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There are specialist organisations who can offer confidential advice, emotional support, and help with accessing records.

Accessing adoption records

If you know your full original birth name

You need to apply via the for a copy of your original birth certificate.

If you do not know your full birth name

You need to write to the Registrar General explaining that:

• You were adopted
• Your adopted name
• Your date of birth
• That you are applying for a copy of your birth certificate under Schedule 2 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002

More information about accessing your Adoption Records can be found on

An FAQs can also be found here:

Specialist support

You can also find dedicated, professional support available through the following organisations:

• PAC-UK Advice Line
  Staffed by qualified and experienced PAC-UK counsellors and social workers who can provide advice and information on all aspects of adoption and other forms of permanent care.

Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý ÌýTelephone:Ìý0300 1800 090Ìý

Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý ÌýWebsite:

Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý ÌýEmail:Ìýadvice@pac-uk.org
Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý ÌýOpening Times:ÌýMonday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday: 10.00am-4.00pm; Thursday: 10.00am-7.30pm

• FamilyConnect Advice Line

Specialist advice and support for adult adoptees, their descendants and birth relatives who wish to reconnect with their relatives.

Telephone:Ìý0300 1800 205
Email:Ìýfamilyconnect@pac-uk.org
Opening Times: ÌýMonday 3.00pm to 6.00pm, Tuesday 11.00am to 2.00pm, Thursday 1.00pm to 7.00pm

• Adoption UK
  Adoption UK is the leading charity for adopted and care experienced people, adoptive families, and others parenting children who can’t live with their birth parents. There information and support advisers can offer practical suggestions, information and encouragement, wherever you are in the process.
  Website:
  Email: informationsupport@adoptionuk.org.uk
  Phone: 0300 666 0006

Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Opening Times: Monday - Friday: 10.00am – 2.30pm (excluding bank holidays)

• Barnardo’s Adoption Support

Support for adoptees, birth families, and adoptive families

Website:

Email: link.referralhub@barnardos.org.uk Ìý

Opening Times: No specific opening times

• Safe Spaces

Provides a confidential, personal and safe space for anyone who has been abused by someone in the Church.

Phone: 0300 303 1056

Opening Times: Monday – Friday 9am – 9pm, Saturday 9am – 1pm,

Sunday 1pm – 5pm.

• Samaritans 24/7

Emotional support for anyone in distress.
Website:
Phone: 116 123

Opening Times: 24/7

Work has been undertaken by the Church of England to learn more about its involvement in historical adoption practices in the post-war decades, broadly covering the period between 1949 and 1976.

This research has highlighted a mixed and partial picture which sets out care and compassion, alongside some practice which clearly falls short of what would be expected of people in the care of a Christian community.

The Church of England has now published a Ìýsummarising this research, alongside a apologising for the hurt and trauma many people have experienced as a result of what happened to them in mother and baby homes.

We also know that in the 1860s, the Church of England Dioceses of Canterbury and Rochester set up ‘The Canterbury and Rochester Diocesan Council for Social Responsibility’.

This was a charitable trust established as a joint venture, and its purpose was to provide support for vulnerable people in society.

This joint diocesan council and its sucessors ran a number of different projects in Kent. There is still much we do not know about the provision of mother and baby homes in this Diocese or of the experiences of those within them and we are looking into the records available to find out how the Diocese was involved.

During this period we know the Diocese of Canterbury was jointly responsible for two homes with the Diocese of Rochester; Kendall House in Gravesend and St Faith’s Home in Bearsted. In 2016 a report and apology issued by the Bishops of Rochester and Dover in 2016 following distressing disclosures about abuse in the Kendall HouseÌýhome.Ìý

However, many more people in our diocese may be affected by the national practices of the past.Ìý

We are committed to care and support, and our safeguarding team are here to help, please feel free to contact them at safeguarding@diocant.org.ÌýIt is however worth noting that our diocese does not hold any records of adoptions or records from Kendall House or St Faiths.Ìý

You can read the full apology and find out more on

If you want to contact someone within the Diocese of Canterbury to share your experience or find out more, please ring 01227 459401. We will listen and offer support where we can.

If you would like to get in touch with your local church, please visit .

The latest information is available on our Historical adoption practices page.