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Contact with Birth Relatives.
The older the child, the more likely it is that he or she will have developed relationships with people that should not be completely broken when they are adopted. Any proposed contact arrangements will be discussed with you at the time when the placement is being proposed.
Contact arrangements vary considerably from child to child. By way of a guideline, it is quite common for adopters to be asked to keep the birth parents informed about the child through an annual letter and photograph exchange via the Adoption Support Service. Where brothers and sisters are in separate adoptive or foster homes, it is usually important for them to maintain some face-to-face contact with each other. Face to face contact with birth parents is more unusual, but there are circumstances where this may be asked of the adopters. On occasions, adopters may be asked if they can maintain some contact with other relatives, such as grandparents.
A court will take an interest in the Post-Adoption plans and can make a Post-Adoption Contact Order, although it is more usual for the arrangements to be left to an agreement between the various parties involved. In order to clarify expectations, you will usually be asked to sign a Contact agreement with the Local Authority.
In all cases, the confidentiality of the adoptive placement would be maintained, unless there are exceptional circumstances, and the adopters are in full agreement.
