The adoption process explained
We know that making the decision to adopt can feel like a big first step, but don’t worry because our friendly and knowledgeable team are here to answer all your questions and help you to decide on the way forward.
We have outlined below the key parts of the assessment process as well as more information about modern adoption arrangements,
If you would like to speak to us, just call us on the number shown, or leave your details via the enquiry button and we will be very happy to help
First steps – information Event to Initial visit
To get a good overview of modern adoption and to potentially start your journey, we would like to invite you to come along to one of our online information events where we run through lots of helpful information. The events are live with plenty of opportunities to ask questions or just listen if you prefer.
Once you have attended one of these (or watched our pre-recorded version) we can progress your enquiry via our simple online enquiry form. If you still have questions, we’ll of course be able to chat these through with you.
One of our social workers will then arrange to visit you at home. They will spend time with you discussing adoption at more length and this is a great chance to have any other questions you have answered, in the privacy of your own home.
We will also explore some more details with you about your reasons for deciding to adopt and other information such as your health, home, relationships and work life.
If after this, we all decide that now feels the right time and situation for you to progress your application, we will ask for some more details from you (on a form called a ‘Registration of Interest’) which also gives us permission to start off the various checks and references that we need to complete. We will also give you information about arranging your medical report and some suggested reading/ watching/ listening materials.
We will also invite you to our excellent ‘Adoption Preparation Training’ which is usually over 5 days (held face to face at a local venue). This is a fantastic course which alongside building your understanding of adoption, children and their needs, also helps you to start to build a support network with other local adopters
What does the assessment process involve?
There are two stages to the assessment process.
Stage 1
Registration, Checks and Training
This phase of the adoption process typically takes up to two months. During Stage 1, we’ll be taking up various checks and references for you, answer any questions you have and invite you to our local adoption preparation training.
In addition:
- We will ask you to supply us with the details of people who can act as a personal reference and can comment on your adoption application. We will ask for a combination of friends and family references.
- You will have a medical with your GP and we will consider your physical and mental health and lifestyle-related issues.
- We will need to know of any specific health issues you have in order to understand what impact these could have upon parenting a child.
- We will also explore other factors such as financial security and work commitments to ensure that you are in a stable position to be able to commit to a child or children and meet their needs.
Everyone’s journey to adoption is unique so do remember we are here to answer any questions you have, no question is too small or silly!
Rachel, our recruitment manager said:
‘Stage One can sometimes feel a bit of a ‘waiting game’ whilst we are collating all the different references and checks for you. The adoption preparation training really helps to keep you feeling part of the process and it is fantastic to meet people at a similar point of the journey. It sounds a cliché but people really do arrive as strangers and leave as friends’
We will ask you to attend training designed to support you in developing your understanding of adoption and meeting the needs of an adopted child or children going forward.
Once you have completed your preparation and providing the basis checks are okay, you’ll be invited to the next stage of the journey
Stage 2
Assessment and Panel
This is the main part of the process where one of our friendly social workers will spend time with you, visiting a number of times to get to know you better. and understand your hopes for adoption. The social worker will be using this information to complete your adopter assessment which will go to our panel.
The assessment is about exploring your life, We will cover your family history., the challenges and different situations you have dealt with in life and your understanding and motivations to adopt, alongside your practical situation and support to adopt. This is to gain an understanding of your skills, approaches, interests and experiences which you would bring to parenting. If you have children at home, the social worker will also get to know them and work with you to explore and help support their feelings about adoption.
The social worker will also visit and speak to the people you have put forward as your personal references.
We know that a support network is really important for everyone starting their adoption journey. As part of your preparation to adopt, we provide workshops for family members and friends. This is so that they can learn about the needs of adopted children and the ways in which they can provide you with emotional and practical support going forward.
Once your assessment is completed, you will receive a copy of the report and we invite you to make any comments about it. We then present your assessment to the adoption panel, which you are invited to attend, supported by your social worker. A recent adopter said of panel:
‘We were nervous (understandably), but our social worker was just great and we felt very supported. Everyone was really warm and welcoming and we got to speak to people with different experiences too. It really was just perfect!’
