History and services

Our belief in the importance of family life is as strong today as it was when we first started placing children with new families in1948.

Since then Families are Best, the adoption service of the Catholic Children’s Society, Nottingham, has placed more than 2,000 children with new families.

These are children who, for various reasons, are unable to continue living with their own families. They need a new start with a new family that can reflect their culture and heritage, and offer them what they need most: love, support, patience and stability.

Today, there are more than 3,000 children waiting for their new family. They include older children, brothers and sisters, children with physical and other difficulties, and black and dual heritage children of all ages.

As a Registered and Approved Voluntary Adoption Agency and Charity, we recruit adoptive parents throughout the East Midlands and occasionally beyond, working with children and families of any or no religious faith to secure permanent homes for children.

The children who are referred to us by Children's Services Department throughout England and Wales include:

• Infant and Junior School children
• Groups of brothers and sisters
• Children with disabilities
• Black and dual heritage children of all ages.

Families Are Best welcomes enquiries about adoption from:

• People of all racial backgrounds
• People of any or no religious faith
• People with or without children
• Married couples
• Single people
• People whose children have grown up.
• People who are employed.
• People who are not employed

If you are considering adoption, our team of highly experienced professionals can help by:

• Listening to your hopes and aspirations
• Explaining the challenges and rewards
• Providing comprehensive preparation, assessment and training
• Advising you throughout the approval process and in linking you with the right child or group of children
• Supporting you in helping the child move in and through the child’s placement with you, up to the granting of an Adoption Order
• Providing an adoption support service which offers advice, guidance and assistance when required in the future.

We know that deciding to help a child through adoption is a very big step to take: you will want to learn all you can about how adoption works, about the needs of the child who will be joining you and what help you can expect from Families Are Best.

We hope this website will answer you questions.

Our information pack provides fuller details of our adoption services. Click here for your copy.

Services for adopted people, birth relatives and adoptive parents and those formerly in the care of this Agency.

As well as finding families to care for these children on a permanent basis, our team of committed, highly experienced professionals continues to provide a wide range of advice and practical support to anyone whose life has been touched by adoption through Families Are Best.

If FAB was involved in:

Your adoption
Your Child’s adoption
A close relative’s adoption
Your care in one of our children’s homes…

we provide a range of services which may help you and we welcome your enquiry.

The Catholic Children's Society, Nottingham, opened in 1948 and since then we have provided a service for over 2,000 children and families. We have always provided an adoption service.

Our past work includes residential care in Colston Bassett Nursery, near Nottingham, Carmel Children’s Home, Kirby Muxloe, Leicester and Kinder Lodge Children’s Home, Hadfield, Derbyshire. Accommodation for mothers and babies was provided at St Joseph’s, Borrowash House, near Derby, from 1948 to 1975 when it transferred to premises at West Bridgford, Nottingham, prior to closing in 1997.

Who the service is for:

We provide services for all those whose adoption or care experience is linked with this Agency e.g.

• Birth family members - including brothers and sisters of adopted people.
• Adoptive parents - whether you adopted recently or many years ago.
• Adoptive people - of all ages.
• Those formerly in the care of this Agency or who have lived in one of our residential homes.

Our service is:

• Neutral: we aim to liaise, negotiate and advise, but not to direct.
• Confidential: to all who approach us, unless a very exceptional circumstance was to arise.
• Of a high professional standard:- by law the work of Voluntary Adoption Agencies is regularly inspected by the Government and must satisfy stringent requirements.

What we offer includes:

• Counselling: from an experienced adoption worker.
• Links: with others whose situation is similar to your own.
• Information: about resources and services available from organisations both nationally, regionally and locally.
• Intermediary Services: in certain circumstances we can assist people to connect with relatives from whom they have been separated. Our services recognise the long-term impact of reunion and the many possible outcomes.
• Advice: on a range of issues relevant to adoption and being in care or a mother and baby home.
• Access to Information: the Agency has an extensive archive and enables people to have details from their records in accordance with legal requirements.