Home is where the start is

Not every child has a safe beginning. Help us create a new start and loving home.

Donate to our Christmas appeal

What is home?

It isn’t just a physical place. It’s somewhere you feel safe and supported.

Every child deserves a loving home but not every child has one. Coram works to change that. We find loving homes for children through adoption and fostering. Whether it’s supporting young care leavers on their journey to independence or providing the tools to build skills and resilience, we know it all comes back to one thing. Home is where the start is.

We find loving homes for children through adoption.

There are currently over 3,000 children waiting to be adopted in England.

Coram has over 50 years’ experience in finding permanent, loving families for children across London and surrounding areas. We are a leader in early permanence, helping children, especially those who wait longer, move quickly into stable homes with fewer moves between foster families.

Over the last five years, Coram has supported 5,000 families considering adoption and placed over 400 children with adoptive families. We provide adoptive families with lifelong support, including information, advice, and access to support groups.

Coram’s Adoption Activity Days bring together approved adopters and children waiting for families, using fun activities to help them connect naturally. These events have helped hundreds of children – especially those waiting longest – find loving, permanent homes in a supportive environment. Over 1,400 children have found adoptive families since we launched the programme, equating to a match for one in every four children attending an Adoption Activity Day.

Over 82,000

children in care in England waiting to be fostered or adopted

Around 12,000

young people set to leave care this year

Over 3,000

children waiting to be matched with prospective adoptive families

Archie’s story

Archie was adopted by Miranda and Hamish, through Coram, when he was ten months old. Before he was adopted, Archie had been living in a different part of the country with a foster family, who cared for him since birth. Miranda and Hamish recall the day they were first told about Archie: “We remember seeing his photo for the first time, it still makes us feel very emotional thinking about it today. We read his profile and said ‘yes we’d really like to move forward!’”

They continue: "We got to know his foster carers really well, they were incredible. We met Archie at their home. Archie was on the floor and he crawled over to us. The connection was wonderful, it felt so easy from the start.” "Archie came to live with us at the start of the new year. We spent the Christmas period getting everything ready in the house for him. When Archie arrived with his foster carers, they said to us ‘you’ll have no problem with attachment, we’ve always made sure that Archie knows what love is’. We feel so lucky that Archie was so loved by his foster carers. We’ve stayed in touch with them – it's an important relationship for Archie."

Several years on, Archie is thriving at home and school. Coram has supported the family with Archie's life story work and worked with his school to provide additional support. Miranda and Hamish have also attended some of Coram's post-adoption training sessions. Miranda and Hamish conclude: “Archie brings us so much love and joy. We feel privileged to have him in our lives and he has grown into a beautiful little boy. It took time to find our son, but it was worth the wait. He is the best thing that has ever happened to us.”

Donate to help children like Archie

We support young care leavers to navigate their journey to independence.

Coram Voice supports young people in care whether they’re at the start of their care journey or transitioning to independent living.

We help them know their rights and receive what they’re entitled to. We do this through advocacy, legal advice, and practical support to help them navigate housing, education, and employment. The need for guidance does not stop as children grow older, which is why we pledge to help those in care on their journey from infancy to independence.

Rose’s story

Rose was taken into care at two years old and is now a young care leaver. They have experienced lots of different placements including foster care and residential care and been moved around many times over the past two decades. Rose says: "Since I became a care leaver, I've been moved five times and currently live in temporary accommodation. It’s hard to feel settled or truly make anywhere my home. There are times when there’s a knock at my door and I’ve been scared to answer in case it’s news that I’ll be moved again. I’ve experienced poor mental health for years and this situation can make things so much worse.

"For care leavers like me, turning 18 feels like being thrown in the deep end. We are expected to set up and look after a new home on our own. There were many practical things I just didn’t know how to do without anyone to show me. "Moving around so much through my life means it’s been hard to build a support network and I really feel it more at Christmas time. Everywhere you look you are faced with the excitement of Christmas and the message of it being a time for family and friends. It can feel very isolating as a care leaver. "I’m now waiting to be moved into permanent council housing and thankfully it’s been agreed that I can stay in the same area as I’m finally starting to feel settled here.

"I'm passionate about doing what I can to make a difference to improve care for others. That’s why I joined Coram Voice’s youth advisory board, to use my voice and experience to help influence the future of children’s services. "There needs to be a much better understanding around mental health for young care leavers and a focus on stability and permanent homes. "In the future I can hopefully help other young people to have a more positive experience in care. I can’t change what has happened to me, but I feel determined I can make change for other young people."

Donate to help young people like Rose

Our Creative Therapies team give children and families the tools to build the skills and resilience they need to thrive.

Coram’s Creative Therapies team offers art and music therapy to children and families, supported by psychologists and psychotherapists. These therapies help children process trauma, build emotional resilience, and express themselves in safe, creative ways. The team works closely with children who have experienced care or adoption, ensuring that their emotional and psychological needs are met alongside their practical needs.

Jayden’s story

Jayden’s infant years were tumultuous, and he was taken away from his birth family when he was three. After being adopted by Sarah and Mark, he struggled to settle in. The couple’s social worker referred them to Creative Therapies. Jayden started weekly music therapy sessions and Sarah and Mark were supported through regular therapeutic parenting sessions. They learned about developmental trauma and its impacts, understanding how Jayden’s brain had adapted to survive, and crucially, how his challenging behaviour signalled distress.

At home, Sarah and Mark began to see more moments of ease and connection. Jayden started curling up beside them on the sofa without being asked. Bedtimes, once a battleground, became calmer routines. He began to show an interest in his past not anxiously, but with a quiet curiosity. He was starting to believe that safe adults would stay, even when he showed them the messy parts of himself. A real milestone was Jayden’s growing ability to name and live with his feelings instead of being overtaken by them.

Help children like Jayden

Donate to Coram's Christmas appeal

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