What is a VAA?
Voluntary Adoption Agencies, commonly called VAAs, are independent, non-profit making, organisations dedicated to supporting people from all communities and backgrounds to adopt children who need a loving home. They provide a personalised, bespoke service for each adopter and offer an alternative choice to local authority adoption services, working in partnership with them to find the right family for each child.
What’s the difference between a Voluntary Adoption Agency and a Regional Adoption Agency?
VAAs work in partnership with local authorities and regional adoption agencies across the whole of the UK to find families for children in care who are unable to stay with their birth relatives.
Voluntary Adoption Agencies (VAAs) have a wealth of experience in placing children with adoptive families. Some have been working for well over 100 years supporting all kinds of children and families.
VAAs deliver exceptional services. All of our VAAs have been rated highly or very highly by their national inspectorates (Ofsted (England), the Care Inspectorate (Scotland), and the Care Inspectorate Wales).
VAAs place around 20% of all children adopted each year in the UK and have expertise in finding families for children who have priority needs, including sibling groups, older children, those from minoritised ethnic groups and with additional needs.
They provide lifelong support to adoptive families, their children and adopted adults through information, family days, counselling, therapeutic services and peer support. Many also support birth families and help with contact arrangements.