Adoption Tees Valley Blog

Welcome to the new Adoption Tees Valley blog. Here we'll feature the latest news and articles from our team and our adoptive community.

Share your story

Let us tell your story. You might be a prospective adopter at the start of the process, you might have adopted a child or children several years ago, or you may be an adopted person yourself. Whatever your situation, people are really interested to hear others' stories. if you'd like to share yours please email, info@adoptionteesvalley.org.uk

Adoption Tees Valley Recognised as Top Adoption Agency for Customer Service in North East England

Friday 16 May 2025

Adoption Tees Valley Recognised as Top Adoption Agency for Customer Service in North East England and Second Nationally

Family Finding: Nancy, Rosie and Myles

Wednesday 29 January 2025

‘My name is Nancy and I give good hugs, I’m Rosie and my favourite thing is jumping in the swimming pool. I am Myles and I love doing jobs!’

Adopting brother and sister groups

Friday 24 January 2025

Read our blog about the the joys and challenges of adopting siblings

Post adoption support -exploring identity

Wednesday 8 January 2025

Find out more about how post adoption support can help with issues surrounding identity.

Celebrating a Milestone: Adoption Tees Valley Finds Families for 500 Children

Wednesday 11 December 2024

Adoption Tees Valley is thrilled to announce a significant milestone in our journey to provide permanent, loving families for vulnerable children.

Post Adoption Support for Adoptive Parents

Wednesday 13 November 2024

Like any parenting journey, adoption can come with its challenges. Adoption Tees Valley have a dedicated Post Adoption Support Team with a wealth of experience to support you during and beyond your adoption journey.

Adoption Tees Valley supports You Can Adopt Campaign for National Adoption Week.

Monday 21 October 2024

There’s no such thing as a ‘normal’ family, says 65% of Brits – as National Adoption Week Highlights adoption journeys of all kinds. Read more.

Adopting Jasper through ‘early permanence’ was best decision

Wednesday 25 September 2024

Read Laura and Sandra's experience of adopting through early permanence.

Changing a child’s life by adopting through ‘Early Permanence’

Tuesday 24 September 2024

Parents Laura and Sandra Davies are promoting the benefits of adopting through Early Permanence to support a campaign to find loving forever homes for children in care more quickly.

Tees Valley teens to make film about adoption

Friday 16 August 2024

A group of 12-to-18-year-olds from the Tees Valley are working with professional artists to make a film about their experiences of being adopted.

Adoption Tees Valley backs new national campaign to encourage more people to adopt.

Tuesday 23 July 2024

National adoption drive launches amid rise in number of children needing a forever home

What is the difference between a Regional Adoption Agency and Voluntary Adoption Agency?

Tuesday 16 July 2024

In this blog we'll outline the key differences between a RAA and VAA so you can make an informed choice.

‘Our journey into Early Permanence’

Wednesday 24 April 2024

In this blog our Early Permanence carers talk about preparing for an EP placement and how they sensitively worked with birth mum.

My experience of post adoption support.

Wednesday 24 January 2024

One of our adopters writes about her experience of post adoption support through ATV.

Early permanence - a sister and adopted young person's perspective.

Thursday 19 October 2023

"Being a part of his life from the very beginning and giving him all of the consistency that I never had. I can't think of a better start in life for him" Read Ruby is an adopted young person and sister, read her story here.

What is early permanence and why is it important for children?

Monday 16 October 2023

Early Permanence placements allow babies and young children who may need adopting to be placed with a potential permanent family earlier than a conventional adoption. Find out more in our latest blog.

National Adoption Week 2023

Sunday 15 October 2023

Find out more about this years National Adoption Week here.

Drive in the Tees Valley region launches to find adopters for children who wait the longest for a permanent home

Tuesday 20 June 2023

You Can Adopt launch a new campaign to find families for children who wait the longer. Find out more.

‘Adoption is a billion times better than I imagined’

Monday 29 May 2023

Single mum Nichola tells us about the joy adopting her daughter, has brought to her life.

‘Adoption has expanded our world’

Wednesday 24 May 2023

Pete and Phill tell us about their adoption journey having adopted two brothers.

Marking five years of finding loving homes for children

Monday 22 May 2023

ATV is celebrating its five year anniversary! Read more about what we've achieved since we launched.

‘Adoption was the best decision’

Monday 22 May 2023

Joanne, has been a birth mum, foster mum, early permanence carer and adopted mum, read her story.

Every placement is unique and comes with its own challenges, but EP can give a child the most amazing start to life.

Thursday 30 March 2023

Our adopters Kelly and Nathan recently experienced adoption through early permanence, they tell us more about it in this blog.

