Step by Step - a guide to the adoption process
Choosing to adopt a child is a big decision. You need to be certain you are ready for what will be a lifetime commitment.
The Sahara Adoption and Fostering project are particularly keen to recruit Black and Minority Ethnic adoptive families from mixed heritage partnerships, with the aim to provide Black Minority Ethnic children from a range of diverse backgrounds with secure and loving families where they can be happy, grow and thrive.
There are a number of steps you need to take to adopt a child. It is a lengthy process to ensure that you have thought through everything with the help of your Social Worker, to ensure you fully understand the commitment that you are making. It is important to understand that you need to prepare yourself for parenthood, and that you will be taking full responsibility for the upbringing of a child or children.
Here are the steps to go through after you contact the local authority that you are making an application to:
Register Your Interest
Once you have read the information that the local authority will send you, fill in the 'registration of interest' form and return it. This form provides the local authority with basic information about you, your family and your home situation. Remember, all sorts of people can make good adoptive parents; it does not matter whether you are married, single, working, unemployed, childless or wanting more children, young or more mature. We need a wide range of people from all kinds of heritage, and diverse cultural and religious backgrounds for the children who are in need of adoptive families.
If you are interested in adopting a child over the age of two, a child with special needs, or a family group, we will prioritise your application. As a general guide there are fewer children under the age of two who require adoption, and you may have a longer wait if you want to adopt a baby. However there can be exceptions to this, and occasionally babies are available for adoption.You are best advised to make contact with your local authority Adoption team who can provide you with more up to date information about the placement needs within your local authority.
The Initial Visit
Once the local authority has received your form, contact will be made with you to arrange a visit by an Adoption Social Worker alongside a member of the Sahara Adoption and Fostering project team. At this meeting, which usually takes place in your home, you will hear about the children who need families and we can discuss your interest in adoption in more detail and answer your questions. We will be honest about the rewards and the demands involved in adopting a child. It is important that both the Adoption Social Worker and you are confident about proceeding to the next step.
Preparation and Training
If it is agreed that you should proceed to the next step, you are invited to attend a 'Preparation to adopt' training course. These courses are held several times a year in your local area, so there should not be long to wait to attend one. The aim is to make the training as relaxed and enjoyable as possible whilst giving you sufficient information to help you fully consider what adoption might mean for you as a family. You do not necessarily need to read or write but you need to participate by listening to each other and by sharing your experiences. You will have the chance to listen to foster carers and experienced adoptive parents, which will give you a broad, picture of what is involved in adopting a child.
At the same time the local authority will carry out a number of statutory checks on you and your family's background. This will include medical histories, checks with the police and the local authority and in some circumstances your employer.
After completing your Preparation training, you will again get the chance to think if this is what you wish to do. You will then be invited to make a formal application to your local authority. You will have the opportunity at every stage to discuss with your Social Worker openly and honestly any issues or queries you may have.
Home Study
You will be allocated an Adoption Social Worker who will undertake your home study. This is a very comprehensive assessment of you and your family, which will lead to a written report. You will also be allocated a worker from the Sahara team who will be involved in consultancy throughout your home study. The role of the Sahara team is to provide consultancy to the Social worker on any cultural or religious issues throughout the assessment period.
The home study is necessarily thorough and may take several months. The adoption worker will visit you in your home on several occasions at a suitable time to assess your suitability to adopt. These sessions will be as relaxed as possible, allowing you to be honest and open about your strengths as well as any areas of concern. The adoption worker will also help you decide what sort of child or children you would be best able to care for.
The home study is challenging and it can feel intrusive, but there are good reasons why it is so detailed. We need to make sure you are right for adoption and - just as important - you need to be sure you can make a success of it. It is also our job that you are prepared well enough to undertake this lifelong commitment. Some of the comments made by adopters about the assessment process are "..we came to know a lot about each other", "..it gave us an insight in what adoption means and it became clearer of what was required of us", "..it was intrusive, but enjoyable as at the end of it the report was like 'This is your life' programme."
You will also need to see your GP for a medical examination, so that we can be sure you are healthy enough to care for a child through to adulthood. You will also need to provide personal references from people who know you well and you see regularly.
All this information is pulled together into a home study report. You will have the opportunity to see the report and add your own comments.
The Adoption Panel
Your home study report is then presented to your Local Authority's Adoption Panel. The panel comprises of a group of people with relevant experience and knowledge, including a county councillor, Social Workers, legal and other professionals and independent people, usually containing an adoptive parent.
