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Walk Together
Walk Together focuses entirely on adoption in the UK, supporting mothers, fathers, children, and anyone connected to the adoption journey. We understand that adoption can be emotional, complex, rewarding, and challenging all at once, and our aim is to create a space where every part of that experience is acknowledged.
We publish weekly blogs covering everything and anything to do with adoption: family life, identity, attachment, school, trauma, birth family contact, and the realities of parenting before, during, and after adoption. If there’s a topic you’d love us to explore or an area where you feel more guidance is needed, please get in touch. We’d be very happy to add your ideas to our content plan.
Routines that hold, helping adopted children through the school holidays
For most families, the summer holidays are a chance to slow down. For adopted families, the same six weeks often look very different. The structure that has been holding your child quietly all term, the morning routine, the school day, the predictable adult expectations, falls away all at once. Many adopters describe their child as visibly more dysregulated in the holidays than in term time.
Aug 285 min read
Moving house, changing schools, and other transitions that hit harder than expected
The overarching principle for managing transitions with adopted children is this: slow down, over-communicate, maintain connection, and expect it to take longer than you think. Almost everything that helps can be organised under those four headings.
May 2910 min read
The family you imagined and the family you have | navigating the gap between expectation and reality in adoption
The reality can include a child who cannot tolerate physical affection, or who seeks it indiscriminately from strangers while pushing away the parent who is trying hardest to offer it. It can include years of broken sleep, of hypervigilance that fills the house like weather, of mealtimes that are battlegrounds, of a child who is charming and engaged with everyone outside the home and unreachable inside it.
Apr 108 min read
When the scrutiny doesn't stop | adoptive parents and the weight of social worker expectations
Many adoptive parents also report feeling held to a standard of parenting that goes beyond what would ever be expected of a birth parent. The implication, sometimes explicit and sometimes not, is that because you chose this, because you were assessed and approved and matched, you should be able to manage whatever arises. The reality, of course, is that no amount of preparation fully equips a person for the lived experience of parenting a child with complex developmental traum
Apr 35 min read
Your child's fear of not meeting your expectations | what's really going on beneath the surface
For many adopted children, the early experience of being separated from a birth family, regardless of the reasons, carries an implicit message. Not a rational one, not one that anyone intended, but one that the child's developing mind has constructed in the only way it can: I was left because I was not enough. Because I was too much. Because something about me made it impossible for the people who were supposed to keep me, to keep me.
Mar 278 min read
A short story |“I always knew I was adopted”
Today we are sharing a fictional first-person story written from the perspective of an adopted person. While the details are imagined, the experiences it reflects are drawn from themes that many adoptees recognise and describe in their own words.
Jan 166 min read
Planning ahead, goal-setting tools for adoptive families in 2026
This blog offers inventive, achievable goal-setting tools designed specifically for adoptive families. These ideas acknowledge trauma, brain development, dysregulation, and parental stress, and help you create goals that support emotional stability, connection, and family rhythm.
Dec 5, 20256 min read
When their body says no: Understanding shutdowns, freeze responses and emotional numbing in adopted children
Imagine a child in school being asked to read aloud in front of the class. The task feels overwhelming, and the body reacts instantly. The child stares at the page, unable to move or respond, their system frozen in a protective state. This is not a conscious decision. It is the body’s way of saying, “This is too much."
Sep 26, 20258 min read
Adoption and school: Helping your child navigate education with confidence
The classroom is more than just a learning space - it is a social arena, a place of transitions, routines, and authority figures.
May 16, 20255 min read
Emotional differences between being adopted as a baby versus as an older child
While the goal remains providing a nurturing and permanent home, the age at which a child is adopted significantly influences emotional...
Apr 29, 20257 min read
The impact of early life nutrition on adopted children’s development
The food a child receives (or does not receive) during their earliest years can profoundly shape not only their physical health, but also their cognitive development, emotional regulation, and long-term wellbeing.
Apr 7, 20256 min read
Adoption and education: advocating for your child's needs in the school system
This blog is designed as a comprehensive guide for adoptive parents, providing in-depth insights and practical strategies to help you advoca
Mar 7, 202512 min read
The role of Theraplay in adoption: how play-based therapy can help adopted children thrive
Theraplay offers a unique opportunity to experience positive, safe interactions that help rebuild their sense of security and trust.
Nov 28, 20246 min read
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