Whose experiences are we relying on to explain what the reality of adoption feels like for adoptees?

In this blog post, Dr Polly Cowan, a Practice Manager at Scottish Adoption and Fostering, explains how the organisation’s Young Ambassadors developed a new podcast – We Talk Adoption and Fostering – to highlight the experiences of their generation.

Developing a new resource to help support adoptive families caring for brothers and sisters

In this blog post, Dr Christine Jones, an adoptive parent and researcher who worked to ensure the rights of care experienced brothers and sisters are protected in law in Scotland, discusses how her own parenting experience helped to inform a new resource designed to support adoptive families caring for siblings.

When data tells us the what but not the why

CELCIS’s Data Lead, Micky Anderson, takes a look at the latest social work statistics in Scotland for clues about what is happening in the support for children in need of care and protection and their families.

“It’s about…believing our own words”: Bringing together the voices of care experienced people

Rebekah Pierre is a care experienced writer, author, social worker, and editor of a new anthology, ‘Free Loaves on Fridays: The Care System As Told By People Who Actually Get It’, which brings together stories, essays, poems and letters by 100 care experienced children and adults. In this conversation with CELCIS, she discusses the process of developing this anthology and how she hopes the book will help shift the narrative of care experience.

‘Everybody has a different story’: How compassionate connections are helping to support birth parents

This Adoption Week Scotland, Melanie Thomson, a Social Worker for the Bluebird Project at Scottish Adoption, which offers counselling and support to birth parents, and birth mothers who currently take part in the Bluebird Project, share why compassionate, nurturing peer support is so important.

Staying connected: How connections – past and present – can help to write our own futures

This Adoption Week Scotland, Tegan, a Youth Ambassador at Scottish Adoption and Teen Talk Adoption, discusses her experience of reconnecting with her birthmother, and reflects on how building connections and sharing experiences with others can help to find out the most about yourself.

Why the new John Lewis advert matters

It's long been understood now that there is a pressing need to ‘reframe’ care, something being taken forward with the support of the Each and Every Child initiative which is underpinned by research and practice. It’s fitting then that we have a new Christmas messenger – John Lewis and their annual Christmas advert.

Leaving narratives unchallenged can only lead to injustice

Reflecting on the impact of the media, and how it is used, in shaping public attitudes to care experience.

Challenging the narrative of adoption: Who tells the story?

The narratives around adoption narratives are changing, led by the voices involved. This Adoption Week Scotland, we look at what the award-winning project Whatever Next? tells us about how we can learn from each other and international adoption.

Language and understanding at ‘the chalkface’

This Adoption Week Scotland, Dr Leanne McIver, Research Associate at CELCIS, discusses how greater inclusiveness for adopted children in policy, guidance and language is changing the face of adoption.