Thousands of adopted children and their families in the North East are set to benefit from a new digital innovation, after all three Regional Adoption Agencies signed up to partner with Virtual Memory Box (VMB).
Adopt North East, Adopt Coast to Coast, and Adoption Tees Valley are implanting the platform which enables adoptive families and birth families to safely maintain and organise contact through a secure digital letterbox.
Following a successful pilot with Adopt North East, all RAAs quickly came on board to provide a solution that will support children and families across the whole region, from Berwick to Redcar & Cleveland.
Jade Stephens, Recruitment, Assessment and Support Team Manager, Adopt North East, said,
“Professionals found the system easy to set up and use. We also had helpful feedback from adoptive parents and birth family members. Many have spoken about how they prefer receiving their letters on VMB, with some birth family members engaging for the first time in exchanges after accessing the system.
“We can really see the long-term benefits of VMB both administratively but also in supporting more meaningful relationships and life story which will benefit children and their families.”
Paula Gibbons, Head of Service at Adopt Coast to Coast said,
“The timing of this innovation could not have been more perfect for our Regional Adoption Agency. We had just completed a Keeping in Touch review and the lived experience of our children, adoptive parents and birth family members was loud and clear for our journey of improvement.
“This digital solution allows for immediacy of exchange through a platform which will modernise how children’s important relationships with and between their birth and adoptive families are maintained. The feedback from those families just starting their adoption journey with Adopt Coast to Coast has been overwhelmingly positive and this enthusiasm will help our practice go from strength to strength.”
Louise Addison, Head of Service at Adoption Tees Valley said,
“We were so impressed with the results of the pilot that we were eager to implement the platform to support our families across the Tees Valley and surrounding areas. Having a digital solution makes it much easier to exchange and store letters that form such an important part of the children’s life story and will make a huge difference to our young people, and their adoptive and birth families.”
Virtual Memory Box was originally developed in the North East to provide a secure, digital platform for keeping memories of children in care safe. Local authorities across the UK now use VMB, providing life story support for thousands of children, young people and their carers.
Christian Brock, Virtual Memory Box MD said,
“We are so delighted to be working with all three Regional Adopt Agencies. It’s extra special for us as VMB was developed, piloted and is still based in the North East, so knowing so many children, young people and families across our region are going to benefit is really uplifting. We’re excited to be making huge steps towards achieving our aim to make Virtual Memory Box accessible to all children and young people whereever they are in their care journey, and their carers.”
