Maintaining relationships after adoption

Maintaining relationships, sometimes called contact, means keeping a connection between your child and the people who were important to them before they were adopted. This can help your child feel safe, understood, and connected to their story.

There are different ways to stay in touch:

Direct contact: This might include meeting in person, phone calls, or video chats.
Indirect contact: This could be letters, emails, or sharing photos, videos or voice notes and updates through the adoptive parents.

Every child is different, so the plan for maintaining relationships is made carefully. Your child’s social worker and social workers from ACE will work with your child’s birth relatives and yourselves as adoptive parents to decide what methods of maintaining relationships is best for your child. The child’s safety, wellbeing, and emotional needs are always the most important part of this decision.

This approach helps your child feel supported and helps everyone involved build trust and understanding over time.