Next Step: A Counselling and Support Service for Parents and Birth Relatives in Adoption
Next Step, a Counselling and Support Service for Parents and Birth Relatives in Adoption, will be launched on Tuesday, 1 June 2010 at 10.00am in the Templeton Hotel, Templepatrick.
Adoption as a process has moved on from the consent of a single mother placing a baby. Most adoptions in Northern Ireland involve children removed from the care of birth family members by Social Services. If rehabilitation at home is not possible then adoption often becomes the plan.
The service is aimed at the birth parents of the children concerned, and other birth relatives including brothers/sisters, aunts/uncles and grandparents. Relatives of children are given the opportunity to attend for counselling and talk about the impact the adoption is having on their lives and any other issues relevant to them.
The guest speaker at the launch is Dr Elsbeth Neil (Senior Lecturer from the School of Social Worker and Psychosocial Sciences, University of East Anglia) who has been undertaking research in the field of adoption for 14 years and has conducted a longitudinal study, following young children placed for adoption. Dr Neil will draw on her recent study of 'what works' in supporting birth relatives.
Other speakers will include Ian Slaine, Project Director, Tony Rodgers, Assistant Director of Social Care and Children, Health and Social Care Board, and Lynda Graham and Maggie McSorley, Co-ordinators of the service.
The Next Step Service is funded by the Health and Social Care Board and is a partnership between Adoption Routes and Family Care Society.