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I am an adopter of 12yrs with a deeply traumatised child.I would like to have an adopter on the Board of Trustees who is there solely to advocate for the membership.

Good idea as always JelliesReaching adulthood. What then - a guide to services with adoption issues in mind.Dealing with a child who is technically/legally an adult.

I would like a review of selling services to local authorities. I see a confilct of interest if a member has a difficulty with a LA which is also a client of AUK. I would doubt if AUK would be robust in their defense of the interests of a member where the conflict was with a LA that was also a client.I would also request that AUK name and shame those LA's not supplying the required post adoption support or making a bad job of it.

maybe more effective than 'name and shame'would be examples of good services - even if only part of a service - e.g good preparation, or good training for schools etc in the magazine so others in other parts of the country could ask for thismaybe AUK could set some standards for basic post adoption services e.g. letter box, meetings for adopterslevel 2 - thorough assessments at placement with regular review of support needs, active advocacy in education and with camhs and therapy serviceslevel 3 comprehensive adoption support with high level of user representation in planning and delivery, fast track therapy referals, respite or direct payment support available to support adopters (not undermine them)regular training for all agencies on why traumatised children may need different strategies and why consequences are like pouring petrol on flameslevel 4 ???- can anyone dream up what would be good . . .in my experience most areas operate at level basic to 2 . . .so if you have level 3/4 services in your area spread the word

We would also like to see AUK help adoptees/adopters when their children become adults, as that service by AUK is non existent.Infact just how much AUK listen to the members/often distressed users of these boards is questionable in our view!Mr Thornberry needs to speak to adopters through these boards at least once a month, in a question and answer session.Love Darcy xx

I would like to see AUK supporting adopters, this is why I joined and am a member.An upgrade to the message boards would be good, especially as this is where I get most of my support

I would like a process map of what services are available for help and support and which details when and how to access them.Nixie

I would like to see articles in the magazine that are based on actual evidence and research - distillation of evidence-based practice, and findings on things like genetic heritage, prenatal exposure, effects of neglect etc. for non-specialists.I personally have access to research articles through work and can mostly find and read them. We stopped subscribing to the magazine when we saw an article on some completely unfounded therapy in there (can't remember if it was homeopathy or cranial osteopathy or something - but something that is just quackery). Really, there should be NICE guidelines on what's effective and what's actually known, but till there are, someone could write about what's actually known to work.I'd also like a LONG overdue upgrade to the message boards. I've been on here for maybe 6 years? No changes at all. Still completely unusable. Are there any other message boards that are that creaky? Don't think so.

bumping this up - AUK please can this be a permanent thread for all the users of the message boards to feel they have a channel of communication to MR THORNBERY AND TRUSTEES OF AUKand Mr Thornberry please can you reply to some of the comments so farwishing you well in your new rolethere is a lot of combined wisdom, experience and work-based skills on these boards - please involve us

Thanks again for all your thoughts so far.Hugh hasn't actually joined Adoption UK yet...he will be in post by the end of the month.We've pinned this thread and will pass on your comments to Hugh when he arrives.However, we cannot say exactly how he will want to respond, or how quickly he will be able to do so. We would also not want to pre-empt any other decisions regarding member consultation in advance of his arrival.The Online TeamAdoption UK

thank you AUKlets put some of our thoughts in front of Hugh Thornberry when he starts at the end of the monthmy priorities would be- AUK model of good adoption support services- promoting training about developmental trauma to all social workers, teachers, camhs etc- expanded direct support from AUK for families having the hardest times e.g. teenagers back involuntary care and adoptive parents not being fully involved as their legal parentsI am sure there are plenty moreoh yes - at conference some time for small group workshops to really participate in adoption UK planning and priorities

I want Ad Uk to understand that SS/CAMHS etc do not always understand us, sometimes they condemn us.Sometimes the workers just dont understand trauma at all. Can we please have a private message board facility.I gave up getting the mag ages ago. Too much personal stories and not enough research articles.

Private message boards for members - hopefully that will make interlopers think twice about posting anything other than supportive posts - if you don't pay the annual fee, you don't get the advice of experienced adopters- I would be happy for AUK to get mymoney then and inturn for them to get my areas of expertise for free to support others.A really good , indepth review of the numbers who use these boards as their main source of support/ how many are paid up members/ proportion of those who use buddy systems V proportion who use helpline servces V proportion of those who just use the boards.

Private message board pleaseEdit button on boardsFocus on advocating to support the needs of adopters - encouragement, advice, training on trauma related issues and their effects, access to assessment and therapy where the kids require it, Post adoption allowances to allow parents to concentrate on meeting they children's needs rather than keeping the roof over their heads, genuine help for adopters with distressed disturbed and /or violent children - at present, if they ask for help they can end up in investigated as a child protection issue as the system does not seem to recognise that sometimes it's the parents whose safety is actually at risk !! Respite for struggling parents who just need a break in these situations. And access to the relevant therapy. If such children need accommodated elsewhere, a recognition that the adoptive parents are still their parents and care about the kids involved. They should not risk losing their parent status in law because of trauma caused from before adoption, affecting the children in later years.

I think that all children should come with an adoption allowance until the age of 18 as standard, as a lot of Mums cannot go back to work due to their childs additional needs. Not all of our childen can cope with child minders and creches and need their Mums to be there for them after school and to take them to appointments, therapy etc. Having financial worries on top of coping with a needy child causes added stress to an already stressful situation. It makes me laugh when I see adverts promoting adoption and suggesting that you don't need to be rich in order to do this. What are we supposed to live on when our income is halved due to our childs needs?Adoption is at risk of becoming elitist as only rich people can afford it.Respite should also be readily available if needed to give parents a break or some time to spend with less needy siblings.

At the risk of repeating myself...post adoptin provision should be at a central level not individual LA, one budget, standard training, regional offices, many adopters have to move and I mean HAVE to move, starting all over again is a nightmare, a lot of adopters have to adopt out of area for security reasons, centralisation stops this three year rule and the ensuing arguments.

As a matter of urgency - Mr Thornbery needs to find out what is happening with the governments one liner about adoption support - we adopters of many years on thess boards need to know what the proposed plans are for sustained adoption support - long after the 3 yr get it from placing Authority - so often where the problems start for trauma issues in our children to surface, this can be 5, 8 or 10 yrs post placement.Long term support must be about - therapy, respite, good educational access to what is needed and post 16 support to be firmly in place for previously looked after children.

I think that the message boards need to be moderated more strongly to prevent users personal opinions being presented as 'facts' by 'advocates' of AUK - and direct input into threads by actual representatives of AUK to correct inaccurate or misleading information.