Adoption... Hi, I’m Jenny. I am 16 years old and I am a college student living in Manchester. I have been a voluntary helper at TALKadoption for 5 months now. I chose to be here as part of my course at college, and also my friend told me of her help line experience and it sounded great, so I thought I would give it a try. TALKadoption is a national telephone help line for young people up to the age of 25 with an adoption connection. Working on the help line has been a fantastic experience for me. I’ve enjoyed working with other people and being able to talk on the phones with adoption  connected people. I have also learnt a lot about adoption in the short time I have been here. Being a volunteer is a very satisfying and pleasing role to play. What is adoption? Adoption is a legal procedure in which all the parental responsibility of a child or young person is transferred from the birth parents to the adoptive parents. It is a way of providing a permanent family for children and young people who are for one reason or another unable to live with their birth parents or any other member of their extended birth family. The TALKadoption staff are very friendly and helpful towards me. Each and every call I take is very unique and confidential. People phone up for information, support or just to talk about their feelings or current situation. The most likely calls are from adoptees, maybe who want to search for their birth parents or relatives or are have issues with their adoptive parents. Also we have adoptive and birth parents phoning us too and even friends of someone who is adopted. We have a large range and variety of different calls each day. My phone call today: A young girl at the age of 15 named Joanne (made up name) called, very distressed about the fact that her parents have just told her she is adopted. I asked her how she felt about being adopted and she told me she felt lost and confused. She sounded very angry and unhappy. I told her that I was there to listen to what she had to say, and so she begun telling me her story and she eventually calmed down and opened up to me. We talked about how she felt now towards her adoptive parents; we talked about searching for her birth parents and mainly how she was feeling. By the end of the call Joanne seemed more focused and calm. She suggested that she would have to speak to her adoptive parents a bit more about it and I encouraged her to do  so. Speaking on the phones, I have to be calm and very supportive to the caller, I have to listen to them and talk them through their current issue. At TALKadoption they also have a bulletin board on their website and they have an email address too. I also reply to some of the emails that we receive. TALKadoption is a great opportunity for adoption-connected people to phone and receive any support or information that they require, and it’s a free and simple phone number. Contact Info:
0808 808 1234
www.helpline@talkadoption.org.uk
www.talkadoption.co.uk TALKadoption is open from Monday - Friday: 3-9PM -TALKAdoption
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