Adoption England partnered with Adoption UK to map adopter engagement across Regional Adoption Agencies (RAAs) in England. The aim was to highlight effective approaches and offer practical recommendations on how these could be adopted more widely, both across the sector and to inform the work of the DfE Adopter Reference Group.

The project involved speaking directly with RAAs and engaging with adopters within some of those agencies to understand how engagement was established, what impact it had, and what challenges or barriers were encountered.

The work was delivered in two key stages:

• Phone and video interviews with RAAs
• Focus groups with adopters

This approach provided valuable insight into current practice and helped shape thinking around improving adopter voice and influence in the adoption system.