Where to find support

There are different types of support available to you and your family across the region

Our support offer is divided into

Supporting you and your family

We are here to support you in your parenting task to maximise your child’s emotional, social and educational development.

We understand that adoption is for life and adopting is rewarding but can be challenging at times. We will try to offer a service that meets your needs or we’ll help you to find the support you need from other providers when necessary.

The resources and funding section includes useful services, websites on housing and finance; as well as information about the Adoption Support Fund and the adoption passport. These resources do change. It is best to check directly with source for up-to-date information or contact us.

We have dedicated adoption teams available across the area to respond to queries, provide direct interventions and to give advice and training.

There may be local support in an area that we are not aware of. If you know of support services that we can share please contact us, likewise if you want more information on support listed on these web pages, please contact us.

Your own family support

Friends, family and colleagues can all offer support to you and your family, and for the majority of adoptive families these will be the first and most natural people to call on when advice and support may be needed.

Contact us

The social workers in our support team are available to talk about any difficulties or issues you may be having and discuss what support could be helpful. We can video-call you, or you can go to a local adoption office to meet with a social worker or we may be able to visit you at home if you prefer.

We will always speak to you as parents first, and in some cases, we will then speak with your child/ren (with your consent) to understand their wishes and feelings, which helps us to identify what support is needed.

There may be times when you need additional services. If you think that you require advice and/or support beyond what you and your family and friends can provide then please do contact us.

Call 0345 155 1076 or email adoptsouthwestsupport@devon.gov.uk

Our phone lines are open Monday to Friday 9:00 am to 1.00 pm for support or general advice, or to make an enquiry for an assessment of more specific and direct therapeutic support.

Workers from Adopt South West can complete an assessment of your child and your family’s need. This can lead to signposting to other services or direct interventions from Adopt South West.

Out of hours support

If you need urgent support and it is out of hours, you will need to contact the local authority out of hours/emergency duty team for the area you live in. The numbers are:

  • Devon: 0345 600 0388 or 0845 600 0388
  • Plymouth: 01752 346984
  • Torbay: 0300 456 4876
  • Somerset: 0300 123 23 27

Events

We coordinate a number of events and support activities throughout the region. These include support groups, workshops, training events, and therapeutic parenting courses for adopters to expand their knowledge on particular topics. Post-adoption support clinics are for adopters to attend and gain advice and support. All these events provide an opportunity for adopters to meet each other and hear about specific topics of interest.

We arrange social events for families and children to get together and also some summer activities for children and young people to participate in. These include:

  • Adoptive family picnics, walks, farm days, circus event and parties at Christmas.
  • Social events for adopted children.

And once a year we hold an Adopter Conference – this is your opportunity to hear a renowned international speaker talk about topical new developments in the adoption field.

Listed events:

Adopter Peer Mentoring Service

We are hoping to develop a group of experienced adopters who will be trained and supervised to support adopters across the region.

Our aim is for the adopter peer mentors to be available to adopters who have successfully completed stage 2 of their assessment. The mentor would be available to the adopter, as required throughout their approval, matching and after the granting of the adoption order. If you are interested in becoming a peer mentor please do contact us.

We have funding for family memberships that are available to adoptive families, please contact us in the usual way to get a login. We have funding for:

Regular communications

As well as promoting events and news on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram, we encourage families to keep in touch and stay on our mailing list to receive our regular communications about the support service available.

We send regular newsletters to all adopters with news of events across the region, as well as other items of interest and also email updates, as and when needed. To subscribe to our Adopt South West newsletters for adopters, please email adoptsouthwestsupport@devon.gov.uk