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The health authority will have a complaints procedure. I would use it.

Thank you that's our plan. Just wondered if anyone else had heard of this happening.

Yes. Usually it's SS or health that accidentally send letters out or let something slip or are oblivious in conversation . It's not as rare as you might think.

This happened to us as well by the post adoption team during communication about letterbox :( We also found out a bit later that they had followed us during introductions, they knew when and where intros were taking place unknown to us, and know where we live. SS spoke to the birth family and we were instructed to phone the police and then SS if they were seen anywhere near us. Not a great deal of help but then I'm not sure what else could be done other than us changing our names and moving. For a long time I felt sick with worry and was hyper vigilant but its been over 6 years since we found out and have had to get on with life. We removed our details from the public copies of the electoral roles, went ex-directory and sent our children to a school a few miles from home.

This happened to me the health visitor confirmed a home visit by telephone, the only problem was she called bm to confirm. I was really paranoid for the start every time a strange car or van pulled up outside my house my anxiety levels shot through the roof! It Influenced my decision to change little one's first name, which I had not planned to do and I enrolled her in a school out of town. I have also decided not to send her to local clubs so the breach has definitely influenced our lives. There was an investigation HV team accepted they were at fault and wrote a report but that was about it. Bm has been known to be violent and didn't want little one adopted but she hasn't tried to make contact so hopefully it will stay that way. Make a complaint so its on record but there is not a lot that can be done, its horrible but overtime the worry has lessened.

I did meet a family once to whom this happened who were adamant they were going to change all their names, but I don't know if they actually did. It's not the same but the birth family of one of ours lives fairly close by and dd has a very unusual first name which we kept. I was scared to speak it out loud in public for a while and cringed if others did. But of course nothing happened and, despite social media being what it is nowadays (We adopted dd 13 years ago long before the implications became clear) no one has yet tracked her down either as far as we know.

Helpline have PM You.

We had something similar happen to us. The SW inadvertently let the BM see a document that had the kids new school on it. We had to get a marker put on the school as the BF was dangerous and in contact with BM. This put a strain on everything. We eventually felt we had to move schools. We complained to SS and got a really wet response, so took it to the next stage. We still were not happy and we got an independant SW to investigate. As the school name was linked to the town where we live, and a very small population, she recommended we move house and the SS should pay. We sought out a solicitor (used legal service on house insurance) and sued the council for the cost of moving home. After a year we managed to move once all the legals were sorted, but they did pay in the end. We are now settled in new home, kids in new school, but problems still persist.

If there's a serious threat, get a solicitor and sue for moving costs.

Same here. Our address was put in bold type on a medical letter to the birth parents when our child was first placed . We were fostering child at first but now awaiting ao. We havent had any problems as it happens but it is a stress you can well do without. There seems to be a shocking lack of awareness amongst health professionals regarding this issue and little redress when they have let the cat out of the bag. Hope you feel a bit more reassured and at least your address is still confidential which is good.

I received an unpleasant letter in the post one day from birth family. They found out through court documents, it was one of the reasons to move.

Just to add something. With social media- if your child googled their BF names and connected that way, they could release your details that way, our ad did this and partly because of this we moved. I think if you can, keeping your child's BFs names out of their radar until they have had considered life story narrative therapy might be wise.

The courts gave our address to BF .we took matters further did receive a small amount of compensation and a written promise if they showed up they would cover legal fees but would not fund a move. We also had a direct line to police station with a code so if they turned up a rapid response team would be sent round..