Belay was founded in 2020 by Sarah Fry, an adoptive parent, to fill the gaps in support she had experienced herself. Sarah remains at the heart of Belay as our Services Director, leading the support we offer to families and professionals. Over the past year, under our interim CEO Libby McVeigh, Belay has strengthened its foundations and reshaped its services so they can reach more families. With those foundations in place, Sarah Yelland joins us as we move into our next stage of growth.  

Sarah has over 30 years’ experience leading and developing services across the social care, community and voluntary sectors. This includes senior leadership roles and time as an interim CEO, with expertise in organisational development, financial sustainability, fundraising and partnership building. She is also an adoptive parent, with first-hand experience of navigating trauma, neurodivergence, education, social care and benefits systems. 

“As an adoptive parent myself, I understand many of the challenges that adoptive and kinship families can face. I was drawn to Belay because of its commitment to practical support that makes a genuine difference to families’ lives. Belay combines direct support for families with training and supervision for the professionals working alongside them, and that is something families can struggle to find elsewhere. My initial focus will be making sure we are on a strong and sustainable footing, while building awareness of our work so that more families and professionals can benefit. I would love to hear from organisations interested in partnering with us, and from adoptive, kinship and special guardianship families who may benefit from our services.” 

We’d like to thank Libby for her leadership over the past year and wish her every success as she moves into the next stage of her career. 

The Trustees, The Belay Foundation