Adoption Support

Parenting adopted children can bring its own challenges and rewards. Adoption East Midlands Adoption Support Team are here to provide information, guidance and support to get you through the challenges and onto the rewards. This website provides support and learning materials for adopters and has been created to provide you with resources, information, development and education to help you parent your child. If you have any questions about adoption, your child’s behaviour or their needs, this should be your first port of call.

Our team

Adoption Support is a team of experienced social workers with adoption experience and Social Work Support Officers who provide an extensive range of post-order adoption support services for children, families and adults who are either themselves adopted or who are birth relatives.

AEM Peer Support Network

As a regional organisation here at AEM we want to develop strong relationships and build a connected community of adopters and professionals across the whole region. This community will influence service provision and delivery of those services for adopted children and their families. With this in mind, we would like to invite you to be part of a collaborative working party with AEM with the purpose of developing collaborative peer group support across the region. More information is available in our Peer Support Focus Group Letter [Word].

Collaborative workshops between AEM Adoption Support and CAMHS

AEM have joined up with Nottinghamshire CAMHS to offer workshops aimed at supporting adoptive parents to revisit the impact of developmental trauma on their child and their emotional wellbeing. These workshops aim to support parents with thinking about their concerns in relation to their child’s current presentation using a trauma informed approach. These workshops are available to all AEM adopters.

Workshop 1 is around developmental trauma and emotional wellbeing. This is to allow adopters the opportunity to revisit their understanding of developmental trauma and getting them to think about their child’s early life experiences, in utero and pre-adoption, asking them to consider these through a trauma lens when thinking about their child's behaviours and emotional needs.

Workshop 2 is an introduction into the overlap between neuro development and developmental trauma. This workshop will explore the overlap between developmental trauma and two neuro-developmental disorders (Autism Spectrum Disorder/Condition and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder).

Workshop 3 focuses on understanding self-harming behaviours and how to support a child. This workshop is aimed at demystifying some of the myths around self-harm and to explore what is meant by self-harm, the reasons a child may feel the need to harm themselves, and how this harm may present. We also hope to explore alternate ways to manage thoughts and feelings that may reduce the child’s self-harm to support their wellbeing but also looking at adopters' own wellbeing.

For more information, including the dates for the workshops and how to book onto these, please see our events page.

Contact Adoption Support

You can contact Adoption Support from 8:30am to 5pm Mondays to Thursdays and 8:30am to 4:30pm on the details below. A social worker will be available from 10am-4pm Monday to Friday.