Who we are
The National Adoption Service for Wales was established to deliver and improve adoption services in Wales.
Welsh local authority adoption services work together within a 3-tier structure which includes partnerships at all levels with Voluntary Adoption Agencies based in Wales, Health and Education Services as well as others.
Our priorities are to continue to improve adoption services across Wales to ensure all children who need adoption, adoptive families and adopted adults receive the service they want and need. We will continue to implement the Frameworks for Life Journey Work, Adoption Support and Welsh Early Permanence as we continue along our improvement journey.
At local authority level all 22 Welsh councils provide services to all looked after children whilst identifying and working with those children for whom a plan for adoption is appropriate.
Regionally, local authorities work together within five regional collaboratives to provide a range of adoption services. Each regional collaborative has links with the voluntary adoption agencies, health and education. The services provided differ in each collaborative, but all provide the adoption agency functions for children, some currently directly provide adoption support services whereas in others this remains with their local authorities.
Nationally, the Director of NAS and a small central team, hosted by the City of Cardiff Council on behalf of all local authorities, drive improvement, consistency and co-ordination. Since September 2015 the central team has also managed the Wales Adoption Register for the Welsh Government.
The central team
Suzanne Griffiths
Director of the National Adoption Service and Foster Wales
Corienne Strange
Head of Policy, Practice & Communication
Nikki Kingham
Head of Business and Enabling
Adele Gough
Adoption Support Development Manager
Hannah Jones
Adoption Register Practitioner Manager
Laura Betts
Welsh Early Permanence Project Coordinator
The National Adoption Service is overseen by a Combined Governance Board. In 2024, a National Joint Committee was established to provide oversight on behalf of all 22 local authorities in Wales. More locally, 5 Regional Management Committees oversee the regional adoption services. The National Adoption Service reports to Welsh Ministers twice a year.
