Adoption Register Wales

As an online family finding tool and data service the Adoption Register Wales is fully embedded in services across Wales and continues to identify adoptive placements for a large number of children. Over the past year 59 children found permanent families through the register and many more prospective adopters are now signed up. 

Adoption Register Wales is the national statutory linking and family-finding register hosted by the National Adoption Service for Wales for the Welsh Government.  It provides a unique service to support Welsh adoption agencies in their family-finding for children and prospective adopters. 

Adoption Register Wales is run by an experienced and dedicated team who has developed collaborative working relationships with all Adoption Agencies across Wales to tackle delays for children waiting for an adoptive family and raise awareness of the importance of proactive and timely family finding for children.

We manage the Adoption Register database; details of children that need families and of people approved to adopt are kept on this. Our experienced team identify potential matches between children and prospective adopters through close and regular communication with agencies to ensure children and families are given the best opportunity to be successfully matched.  We search for links for all children and adopters on our Register at least once a week, both through our matching database and through looking at all profiles of available children and adopters. Alongside this we also work closely with Adoption Agencies, practitioners and adopters, this includes linking through discussion with practitioners as well as other activities such as hosting Adoption Activity Days, Exchange Days and Online Profiling Events.
 

The Adoption and Children Act, 2002 (Joint Adoption Arrangements) (Wales) (Amendment) Directions 2019 require both Local Authority and Voluntary Adoption Agencies to provide a child’s and adopter’s details to the Adoption Register Wales within one month of the date on which the local authority was authorised to place a child for adoption or within one month of the approval of the adopter.  

Our history

An Adoption Register service has been offered in Wales since 2014, in order to provide a wider pool of prospective adopters for children in need of an adoptive placement and whose local authorities were unable to find a placement locally.

In 2015, the National Adoption Service (NAS) was commissioned to host an Adoption Register on behalf of the Welsh Government.

The Adoption Register Wales (ARW) was launched in June 2019, which replaced the previous Wales Adoption Register. ARW uses Link Maker, a bilingual, secure online system which allows direct adopter access. The Register aims to provide suitable matches for children with plans for adoption and to reduce their waiting time.

We hold a range of innovative family finding activities. These events provide opportunities for prospective adopters to be more proactive and gives adopters direct access to information about children waiting to be matched. We also work closely with adoption agencies to provide best practice guidance on profiling children.

What people say about Adoption Register Wales

We collect vital Wales-only statistics in relation to children and adopters. By running in tandem with the National Adoption Service’s Performance Management Framework, we are able to map current adoption practice and activity.

The overview data and trends’ analysis provided by the Register are the building blocks for strategic planning at regional and national level. Not only does this provide information for targeted marketing and recruitment campaigns but also informs the required resource and capacity management to ensure life-long adoption services.

Adopters' Helpline

We offer an Adopters' Helpline operated by Register staff five days a week between 9.00am and 1.00pm. Out of hours calls are captured using voicemail and responded to the next working day.

The telephone number is 029 2087 3799.

Arrangements with other UK Registers

Adoption Register Wales maximises opportunities for children and prospective adopters, through referral to other UK Registers where this is appropriate through the Inter-Register Referral Protocol with England, Northern Ireland and Scotland, which has been designed to enable the Registers Managers of each region to accept and make referrals.  

Contact us:

Adoption Register Wales
 

029 2087 3799

AdoptionRegisterWales@adoptcymru.com