Special Guardians and Adopters Together members feel it is important to be able to ‘tell it like it is’. From ‘good practice’ to ‘this should never happen’, the positives and the negatives of adoption and special guardianship are all important to learn from.
Opportunities to speak out can be very curtailed in adoption and special guardianship because of our need for anonymity and it is imperative we safeguard the privacy of our children. Moreover, our children rely on us to speak for them, especially when they are young or their experiences are too hard to think about, never mind talk about to others – to people they do not know.
There is, in most cases, no other forum for the views, experiences and stories we have put up here, to be brought into the public domain, which is where we feel they need to be. We feel it is important to speak out so progress can be made.
Names are changed, or not given, to protect professionals, children and families.
Preventing discrimination in adoption and special guardianship
When safeguarding agencies take the moral high ground and decide to remove a child
SG&AT response to the government’s new Adoption Strategy
A micro-moment – and some thoughts on the Care Review
All teenagers behave like that!
Speaking out when you need to protect your child and family’s privacy
Making a complaint – What could possibly go wrong?
How can we make adoption more kind?
What happens if it wasn’t Mum’s fault?
We are not a risk of harm to the children we seek help for
Lets get real about Sibling Group Adoptions
A silenced witness – why co-production is important in adoption and special guardianship
Special Guardianship Orders – are they working when children have FASD?
The Care Reviews ‘big’ question
Lessons to be learned for the LGO from the Kirkup Report (2020)
Please remember, our children grow up!
Free school meals save lives – by adult adoptee Scarlett Burgess
Special Guardianship Orders – what happens at 18?
Supporting families in crisis and when children leave home prematurely
Preventing professional harm & LGO refusals to investigate complaints about children’s services
Why SG&AT supports Article 39’s legal challenge to scrap SI445
Occupation – Adopter/Special Guardian
How can things change if we cannot be heard?
Adult Entitled Dependency in Adoption
Are the Regional Adoption Agencies taking on board adopters’ negative experiences of services?
Negligence through obfuscation
Deprivation of hope and family severance for children in permanence families
Serious systemic failings for childre under permanence orders and for those who care for them
Adoptive mother requests meeting with GMC chiefs to discuss their complaints process
Why won’t the local authority or the LGO investigate a child’s complaint?
Blamed for causing a child’s despair
This is Child Neglect – a special guardian’s experiences of support provision
Supervision Orders – who are they really helping?
The need for family centred Restorative Practice in special guardianship and adoption
Supporting Permanence – together…..
A brief comment about the Adoption Barometer
Court proceedings, assessments, complaints and the slow pace of change
Sliding Doors: A day in the life of an Expert by Experience
How can we create change if we can’t talk to each other?
A perfect start to Mother’s Day
The Selwyn Report on Adoption – its recommendations are being ignored
Mother’s Day in Adoption and Special Guardianship
Bereavements and Losses in Adoption
Why can’t our great grandson, under an SGO, access the 30 hours free nursery provision?
A vision of a Permanence Board for all children who cannot live with birth parents
The loneliness and social isolation of young trauma survivors
Are courts the right way to support adopters and kinship carers who wish to provide permanence?
Why is a 17 year old girl who wants to raise her siblings being judged instead of helped?
The child/young person will not engage……
Things that don’t make you any less of a person…unless…
Please think of children who re-enter care at Christmas
Understanding a traumatised child: a parent’s perspective
Superkids with Superadoptive parents and Superspecial guardians
Tackling the care crisis and modernising adoption and special guardianship
Why peer-led research is important
Some thoughts on complex trauma in schools
Are the Family Courts the right place for families?
A cautionary tale of modern adoption for Halloween
Mutual Expectations Parents Charter
The Independent Adoption and Special Guardianship Family Guardian
Why the legacy left by austerity will never end in children’s services
Working with young people affected by complex trauma
Antidote to the side effects of National Adoption Week
National Adoption Week: stories of courage and fortitude
National Adoption Week: Pulling the plug on an adoptive family
National Adoption Week: love, regret, sadness and anger
Support Adoption and Special Guardianship Permanence
A Special Guardian Grandmother’s Story
“It feels like she just walked into my head”
The real impact of School Exclusion
Adopters and Special Guardians in court – the hidden impact of a Care Order
A concerning consultation about information sharing
Adopting a Child. Mandy’s Story
A personal reflection on the Care Crisis Review by SG&AT Chair
Help us Create Change Together
Our daughter has a right to family life, not a smart phone!
A Special Guardian considers FASD
Shame and Self Loathing in the Treatment of Trauma – Workshop Review
DfE’s response to a serious case concerning a previously looked after child
DfE’s response to request for support and to open letter to Children’s Minister
Cases for the SCIE (Social Care Institute for Excellence)
Adopting a child with child to parent violence problems: Iliana’s story
Mary’s Story: When help seeking leads to a child protection investigation
Lisa’s Story: A child who grew up and wanted to help others like him
Jenny’s story: adopting a survivor of child sex abuse
When help seeking leads to blame and removal instead of help
Understandably Distressed Behaviour
LBC Interview with adopters under stress (POTATO website)
Home is where a traumatised child’s problems emerge
Are forensic court processes in the Family Courts focusing in the wrong place?
Adoption in Crisis: time for legal reform
Being assessed to be a Special Guardian – taken from a judgment made by HHJ Stephen Wildbood QC
Adopters in Court – What needs To Change?
Condemnation of Mothers – How does this Help Our Children?
Case Study – EHC Plan for an Autistic Child cared for by special guardian grandparents
Special Guardians and the Adoption Support Fund
Adopted and Special Guardian Children who Re-enter Care
The Value of Social Media Forums to help Parental Stress
Problems we face as Adoptive Families
Adoption cases for the SCIE Project on the Mental Health of Children in Care
Open Letter to the New Minister for Children and Families
Naomi’s Story: Abandoned after the SGO; Too scared to ask for help
Thoughts on being a McKenzie Friend when an adopted child has re-entered care
Thoughts on legal frameworks when our children cannot live safely with family
Why not providing match funding for the ASF is a false economy
Reflections on Lord Justice McFarlane’s NAGALRO speech
10 Good Reasons to Sign Our Petition
Second Open Letter to Rt Hon Nadhim Zahawi
Reflections on a Recent Court of Appeal Ruling about an Adopted Child who Re-entered Care
Why ‘telling it like it is’ is important in Adoption and Special Guardianship
Different Families – Different Needs
Context is everything – especially in court
No one should be above the law – so the law must change
An Adoptive Parent’s Response to the School Exclusion Review
Parental Alienation – is this affecting previously looked after children?
Please send us an email if you are interested in joining our group, wish to offer support, or would like to work together with us – sgandadopterstogether@gmail.com
Special Guardians and Adopters Together 