Post Adoption Support Services

Post Adoption Support Services (PASS) offers services to people whose lives involve adoption, through providing information, resources and a range of support services such as counselling, workshops and support groups. We support birth parents and families, people who have been adopted, and adoptive parents and families.

PASS is respectful of people’s differing choices and opinions, and acknowledges and values the diverse experiences of those affected by adoption.

We provide:

• Information on a broad range of adoption issues, both local and inter-country
• Face to face and telephone counselling on adoption related matters by qualified staff
• Support and assistance in searching for birth families, and for either within Australia or overseas
• Support and mediation with family reunions
• Links to adoption community groups
• Various support groups for individuals / families affected by adoption
• A bookshop and library with a large collection of adoption related items
• Referral to adoption-friendly services if required.

We run seminars throughout the year addressing a broad range of adoption related topics, covering local and inter-country adoption issues. We also provide Professional Development training for counsellors, social workers, and psychologists etc who work with people whose lives include adoption.

Searching support

Searching for birth family relatives is a sensitive and emotional process. This year we have seen an increase in the number of people who have been adopted seeking support in the search for their birth family, as well as birth parents searching for the now adult child they placed for adoption. The majority of people using our search support were those with whom the birth and adoption took place in South Australia.

There has been a steady increase in adoptees that were born and adopted in England, and then immigrated to Australia with their adoptive families, in seeking support with searching for birth parents and family in the UK.

We also assist people adopted from overseas into Australian families in their search, and most our requests currently come from Korean adoptees, however we have also had requests for searching in Sri Lanka, Philippines, Thailand and Ethiopia.

Support groups

Our support groups provide participants the chance to be in a space with other adoptees and discuss the challenges and complexities of growing up in an adoptive family.

Discussion themes include:  

• Family
• Belonging
• Identity
• Blending adoptive and birth families
• Making sense of life while having no genetic history information.

ARMS (Association Representing Mothers Separated from their Children by Adoption), have recently closed and PASS is now running a monthly support group for birth mothers, This group is a continuation of the group which ARMS ran for many years, and is open to birth fathers and other family members.

Discussion Evenings

PASS hosts regular discussion evenings for people who are interested in or affedcted by adoption. These evenings have a particular topic or theme for discussion on the night by participents, and people are advised of the topic prior to attending.

Workshops

We run various workshops for adoptive parents, some in conjunction with Adoption and Family Information Services. Some of these are:

• ‘The Joys and Challenges of Parenting the Adopted Child’, to help parents understand and manage the challenges around raising their adopted child.
• Medical And Developmental Issues for Inter-country Adopted children
• Anonymous Relinquishment’ specific to intercountry adoption
• Therapeutic Parenting Classes for adoptive parents whose children have a history of early trauma and broken attachments

Seminars

Insights into adoption. Regular seminars in relation to particular topics, where anyone who is affected by adoption, can come and hear about the experiences of others. These seminars are also open to professionals who may work with those whose lives include adoption.

Factsheets
You can now download the following factsheets for your information:

Searching

• Searching for birth family in inter-country adoption 
• Undertaking a search for birth family in Korea
• Undertaking a search for your birth mother if you were born and adopted in South Australia 
• Undertaking a search for your now adult child who was placed for adoption in South Australia
• Undertaking a search for birth family relatives if you were born and adopted in the UK and now live in Australia.

Making contact

• Making contact with your now adult adopted child
• Making contact with found birth family.

Further information

• Inter-country adoption: Information for teachers 
• Parenting self-esteem - the parent's job, not the child's
• Racism and inter-country adoption 
• DNA testing.

Professional training

We provide professional training to enhance the work of counsellors, social workers and other professionals from community service organisations who work with or are interested in adoption-related issues.

In 2007/2008, we provided training to Riverland community service workers to increase understandings about adoption related issues. This was conducted in collaboration with ARMS (Association Representing Mothers Separated from their Children by Adoption) and East Meets West.

Please call (08) 8245 8100 for further information.

Post Adoption Support Services locations are shown on the right.

_{Post Adoption Support Services is provided by Relationships Australia (SA) and funded by the South Australian Government Department for Families and Communities.}