Today marks the launch of Adopt East, a regional adoption agency which has been established to recruit adopters across the East of England.
Adopt East will work across local authorities in Bedford Borough, Essex, Hertfordshire, Luton, Norfolk, Southend, Suffolk and Thurrock to find families for children who are waiting to find their forever home. Adoptionplus, Barnardo’s and Adoption UK are also part of the partnership.
The Adopt East Alliance will deliver the highest quality adoption service to children and families throughout the region by bringing together the expertise and skills of all its partners.
The partners of Adopt East offer a wealth of specialist skills at all stages of the adoption journey and the Alliance allows them to bring this together to provide a strong central support for all families going through the adoption process.
The scale of the organisation means that adopters will have access to a larger number of children waiting for adoption and this will help partners to match children with the right family for them, at the earliest opportunity.
Sarah Johnson, Executive Head of Adopt East said: “We are excited to launch the Adopt East Alliance in line with Department for Education guidance. We are doing this as there are large number of children where it is increasingly difficult to find loving homes for. By working together, we will be able to recruit a larger and more diverse collection of adopters going forward. We have a wealth of expertise across the eastern region and bringing this together will enable us to match more children with their families.”
Cllr James Valentine, Portfolio Holder for Children’s Services and Education at Bedford Borough Council said: “l welcome the launch of the Adopt East Alliance. This exciting new initiative will enable local authorities across the East of England to cooperate and share best practice. Bedford Borough Council is proud of our adoption service that provides the best homes for children who require an adoptive family. We are always seeking the most representative adopters and by working with the Regional Adoption Alliance we will further improve our children’s matching.”
To find out more about the Adopt East Alliance visit https://www.adopteast.org.uk/
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