Letterbox Policy

The Family Placement Service will be responsible for maintaining, reviewing and storing indirect communication between birth and adoptive families, known as Letterbox. 

Most children placed for adoption will have indirect contact known as Letterbox arrangements. There may be situations where adoptive and birth families will feel able to send news directly to one another. For those who do not wish to exchange addresses, this is a confidential way of staying in touch. 

Such an arrangement allows for the exchange of information between birth relatives and adoptive parents. Not every child who is adopted will have such an arrangement. It is only when all parties want this, are able to use it and when it is clearly in the child’s best interests.

The Family Placement Service operates a Letterbox scheme for all children adopted from the Isle of Man. Support is also available for any adopters, birth family and/ or children who wish to maintain a link with each other for the future.

Please see Appendix 1: Letterbox Process Map.

Recommendations will be made by the child’s social worker in the Child’s Permanence Report (CPR) in relation to the level of contact that they have assessed as being appropriate for the child once they have been adopted.

During the matching process the contact arrangements will be discussed with the prospective adopters and an agreement reached about the contact needs of the child once they are matched and placed with the adoptive family. This will also be documented in the adoption support plan that is presented to the adoption panel when child and the adopters are matched. 

The child’s Family Finding Social Worker will draft a written agreement, taking care not to divulge the whereabouts or identity of the adoptive family. This will be shared with the adopters and the birth family and a copy will be retained by the Family Placement Service.  

The Letterbox agreement will detail the month/s the exchange will take place, the frequency and what will be exchanged. 

The Social Worker will provide two copies of the agreement to each member of birth family to sign, one for them to keep and one to return to Letterbox administrator or Social Worker. 

The Social Worker will also supply the adopters with two copies of the agreement to sign, one to keep and one to return. THE SOCIAL WORKER MUST TAKE CARE TO ENSURE THAT THE BIRTH PARENTS DO NOT RECEIVE ANY AGREEMENT/DOCUMENT WHICH INCLUDES THE ADOPTER'S FULL NAMES.

In addition a welcome letter will be sent to all the involved parties by the Letterbox administrator, including leaflets and a copy of the relevant guidance regarding the information to be exchanged.
The scheme will start once the child has been placed with the adoptive family.

Each contact agreement will be uploaded onto the child’s and birth relatives file on the electronic recording system by the Letterbox administrator. The child’s file will be opened in their adopted name with a summary of the agreement and an alert to remind any person responsible for managing Letterbox not to disclose the child’s identity, change of name or information about the adopters when responding to or communicating with birth family members. 

At the beginning of the month prior to the agreed exchange date, a reminder letter will be sent to all those who have agreed to send information. Where there is uncertainty about the recipient’s address a request should be made for them to contact the Letterbox co-ordinator or duty worker to confirm their current address or to make arrangements for the Letterbox to be hand delivered to or collected from the FPS office. All attempts to contact those involved should be documented on their case records.

Once Letterbox is received by the Letterbox administrator it needs to be checked by a social worker to ensure the letter is appropriate and meets the agreed criteria of the agreement. The Social Worker will check the letter content thoroughly for suitability, and anything identifying the whereabouts of adopters or school/clubs attended by children or the adopted child's new name if changed. Photographs will also be checked for place names/school uniform/club badges especially for addresses, location or adopted names.

If anything identifies the placement or the adopted family. the Social Worker will obtain advice from the Adoption Practice Lead or contact the adopter to discuss and give them the opportunity to re-write and re-send as appropriate. If the communication is re-sent the checking procedures will be repeated on the new communication. 

If the letter or other material from birth family is deemed not to be appropriate, i.e.  too emotional, contain telephone numbers or social media account details etc., by the Adoption Practice Lead they should contact the author and explain why the letter cannot be sent. The author will be supported to write another letter if they wish to make amendments. If they do not wish to make any changes the letter will be returned to them and it will be recorded on the child’s file the reason why the Letterbox was not exchanged. 

Copies of all material will be scanned onto the child’s file in case the originals are lost.

The Letterbox administrator will send a letter of acknowledgement on receipt of all information.

All Letterbox material must be forwarded by recorded delivery. 

The scheme runs until the child reaches their 18th birthday. The whole of the Letterbox file will then transfer to the child's adoption file which is kept for 100 years from the date of the Adoption Order.

Click here to view Appendix 1: Letterbox Process Map.