New team to improve support for adopted children in North East and North Cumbria

Thursday 2 February 2023

Families with adopted children will have access to earlier support thanks to a new team announced today.

Meeting birth family

Wednesday 2 November 2022

Read Lucy's* blog about meeting her children's birth family and how it's been a positive experience for them.

What is the difference between a Regional Adoption Agency and Voluntary Adoption Agency?

Wednesday 24 August 2022

In our latest blog we explain the differences between different types of adoption agency.

They’ve brought a lot of love into our lives - Malcolm and Shelley's story.

Thursday 30 June 2022

Malcolm and wife Shelley, from Stockton on Tees adopted three children, one sibling group of two boys and later a girl. Read their story.

‘Adopting Sam is the best thing we’ve ever done’

Wednesday 29 June 2022

Read Adam and Daniyal's story

Adopting through early permanence - Lucy's story

Wednesday 4 May 2022

Lucy tells us about her experience of adopting her three children through a foster to adopt arrangement.

Press release: Could you be an early permanence carer?

Tuesday 19 April 2022

Adoption Tees Valley (ATV), which finds adopters on behalf of the five Tees Valley local authorities, are looking for more carers who can look after children under an early permanence placement.

Early permanence - Pete and Chris' story.

Thursday 14 April 2022

The opportunity to keep brother and sister together - even if just in those formative first stages - with the potential for early permanence was a no-brainer for us.

Adopting as a same sex couple

Wednesday 9 March 2022

Chloe and Sarah* originally adopted two sisters aged 2 and 1, they then went on to adopt the girls other two sisters separately, meaning all four girls were kept together. Chloe tells us her story.

LGBT+ Adoption and Fostering Week returns with theme of #BeTheChange

Monday 7 March 2022

Adoption Tees Valley is delighted to be supporting LGBT+ Adoption & Fostering Week which returns 7th March – for its tenth year with an important message of #BeTheChange.

Adopting siblings, the rewards and challenges.

Tuesday 1 March 2022

We were aware of some 'rewards and challenges' to adopting siblings prior to them coming home but we have now added a few of our own! Spoiler Alert: It is still more positive than negative!

Bringing Home 3 Children Under the age of 3!

Thursday 24 February 2022

Our adopter Lucy* tells us more about settling in to life as a family of 5.

'The bonding bubble'

Tuesday 15 February 2022

Our adopter Lucy* talks about the first few weeks of living as a family with her sibling group of three.

Welcome home

Wednesday 2 February 2022

In Lucy's* next blog in a series exploring adopting siblings, she talks about the day she welcomed her children home.

Adopted young people launch video for schools with support from Toby Anstis.

Tuesday 25 January 2022

We're proud to support our adopted young people in producing a film aimed at raising adoption awareness within school.

“The cutest chemistry visit ever!”

Thursday 20 January 2022

Our adopter Lucy* shares her experience of meeting her children, a sibling group of three, for the first time.

“We wanted a big family so why not jump to three?!”

Wednesday 12 January 2022

In second of a series of short blogs from our adopter Lucy*, she talks further about the matching part of the adoption process.

We love the madness that comes with adopting siblings!

Thursday 6 January 2022

In the first of a short series of blogs, Lucy* one of our adoptive Mums, tells us about her and her husbands decision to adopt a sibling group of three.

Coping with Christmas

Wednesday 8 December 2021

Christmas can be hard for some children, read our article for advise on how to keep things calm this Christmas.

‘Adoption made our family complete’ - Chris and Pete talk about their adoption journey.

Wednesday 20 October 2021

When Chris and Pete Kirby-Bowstead met 12 years ago, having a family together was not part of their masterplan. However, after moving in together, getting engaged, and then married, they each felt that adopting a child was the next natural step they both wished to take.

“We just want to wrap her up and protect her”

Tuesday 19 October 2021

It’s four years since Simon and Ellen Cross first met the baby girl that was to become their adopted daughter and now they could not imagine life without her.

Service Manager, Vicky Davidson Boyd, reflects on those involved in working in adoption during National Adoption Week

Monday 18 October 2021

It’s National Adoption Week, and I've been thinking a lot about the amazing people who are involved in making safe, secure, and loving families for children who deserve to have the stability of a permanent family Read on for some of my thoughts and reflections.

Choosing a school for your child

Thursday 7 October 2021

Leanne, our Education Support worker, gives advice for parents choosing schools.

Celebrating diverse families

Monday 20 September 2021

Our adopter Pete, shares some fantastic resources for celebrating diversity in families.

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