letterbox

“Letterbox” contact between adopted children and birth families is outdated, the report says, instead recommending face-to-face contact where that is safe.

Many adoptive parents agree the current "letterbox" system of contact is not effective.

Whilst living with his grandmother, Keoghan said he could remember his mother "screaming through the letterbox... just wanting money".

Later, the 18-year-old, from Leatherhead, Surrey, and Callum Dunne, 15, from Southend, Essex, stuffed a lit firework through the letterbox of 88-year-old Josephine Smith's home, starting a fire that killed her.

Police said after the attack, Mrs Taylor tried to call for help through the letterbox and managed to crawl up the stairs and shouted for help, eventually catching the attention of a dog walker who called the emergency services.