A charity for the whole adoption community#
Adoption UK was set up in 1971 and describes itself as the leading charity for adopted and care-experienced people, adoptive families, and others raising children who cannot live with their birth parents. That includes kinship carers and special guardians. It is registered as an adoption support agency, has offices in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and runs membership for families and for adopted adults, community groups, a therapy service, and policy work such as its Adoption Barometer reports.
The Information and Support Line#
The Information and Support Line is for anyone affected by adoption, anywhere in the UK: adoptees, adopters, kinship carers, professionals and people supporting them. Advisers give practical suggestions and information, or point you to specialist help. It is open on weekdays from 10am to 2.30pm. You can also ask for a call back or an email reply through a form, or email directly; it aims to answer emails within two working days.
Calls are recorded, and as a registered adoption support agency it keeps a record of each enquiry. If you would rather stay anonymous, say so at the start. Adopted young people have their own groups in each nation: The Bridge in England, #E Project in Scotland, Connected in Wales and Banter in Northern Ireland.
Records, tracing and a birth name#
Its pages for adult adoptees, reviewed and in many cases written by adoptees, cover tracing, reunion and mental health. The guide to tracing birth family after 1975 suggests gathering what you already hold, including birth names, dates and places, and then:
- Birth and adoption certificates, from the General Register Office or National Records in your nation.
- Your adoption file, from the agency or council that arranged the adoption, or in Northern Ireland your Health and Social Care Trust.
- The Adoption Contact Registers, which link adoptees and birth relatives who both want contact; you must be 18 to register in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and 16 in Scotland, and there is a fee.
It is frank that this can be slow and emotional, and suggests a supporter and, where relatives may not know about you, an intermediary. GOV.UK adds that if you were adopted before 12 November 1975 and do not know your birth details, you must first see an approved adoption adviser.
If you want to use your birth name#
Adoption UK publishes nothing on changing a name. For many adopted adults, though, an original birth certificate is the first time they see the name they were given at birth, and some decide to take it back, as a first name, a middle name or a surname. From 16 you can do that by deed poll, and nobody else has to agree. Can I go back to my birth name after adoption? explains how it works with your adoption certificate, which remains your birth record, and what HM Passport Office asks for.
If you are raising a child, the adoption order normally sets the child's name, and a later change follows the usual consent rules; changing a child's name after adoption or under special guardianship explains both, including the stricter rule for special guardians.
This page describes what Adoption UK publishes on its own website, read on 26 October 2026. Adoption UK has not reviewed it, and listing a charity here does not mean it recommends this handbook or any deed poll service.
