Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, following the publication of the Adoption strategy, what steps his Department has taken to improve the Letterbox contact system.

Local authorities have a legal duty to provide a comprehensive adoption service. This specifically includes, ‘Assistance, including mediation services, in relation to arrangements for contact between an adoptive child and a natural parent, natural sibling, former guardian or a related person of the adoptive child’.

As set out in our published ‘Adoption Strategy: achieving excellence everywhere’ we are working with local authorities and Regional Adoption Agencies to improve support around contact with birth relatives, including letterbox contact. This will include working closely with birth parents and those with lived experiences. The strategy can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/adoption-strategy-achieving-excellence-everywhere.

More details on actions to improve contact will be confirmed in due course.