Adoption Register Wales

Adoption Register Wales is the national statutory linking and family-finding tool which helps find the best match for children waiting to be adopted.

It is a bilingual, secure database of adopter and child profiles managed by us on behalf of Welsh Government.

It is a legal requirement* for regional adoption services and voluntary adoption agencies to add approved adopters to the register within a month of approval and to add children to the register within a month of the authority to place for adoption. *The Adoption and Children Act, 2002, Joint Adoption Arrangements, Wales, Amendment, Directions 2019.

Our experienced and dedicated team work daily with social workers and practitioners across Wales to use the register to identify potential matches between children and prospective adopters.

Approved adopters also have access to the database to create their own profile and to find out more about the children waiting to aid their family finding.

The register is used alongside other family finding practices such as adoption activity days, exchange days and online profiling events.

We work as hard as we can to make matches locally, but in the rare cases where this cannot be achieved, we use the Inter-Register Referral Protocol with England, Northern Ireland and Scotland to access other UK registers and maximise opportunities for finding a child the right family.

Adoption Register Wales helps us to identify trends in wait times, information on children’s needs and why certain children may wait the longest. Also, how this information feeds into the recruitment process e.g. ensuring the right adopters are recruited to meet the needs of those children who wait the longest and it helps us improve our service.

Upcoming events

Adoption Activity Days are in person themed events, full of child centred and age appropriate play, activities and entertainment. They are a unique way of finding adoptive matches for children. They are designed to encourage positive interaction and connections between children and prospective adopters in a safe and fun environment.

Online Profiling Events are usually live online events whereby prospective adopters are given the opportunity to watch video profiles of children waiting and then hear from the child’s social worker and family finder about their needs and what sort of family is being sought for them.

Exchange Days are in person events whereby prospective adopters are able to come and meet social workers and family finders of children currently waiting. It is an information sharing event where prospective adopters are able to read the profiles of children and ask questions in person to the child’s social worker or family finder.