This website has been made by adopted teens for adopted teens.
ADOPTEENS is a project that was originally set up by the Yorkshire & Humber adoption consortium (a group of local authority adoption teams and voluntary adoption agencies) back in 2014. After some thoughts and suggestions directly from our Youth Council members we have changed our name to ADOPTEENS. We still have the same vision which is to offer adopted teenagers their own space online and as part of a group that has the power to speak out and make a difference!
ADOPTEENS Website- Open to anyone, offering useful information & insight into the experiences of adopted teenagers.
Register to become a member of ADOPTEENS and get access to our..
Online Chat Forum – A safe online space where adoptees can talk, share, rant, giggle and support each other. Members can also ask questions or seek support from our project workers via the chat forum.
Activity Days – are an opportunity to make new friends and make new memories. They are held 5 x times a year and you get to have a say in what we do.
Youth Council – For those who are looking to get more involved and make a difference in adoption, members aged 13+ can join our panel and attend workshops with the aim of using views and experiences to help professionals and policy makers.
The ADOPTEENS group is open to all adopted young people who are:
Aged between 11 -18+
Lives anywhere within Yorkshire or Humber
Has access to the internet either on their phone or computer
Teens from across Yorkshire and Humber have joined for all sorts of reasons; some because they just want to meet other adopted people as they don’t know anyone else adopted. Some because they want a chance to do new fun things and build their confidence, and some join because they feel isolated or alone and want people to talk to that understand.
How do you find out about our Activity days?
We do not advertise our activity days publically for safety reasons. They are private events for Adoptees only. We only send information out about activity days to existing members (parents and young person) of our project and post adoption support teams so they can share with families they work with so you may receive an email about our events from your post adoption team.
You can contact us directly to express your interest and sign up to be a member which will be much quicker than going through your post adoption team.
How do you sign up?
You can sign up to our project via our referral form on our website here https://www.adopteens.org.uk/registration/
If you put your details in we will then contact you. We phone parents for confirmation of who you are and to get consent.
You can call us: 0113 264 6837
You can email us: Adopteens@pac-uk.org
We will ask parents some questions about the young person and what their needs are as we want to support everyone who comes to our days as best as possible. We may also ask if they want to join our online chat forum.
Once a young person is signed up we will continue to send you out information about our events.
Information about activity days is sent out 6 weeks prior to the event and a cut off date is given for people expressing an interest in attending.
Activity day selection
We have limited places on activity days and they often get over subscribed. So once everyone has expressed interest in an activity we then pull young peoples names out of a hat to make it fair (although we will take into consideration individual needs, size of group and number of new people attending)
We then contact parents to confirm the young persons place and send out all further details we need and a consent form the must be signed for a young person to attend.
On the day
Both Adopteens project workers (Gaiena & Tanya) attend every event and are supported by either additional workers from PAC-UK or One Adoption. Everyone supporting the day has experience of working with Adopted young people.
We ask parents to leave and will usually suggest local places where they can explore whilst you’re having fun.
Afterwards
We always ask for feedback and will email parents for this. It is essential part of learning and improving so we urge you to fill this out.
Anyone who is;
Adopted
Aged between 11 -18
Lives anywhere within Yorkshire or Humber
Has access to the internet either on their phone or computer
Teens from across Yorkshire and Humber have joined for all sorts of reasons; some because they just want to meet other adopted people as they don’t know anyone else adopted. Some because they want a chance to do new fun things and build their confidence, and some join because they feel isolated or alone and want people to talk to that understand.
ADOPTEENS has three project workers (Gaiena, Tanya & Sara) who know and understand adoption. The project is also supported by PAC-UK and all the Local Authorities who work within One Adoption Yorkshire and Humber’.
What does this area look like? 
The project workers are here to help create an on line community, organise activity days as suggested by you and work with the youth council to get the voice of young adopted people heard. We have made a short 20 minute film ‘Voices’ which features ADOPTEEN members talking about their experiences and feelings on adoption. Our members have also been involved in attending conferences and informing professionals on their own experiences and suggestions for changes in the world of adoption.
The project workers also offer support through the online chat forum and face to face at events if you want to talk to someone.
They will not judge you, tell you off, or share your information with your parents, social worker or anyone else unless there is a serious danger to yourself or someone else. They would always tell you who they would be sharing the information with and try and work out a way of doing so that you would be most happy with.
We are always happy to answer questions, nothing too big or small
Becoming a member of ADOPTEENS means you can:
- Meet other adoptee’s and make new friends
- Talk to other people who are adopted and understand adoption
- Take part in various activities, do something new and challenging and all for free!
- Get your voice heard by becoming a member of our Youth Council. Get paid for your time, gain new skills and be part of something that matters to you.
Confidentiality is really important to us and so is your privacy. If you want somewhere to hang out with other adopted teens we need to make sure that it’s a safe place for you. That’s why we need parental consent for all members and to make sure you are who you say you are.
It does not mean that we share everything you do or say with your parents. We only share information when there is a danger to yourself or others and we will look to do this in a way that is best for you and always talk it through with you.