About us - Coram IAC

Our mission is to place children from all parts of the world in loving families and to work in a fair, transparent and professional manner with those who need us.

What we do

We help prepare, assess and support prospective adopters through the adoption process in the UK and then work with them towards being matched with a child from abroad. We are part of the Coram Group of children’s charities.

Local authorities have a legal duty to provide an adoption service but for international adoption, many local authorities and regional adoption agencies choose to partner with Coram IAC so that we can provide our expert service to their residents, including assessment of applications to adopt.

We also provide consultancy and guidance for local authority teams on all matters relating to adoption and permanence, including cases where children may be being placed abroad. If you live in one of our partner local authorities we can help you today. We cover the whole of the UK and work with partner charities to bring local services to local communities.

Why choose intercountry adoption?

There are many people in the UK that have space in their home and heart to bring a child into their family, and there are many children across the world in need of loving and stable homes. You may be thinking about international adoption for one or more of the following common reasons:

You want to grow your family
You want to start a family
You want to adopt a child from your country of heritage
You want to adopt a child related to you who lives abroad
You have already adopted a child abroad but not completed the UK process

The UK’s population is diverse and you may have a connection to a particular country that you would like to adopt from. With the right support, intercountry adoptees can grow up in the UK having a positive sense of identity, blending their British and home country’s culture.

Each year we receive:

2,500+

new enquiries

1,000+

follow up enquiries

100+

new families we work with

In 2024, Ofsted reported:

"Children whose futures may well be uncertain in their country of birth are given the opportunity to be adopted by people who provide them with the stability and care they need to achieve educationally and socially. Staff are ambitious for children, working proactively with family finding resources to place children in an adoptive family when they may not have otherwise found a suitable or timely match. Children are thriving and making significant progress."

"Social workers keep the child at the forefront of their practice, skilfully advising and guiding adoptive parents to take every opportunity to help children progress in their learning and development. Vital learning from adopted adults with lived experience of intercountry and/or transracial adoption has informed preparation, training materials and adoption support activities for children and families."

"Adopters speak very highly of the service they receive. Knowledgeable and experienced social workers help enquirers make sense of complex eligibility rules and processes for various countries. Thorough training, with additional elements tailored to differing needs, ensures that adopters and their families are as prepared as they can be for the challenges ahead."

Meet the team

Our dedicated teams have hundreds of years of adoption experience and expertise between them and we make it our priority to ensure that anyone interested in adoption can access high quality advice and resources. We pride ourselves in being a diverse team from a range of backgrounds and ethnicities, which also includes people who have been personally affected by adoption. It is really important to us that our services are informed by lived experiences of adoption and are not discriminatory.

Barbara Hudson - Chair of Trustees

Appointed Trustee: July 2024

Barbara is an independent social work consultant based in Edinburgh. Her career in social work has included time as a hospital social worker in Norfolk, a children and families worker in Leeds and Service Manager for Adoption, Fostering and Residential Services in Bradford.

Currently Barbara works with a number of local authorities and with Scottish Adoption and the Dean and Cauvin Young People’s Trust. Barbara chairs the board of trustees of Coram IAC and is a director of CoramBAAF. As our Chair, she also sits as a Trustee on the Coram Group board.

Dame Carol Homden DBE PhD - Group CEO

Carol started her career setting up print media enterprises before becoming Director of Marketing and Development at the University of Westminster, later moving to the British Museum in 1999 as its first Director of Marketing and Public Affairs. Her affinity for improving the lives of young people led her to the position of Commercial Director for the Prince’s Trust in 2003, and she became Chief Executive of Coram in 2007.

Formerly a member of the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales, Carol served on the Adoption Leadership Board for seven years and is a Trustee of the Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health. She was Chair of the National Autistic Society for ten years and is now Chair of Diabetes UK. Carol was awarded a CBE in 2013 for her contribution to services for children and families. Dr Carol Homden has been announced as Dame Commander of the British Empire in the New Year Honours List 2026, for services to children and families.

Irene Levine - Managing Director

Irene Levine is Managing Director of Coram Intercountry Adoption Centre (IAC), the UK’s only dedicated intercountry adoption agency. She leads the agency’s strategic direction and works closely with teams to ensure families receive outstanding support throughout their adoption journey.

Irene also chairs Coram BAAF’s Black and Minority Ethnic Perspectives Advisory Committee, leading national work to promote equity, identity and belonging for Black and minority ethnic children in adoption and fostering. Before joining Coram IAC in 2016, Irene held a variety of senior leadership roles across local authorities, including Corporate Parenting Manager, Fostering and Adoption Service Manager and Group Manager for Placements and Resources.

Irene is a passionate advocate for equity, diversity and inclusion, ensuring adoptive families are well prepared to thrive.

Fiona Chikumbirike - Service Manager

Fiona has a number of years’ experience working in the field of adoption and joined Coram IAC in 2026.

As Service Manager, Fiona is responsible for ensuring that the operational teams provide the highest level of service to our adoptive families, as well as managing our training programme and our Adoption Support services.

Tanya Gutter - Information and Advice Team Manager

Tanya has been with Coram IAC for more than 25 years and has held a number of roles within the organisation.

Her team of advisors will support you with the first steps to becoming an adoptive parent, helping you determine your eligibility to be assessed, providing information about the adoption process as well as adoption programmes in various countries and answering your initial questions about adoption.

Charlotte Watts - Assessment Team Manager

Charlotte began with Coram IAC as an assessing social worker in 2016 and now manages the Assessment Team. She has over 20 years’ experience working with children and families in adoption.

Charlotte’s team will support you from the point where you formally register your interest to be assessed as an adopter, through Stage 1 and 2 of the assessment, until your approval by Adoption Panel. When working with the Assessment Team, you will have a dedicated Senior Social Work practitioner and administrator caseworker, who will oversee the assessment process, as well as an assessing social worker who will complete your stage 2 assessment and complete home visits.

Horia Astalos - Post Approval Team Manager

Horia has extensive experience working with children and adoptive families and joined Coram IAC in 2025.

Horia’s team will support you from the point of Panel approval onwards, including registration with your chosen country, matching with a child, bringing your child to the UK, and completing post-placement reports (where required by your country programme).

When working with the Post Approval Team, you will have a dedicated Senior Social Work Practitioner and Administrator who will support you throughout the process. You may also continue to receive visits from your assessing social worker.

Horia’s team also hosts family events throughout the year, providing opportunities for adoptive parents and children to connect with other families, build friendships, and share experiences.

Nadine Williams-Mugenyi - Domestic Team Manager

Nadine began with Coram IAC as a Sessional Assessing Social Worker and then secured the position of Senior Practitioner in the Assessment Team. She now manages our Domestic Adoption team.

The Domestic team support families who are open to adopting children from the UK as well as their chosen country.

Nadine’s team work closely with UK Local Authorities and Regional Adoption Agencies to identify potential matches for children in the UK who are awaiting adoption and the prospective adoptive parents on the parallel planning route at Coram IAC. The team support families to understand the differences between UK and intercountry adoption particularly in relation to expectations around direct and in direct contact and therapeutic parenting requirements. This in turn helps them feel prepared to become adoptive parents via the Domestic Adoption route.