The adoption panel will consider all the information gathered during the assessment process and make a recommendation on your suitability to be an adoptive parent which is then passed to the Agency Decision Maker (ADM) who will make the final decision, taking account of your assessment report and the panel recommendation.
What Happens When I’m Approved As An Adoptive Parent?
Finding The Right Match
During the later stages of your assessment we will start talking to you about children who we feel may be a ‘match’ for you (called ‘matching’). This is very much a team effort between you and your social worker (who will know you very well by this point!)
For many adopters this process happens quickly but some may wait slightly longer for us to identify the right child or children for you. We will talk more about this throughout your assessment. Getting the right ‘match’ is vital for adoption to be successful. As we are the local authorities we know the children requiring adoption and will only progress with matching when adopters feel a strong connection to a child or children.
As an approved prospective adopter, you will have access to support services including:
Various training and workshops
We run a wide range of training that you can access for life!
Support groups
There are a number of local support groups and national networks we encourage you to access
Social Events
From toddler groups, to walk and talks to Christmas parties- we have lots of social events you can join
Newsletter
We keep you up to date with a regular newsletter with information and events that might be of interest
Peer Support
We support and encourage peer support networks throughout our adoptive community and can link adopters for 'buddying' if requested
Matching Is The Key
Alongside your own social worker, all our colleagues (and foster carers if relevant) involved with a potentially matching child or children, will help to ensure that we get the right match for you.
We know connection is key, so you will be involved – right from the start!
We will:
- Provide you with detailed, open and honest information about the child or children, their background, health and development, including any contact arrangements with members of the child’s birth family post adoption.
- Provide opportunities for you to meet with the child’s social worker, foster carers and family finder.. We also have ways in which you will usually be able to informally meet the child or children before official matching occurs.
- Provide opportunities for consultations with the agency medical adviser to discuss any current or future health needs.
Support For An Informed Decision
All of this will support you and help us make an informed decision about progressing with a proposed match with a child or children.
If you and the social workers involved with you and the child want to progress with the match, this will be presented to the adoption matching panel, who will make a recommendation about the proposed match. The agency decision maker from the child’s local authority will make the final decision about the match taking into account reports presented to the adoption matching panel and panel recommendation.
Once we have agreed the match, we will plan a period of introductions with you and the child or children during which time they will understand that you will be their adoptive parent(s). During this period you will spend increasing amounts of time getting to know them, and them you. The timing and length of introductions varies depending on the needs and age of the child, is most usually supported by foster carers who have been caring for, and know the child/ children well..
Once a child or children come to live with you we will continue to visit and support you as required. As you build in confidence, we will work on a plan with you to reduce our involvement whilst being there for you if you need us.
After the child or children have lived with you for at least 10 weeks you can apply for the ‘Adoption Order’. We will help with completing your application for this.
Once you have adopted the child you will have the same rights and responsibilities as if the child was born to you. Our support and training offer continues to be there there for you to support you to be the nurturing parent and family that you wish to be.
what is 'Keeping in Touch' ?
The majority of children who are adopted have some form of ongoing contact with members of their birth family. The wellbeing of the child and their adoptive family is always key in making these arrangements. This has many benefits for the adoptive parents, birth family and most crucially for the child as they grow up.
At a minimum, keeping in touch involves the exchange of letters, cards and sometimes photographs between adopters and their child’s birth relatives. The post-box service in our office will manage this and keep surnames and addresses confidential.
In a growing number of adoptions, face to face meet ups, or phone conversations with some members of the children’s birth family is arranged and expected to be maintained. This may be with a parent, significant other family member or with other siblings who are adopted (or with foster carers).
Ongoing communication has many benefits for the child, adoptive parents and birth family. For children, it can help develop their sense of identity and have an understanding their past. It also helps to reduce feelings of loss and rejection for the child and can help when supporting them to address feelings of confusion and it can help dispel any myths around the birth family and prevent ‘fantasies’ by the child as they grow up.
