access to/information about resources such as DVDs, books and informal support networks

•             opportunities for networking with other adoptive families, including social events for adoptive families

•             advice regarding other agencies’ services and resources, e.g. Chinese Association, LGBT support services, Deaf Society, Adoption UK

•             agency updates for adoptive families, e.g. newsletters

•             groups for adopted children;

Individual families and adoptive children and adults may use some or all of these services at different times in their lives. These services can be accessed by contacting Jigsaw Adoption directly.

We are working closely with the Local Authorities’ Support services Advisers to provide services and will make the adoptive parents or adopted person aware of the likely services provided and for which the Local Authority is responsible.

The Agency will ensure that all parties are aware of their rights to request an assessment of their needs for post adoption support from the responsible Local Authority.