Adoption Activity Days
Adoption Activity Days are an opportunity for you to meet a range of children who are waiting to be adopted.
They are informal events delivered by specialist staff that enable prospective adopters to discover whether they feel an emotional connection with a child, rather than simply relying on a written profile, and importantly they also give the children the same opportunity.
Making a connection
Each Activity Day is a themed event, full of child-centred and age-appropriate play, activities and entertainment. They are designed to encourage positive interaction between children of all ages and their prospective permanent carers. They are a unique way of finding permanence for many of those children who wait the longest.
In 2022, we celebrated the 10th anniversary of our Adoption Activity Days (AADs). At least 1,400 children have found adoptive families since we launched the programme, equating to a match for one in every four children attending an AAD.
Read our Adoption Activity Day Impact report here
Upcoming Adoption Activity Days
Please note that events may be subject to change or cancellation. Please check the link below for updates.
Find an Adoption Activity Day near you
How do I attend an Adoption Activity Day?
Ask your social worker about Adoption Activity Days. Referrals are free of charge but you will need to be approved or in at least Stage 2 of the assessment process with a positive recommendation from your social worker.
If you're interested in finding out more about Activity Days, please email us at [email protected]
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How do Adoption Activity Days work?
Adoption Activity Days are delivered by our specialist team at Coram at accessible and child-friendly venues across England.
Considerable thought is spent preparing social workers, foster carers and children for being involved, with the emphasis on children having a fun and exciting day.
What happens at an Adoption Activity Day?
Two adopters, who first met their children at one of Coram's Adoption Activity Days, explain their experience:
“We attended an Adoption Activity Day in the North West. We’d read about a couple of children who we were interested in and were really pleased to learn that they were going to be featured at an Activity Day.
"The day itself featured a host of different activities including games, face painting, and a soft play area.
"It was great to be able to interact with the children in different ways, to have a game of Connect 4 followed by some painting and drawing. It enabled us to learn more about the children’s interests and see what they were like in different environments. It was helpful to have the foster carers and children’s social workers on hand to ask for more information about the children. There was a magic show where the children sat together, giving adopters an opportunity to reflect on the day’s events. There was also time afterwards for adopters to express an interest in children they’d met on the day.
"We felt a great attachment to the children we came to see and felt confident to progress the link further.
"Luckily the social workers felt similarly and the link has progressed to a match — we are now looking forward to introductions with our little ones! We felt far more assured while preparing for the matching panel after having first met the children at the Activity Day. We can’t recommend it to adopters highly enough.”
— R and C, adopters-to-be to siblings aged 8 and 7.
Read the stories of other Coram adopters
