Beacon Family Services

Beacon Family Services We help build relationships. Visit our website for info about how we help families with play therapy.

How do you navigate 'failure' or 'regression' after 'success' as an adoptive parent? Pete Brindley explores the hows and...
25/11/2025

How do you navigate 'failure' or 'regression' after 'success' as an adoptive parent? Pete Brindley explores the hows and whys of holding onto hope: https://www.beaconservices.org.uk/navigating-failure-or-regression-after-success-as-an-adoptive-parent/

As an Adoptive Dad himself, Pete - one of our fantastic Group Theraplay® Practitioners - is familiar with what he calls 'the Dance of Adoption' and that feeling of 'one step forward, two steps back.'

If you're an adoptive parent and have found yourself feeling the same way, you are welcome to join our peer support group. You'll find it on Facebook if you search for 'Walking with Families'.

Happy ! As a proud social enterprise we're pleased to celebrate other amazing SocEnts in Birmingham - https://www.beaco...
20/11/2025

Happy ! As a proud social enterprise we're pleased to celebrate other amazing SocEnts in Birmingham - https://www.beaconservices.org.uk/social-enterprise-day-birmingham/

We'd love to give a great big Social Enterprise Shoutout to the following organisations for the amazing work they do 🙌

Communitea Cafe
Grow Family Services (SEND Support)
Highbury Orchard Community
Moseley Hive
Miss Macaroon
Our Place Support
Refugee Alliance: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100076142258159

Funding is critical to any social enterprise, including ours. Click the link in this post intro to see why we love these organisations so much, and learn what you can do to help.

DOWNLOAD VIDEO: Dr Naomi Fisher presents strategies when your adoptive or cared-for child is not fine at school, and sc...
13/11/2025

DOWNLOAD VIDEO: Dr Naomi Fisher presents strategies when your adoptive or cared-for child is not fine at school, and school doesn't understand: https://www.beaconservices.org.uk/my-child-is-not-fine-at-school-download-video-adoptive-parents/

This recording is available for download with a suggested donation of £10.

IN THIS RECORDING:

- Attendance and behaviour: How children show us that things aren’t working at school.
- Common interventions suggested by schools.
- Why these can backfire for adopted children in particular.
- What to do instead.

WHAT WORKS? AND WHAT DOESN'T?

The video will help you feel more informed about what’s going on with your child, and better able to make decisions which focus on your child’s wellbeing.

"Sitting in the car, engine off, in front of my house. What will I be walking into?" Al Coates explores how it can feel ...
12/11/2025

"Sitting in the car, engine off, in front of my house. What will I be walking into?" Al Coates explores how it can feel for adoptive parents and carers when home is a source of worry not respite: https://www.beaconservices.org.uk/when-home-is-a-source-of-worry-not-respite/

We all want our home to be a place of peace and safety and nurture, both for ourselves and for our loved ones. However, when a hyper aroused child at home is likely to react and explode at any moment, home can feel more like a place that drains energy instead of restoring it.

With funding from Adoption England's Community Development Fund, Al Coates set up the Walking With Families peer support group as a safe place for parents to share experiences and insights, and to recharge and recoup. This active Facebook community is providing much-needed mutual support, and its doors are open.

Walking with Families: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1620682492650215

11/11/2025

See how to give a sensory story massage to your child! Add positive touch to stories at bedtime or bathtime with our Therapeutic Practitioner Nikki Veszpremi.

We use many Theraplay® techniques in our work with adoptive families, and this is one you can try at home!

We are happy to announce that our popular Connect for Kids programme will be running again in January 2026 - and you can...
28/10/2025

We are happy to announce that our popular Connect for Kids programme will be running again in January 2026 - and you can book your place now! https://www.beaconservices.org.uk/connect-for-kids/

ABOUT: This play-based social and emotional support group helps your child grow in confidence in a safe, therapeutic environment. Our groups are led by experienced practitioners who use Theraplay® activities to help you and your child connect through play.

WHEN: 12th January to 9th March 2026, Mondays 4-5pm. PLUS: kickoff parent session on Thursday 8th January 11am to 12 noon.

WHERE: Our Place Community Hub, Sutton Coldfield, B72 1RN (in-person)

This fantastic funded programme is offered to parents for free with thanks to Sutton Coldfield Charitable Trust

Places are limited, so early birds catch the worm. We look forward to seeing you there!

26/10/2025

See how to give a sensory story massage and add positive touch to stories at bedtime or bathtime! https://www.beaconservices.org.uk/how-to-give-a-sensory-story-massage/

Our Therapeutic Practitioner Nikki Veszpremi demonstrates how to give a sensory story massage with a 'Dear Zoo' story and a 'Let's Make a Pizza' variant. We use many Theraplay® techniques in our work with adoptive families, and this is one you can try at home!

