Looking at adopting a child?
Adoption is a way of providing a permanent home and family for children who are unable to live with their own family. An adopted child becomes a full member of the adoptive family with the same legal rights as any child born in to that family.
Children needing adoptive families come from a wide range of backgrounds, with different experiences and personalities, so an equally wide variety of families are needed.
There are no formal criteria of eligibility, apart from the requirement that when couples apply they need to be in a stable relationship for at least three years. All applicants will be considered on their own merit and on their ability to meet a child’s needs throughout their childhood.
You will go through an application process that will go through the following stages:
- Initial home visit
- Registration of interest form
- Adoption Preparation Group
- Home study assessment
- Second opinion visit
- The Adoption Panel
- Matching
- Moving in day
- The adoption order
In recent times the context of adoption has changed. Children available for adoption are likey to:
- Require continuing help as they grow up due to medical problems or delayed development
- Have experienced physical, emotional, sexual abuse or neglect
- Have had changes of carer
- Present some behavioural problems as a result of their experiences
- Have brothers and sisters that need to be placed together
- Have some positive memories of their birth families
- Be subject to a care order made by the court
All adopters must be prepared for some form of ongoing contact after adoption between a child and significant person from their birth family. This usually takes the form of an exchange of written information with the birth family via oursleves.
For some children, direct contact is appropriate. This could be with a brother or sister placed with a different adopter, or with a grandparent who has cared for the child. Birth families are not given the address of adopters and we will support you and the child if direct contact is planned.
It is important that after learning more about adoption you are honest with yourselves and us, about the level of contact you can accept.
Adopters are needed from all walks of life to meet the needs of a wide range of children who are waiting for adoption. People who apply to adopt are assessed on their own merits and abilities to parent an adopted child.
We do not discriminate on the grounds of gender, ethnic origin, class, culture, sexuality or disability.
- You must be over 21 years old to adopt, although no upper age limit it is expected that you should be healthy enough to parent a child through to adulthood
- Single people, male or female, can adopt
- Applicants can be married, or unmarried of any sexuality
- Usually couples should have lived together for at least two years
- Applicants can be home owners or live in rented accomodation
- Applicants can be childless, have children still living at home or have adult children who have left home
- Applicants may be employed or unemployed.
If you have been convicted of a crime, this does not necessarily mean you cannot adopt, it depends on the nature of the offence. You must declare convictions and cautions and agree for checks to be carried out on you. Checks will need to be done on all household residents over 16 years old. We will not approve anyone with convictions or cautions for sexual or domestic violence or convictions against children, in line with government guidelines.
We will ask for references from some people you know, they will be asked to provide an opinion on your ability to care for children and your suitability to adopt. We also may ask to speak to former partners from significant relationships (to establish if there are any concerns relating to violence or potential risk, we will not enquire into the reasons for the ending of the relationship). We may also ask to speak to employers, and where you have your own children (including those who have grown up) we would like to also speak to them too.
All applicants must undergo a medical examination to assess their physical and mental health. It is important that people are likely to stay fit for some time, as many of the children have experienced significant losses in their lives.
We need adopters with the following core personal qualities, skills and attitudes:
- accept and respect a child's family history
- talk openly with the child about adoption and share information throughout childhood
- promote the child's identity needs in terms of culture and ethnicity
- understand how a child feels about being adopted, how this may change over time and how behaviour may be affected
- Appreciate how abuse, seperation and loss can have an impact on a child's development
- tolerate imperfection in children themselves
- be patient and recognise the positives in children
- be flexible and reflective thinkers who are prepared to acknowledge how they may need to alter their approach to meet a child's needs better
- be open to seek and recieve professional support where appropriate
To find out about the adoption process please visit our adoption process page.
It is likely that you will continue to have at least yearly contact with the Adoption and Fostering team to provide information for the birth family through the letterbox system, or your child may have ongoing face-to-face contact.
There is a duty for ourselves to provide families of adopted children, and the child with support services such as counselling, financial support and training. We continue to be committed to develop our services to meet the support needs of adoptive families living in our area.
You are expected to meet the general living costs of the child you adopt. However, you may be able to get an adoption allowance or help with 'settling in' costs.
You can claim child benefit from the date of placement of the child.
Most people are very satisfied by the service from the council's Adoption team. However if you are not there are complaints procedures and we welcome your written feedback.
We cannot guarantee that we will be able to place a child with you for adoption but we will make every effort to do so.
Are you ready to request your expression of interest pack?