For adoptive parents, ongoing communication can help to understand more about their child/ children and their background.. Also, keeping in touch can help to answer any questions that children ask. On a practical note, it is also helpful to be made aware of any other information, such as medical information, which may not have been known at the time of adoption.
For the birth family, keeping in touch can be very reassuring to know that the child or children are growing up in a nurturing family which is helping them to thrive.
What real life adopters/ adoptees said about ‘Keeping in Touch’ arrangements:
J, Adopter said:
‘When we started the adoption process, we hadn’t considered contact with birth family at all, and to be honest we were initially quite sceptical about it. We now have a communication plan in place including meeting up once a year as there aren’t any risks for us in doing this. We have felt extremely well supported by our social worker and it has been much easier that we thought. It feels right for us and a responsibility that we hold for our son. Meeting up as we have done has meant that we have far more information that we would have done via email or letter and we can help our son to understand more about his birth family and history as he grows up’
Rachel (adopted adult) adds further insight into the long term benefits:
‘I was adopted in the 1970s and have very little knowledge of my heritage or family history. Throughout my life when I have gone to the GP or accessed health service I have to answer ‘I don’t know’ for any family medical conditions. This has always made me feel ‘different’ and could have implications for my health (and now my children’s health) as we are treated as a ‘no’ to conditions which could actually be a ‘yes’’
We understand that ‘Keeping in Touch’ arrangements may sound daunting to begin with, but we are here to support and offer advice and guidance at every stage throughout a child’s life.
FAQ
Most frequent questions and answers
Adoption is a legal procedure in which total parental responsibility transfers to the adopters. Once granted, you cannot reverse an adoption order. An adopted child loses all legal ties with their birth parent(s) and becomes a full member of the adoptive family, usually taking the family’s name.
Adoption is a legal process by which adopters take all legal and other parental responsibilities for a child/ children until adulthood.
Fostering is a, usually temporary, arrangement where a child lives in an approved fostering household until legal decisions are made about their future, which could be returning to their birth family, living with other relatives, moving into being adopted, or if older, to live independently. Foster carers receive an allowance for their work as there are many specific responsibilities required of them in this role. Foster carers (unless going to to adopt a child in their care) do not become the legal parents of a child.
We will give you as much information about the child and their birth family as is available. This is to help you make an informed decision. This information will include any health needs, the family circumstances of the child, their background and information about their birth parents. This information (alongside ongoing communication) will also help the child understand the reasons why they were unable to remain with their birth family and why they were adopted.
We know that good matching is key and we want you to you have as much information as is possible so you can make informed decisions..
The approval process normally takes around six months, The process is broken down into two stages:
Stage 1– Which normally takes about two months;
Stage 2 – Which normally takes about four months;
These timescales aren’t set in stone though, it’s recognised that sometimes circumstances change, and we must ensure that the assessment is done thoroughly, rather than simply adhering to rigid timescales.
We’re unable to put a timescale onto the matching process as it will depend on the child’s needs and your preferences., Because we represent the local authorities in our regional partnership, we know which children require an adoptive family and therefore often start the matching processes near the end of the assessment process.
We need you (both, if a couple) to be available to attend meetings to undertake the assessment with your social worker. These are arranged with you in advance, meaning you can hopefully plan them around other key commitments. You will also need to join adoption preparation training, assessment and introduction processes, which might mean taking some time off work. Although we know that emergencies can happen, and we always try to be flexible, we do ask that once made, you treat these appointments as you would a medical appointment and avoid cancelling unless unavoidable.
Yes! Many of our adopters have pets, We will just talk with you about any considerations or management that may be required to ensure that your home is a safe and secure home for the child and also for your pets. For lots of children (and adults!) pets are a very positive experience and can be very therapeutic.
You’ll need to supply up to six references, which should be made up of a mix of family members and friends. We will talk more about this with you on our information giving meeting.
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