Sensory massage helps to calm the nervous system with gentle nurturing touch, and builds on strong connections. It is important you use a touch that is comfortable and calming for your child. All children are different and like a different kind of touch. Some children like soft, some like firm. If your child isn’t sure, check out what feels just right to them.

Click the link to find out more and pick up ideas for story massage strokes, too...

https://www.beaconservices.org.uk/how-to-give-a-sensory-story-massage/

National Adoption Week 2025 runs from 20th to 26th October. This year’s campaign celebrates ‘perfectly imperfect’ fami...
25/10/2025

National Adoption Week 2025 runs from 20th to 26th October. This year’s campaign celebrates ‘perfectly imperfect’ family homes built through adoption. https://www.beaconservices.org.uk/national-adoption-week/

The theme for this year’s is a great fit for our work here at Beacon Family Services to help adoptive families thrive in their ‘perfect imperfection’. Our goal is to help adoptive parents foster connected and joyful relationships over time with little ones and children who can be impacted by past trauma and need an adoptive parent’s love and support!

Do you have worries or concerns over de-escalating your child's behaviour in public? This blog from Charlotte Jenkins ma...
07/10/2025

Do you have worries or concerns over de-escalating your child's behaviour in public? This blog from Charlotte Jenkins may help: https://www.beaconservices.org.uk/de-escalating-child-behaviour-in-public/

A child’s public meltdown doesn’t only happen in front of strangers who may not empathise or understand; it happens in front of our own inner critic, too. And our inner critic is often FIERCE!

It can help to remind yourself that any critics, whether public or internal, can take a backseat to allowing space for you and your child to weather the big feelings. From breathing and grounding techniques to using personal survival scripts, there are several things you can try to help you ride out the storm.

In times of public meltdown, you have every right to offer empathy to yourself as well as your child. You both deserve it.

As part of Project Salam, our work with refugee families resettling in Birmingham, silk screen painting art sessions wer...
24/09/2025

As part of Project Salam, our work with refugee families resettling in Birmingham, silk screen painting art sessions were a soothing success with parents and children alike!

https://www.beaconservices.org.uk/project-salam-silk-screen-painting-connection-through-creativity/

It was a great pleasure to collaborate with valued community hub Our Place Support in Birmingham. Over 50 refugee parents, children and professionals joined forces to create an artwork consisting of 3 silk screen panels titled GROWTH: Memories from our homeland. It's a unique artwork that creates a colourful presence in the community space for all to enjoy. And it’s a physical and lasting representation of the positive collaborative contribution refugee families make to their new communities!

A HUGE thank you to the mystery person who created these lovely Beacon Beanies! Sadly there was no message received with...
23/09/2025

A HUGE thank you to the mystery person who created these lovely Beacon Beanies! Sadly there was no message received with the gift or we would have been sure to thank you individually, but your time and energy are a boon to our community.

Aren't the colours and expressions wonderful? They will be very well received by children and families in our care!

THANK YOU, MYSTERY DONOR 🌼😊

If anyone else fancies having a crack at making Beacon Beanies to help families connect through play, the instructions are here - https://www.beaconservices.org.uk/beacon-beanies/

23/09/2025

There's Still Time to Book: Connect for Kids Returns This September! https://www.beaconservices.org.uk/connect-for-kids/

Would you like to secure a spot at our popular Connect for Kids programme starting this September?If you’ve been thinking about returning or trying it out for the first time, now’s the time to book.

Our play-based social and emotional support group is designed to help children build confidence in a safe, therapeutic environment. Led by experienced therapists using Theraplay® activities, it’s an opportunity your child won't want to miss.

It kicks off on Monday 29th September with a parents-only session, which is your chance to meet the group facilitator, find out more about Theraplay®, and share your child's experiences and needs. Then your child is welcome to attend weekly sessions on Mondays between 13th October and 8th December at the Our Place Community Hub in Sutton Coldfield.

Here’s what parents are saying:

“I loved having time to connect and focus just on one child. It was special for us to have time together.”
“My child is now more open to sharing her feelings with me.”
“Being in a small group with children he can relate to has helped my son become more confident with his own identity.”

📅 Start Date: Monday, 29th September 2025 (Inaugural session for parents, 1-2pm)
📅 Group Sessions: Every Monday 4:15-5pm until 8th December
📍 Location: Our Place Community Hub, Sutton Coldfield

For more details, visit our Connect for Kids page. We can’t wait to see you there!

Address

Birmingham

Telephone

+441212700590

Website

https://www.beaconservices.org.uk/

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