You will have the opportunity to attend the panel. It may also be appropriate for the team member from Sahara Adoption and Fostering project to attend panel if they have worked with you, and your local authority Social Worker during the assessment with a view to supporting you and the Social Worker.
After considering the report and discussing it with your Social Worker, the panel makes the recommendation to either approve or not approve you as an adoptive parent. The panel's recommendation must be authorised by a Senior Manager, who has the final decision. You will be informed of the outcome as soon as possible. If you disagree with the panel's recommendation or the manager's decision, you have the right to appeal. Remember, 94% of people who get this far are approved.
Planning for a Child
Once your application to adopt has been approved, we will look to see if there are children waiting for adoption who might be a suitable match for you. This may be a child either locally, from other parts of the North East or other areas in the United Kingdom. In some cases there may already be a child/ children identified who will be a suitable match for you,which could make the process quicker.
Once a child has been identified as possibly suitable for you, you will be given full information about their family background, health and education. It will be your decision as to whether a particular child is presented as a match for you. It is the decision of an Adoption Panel to decide whether to recommend the match of an individual child or children to an adoptive family.
If you want to proceed it will be arranged for you to meet the child or children. If everyone is in agreement, and following a planned period of introductions, the child will come to live with you. You will continue to receive advice and support from your adoption worker and there will be regular reviews of you and your child's progress. You will not be on your own - it is the job of the adoption team working with you, to continue to support you through to the time when the adoption is finalised, which is when the Adoption Order is granted by the Court.
Your child may need to keep links with their birth family and this will be discussed in detail during the assessment period, with your wishes taken into account.A common method of providing information to birth families is through a letterbox system. This is where you as the adoptive family would write an annual letter for the birth family, giving general information about your child's progress.The letters are passed to the birth family through the Social Worker.Without your agreement the child or you will not meet the birth family. A written agreement will detail what is expected of all parties. If you have any queries or need more information about this please do give us a call, and we can answer any questions you may have.
Once adopted, your child will always remain your legal responsibility, and would remain with you as their permanent family. One adoptive mother recently said- "My two children are now teenagers and they know who their birth parents are but they do not wish to go back to them. They call me Mum and this will never change. I am happiest when I am in their company, I know they are after all my children whom I adopted when they were very young."
The Adoption Order
When the adoptive child has settled down in your family, you will be able to apply to the Court for an Adoption Order. Once the Order is made, all rights and responsibilities pass to you as adoptive parents. You can receive support from your local adoption team as long as you want it. There are now post adoption Social Workers whose role is to support adoptive parents after they have adopted, and there are other adoption support services in the area.
Being a parent these days is not easy. Being an adoptive parent is perhaps even harder. As well as bringing happiness and fulfilment, adoption can also raise many questions. Naturally these can sometimes turn into problems and we recognise that at these times you may need some extra help.
Years ago, once an adoption order was granted the new family was largely left to 'get on with it'. But today things are different and local authorities and adoption agencies all recognise that adoptive families need support. It is hoped that everything goes smoothly, but if it does not you are not expected to cope on your own.
Ideally, you will continue to work with your local adoption team at least for the first few years, so your child gets the best possible start in your family.
What kind of services could I be entitled to?
In the first place, any child you adopt is entitled to the same range of local authority children’s social care and other support, based on their need, as any other child. This could be, for example, special educational and medical services, as well as advice or counselling. You can receive help with identifying the right services for you and the child, and help to put you in touch with them.
The government is strongly behind adoption for children who cannot live with their birth families. New standards states that an assessment of need must be carried out if the adoptive family or the child asks it for. You can contact your own local authority for further information. The resulting support can include practical, financial or emotional help. In certain circumstances you may be able to receive an adoption allowance, which is means tested and depends on the needs of the child. There may be that the child is suffering racial abuse and may need counselling or you may want to know something about child's background relating to religion culture or inherited illnesses then you may seek information from Post Adoption services.
What if my child is having behavioural problems, can I get support?
Your adopted child may not have had the best start in life. This can sometimes show in their behaviour which may become difficult to manage. Social care, health and education professionals are all available to help you and your child to work through these periods.
What if my child asks about their birth family, what do I say?
As the adopted child grows up they may ask questions about their family and the reasons why they were not able to live with them. Adoptive parents can struggle to find the right answers, and the child may need more information than you are able to give. Remember, support is available to you, whether that is helping you to find the rights words, or helping you provide more information for the child.
Would the child's birth family have any contact?
It depends on the child, but some adopted children continue to have contact with their birth family. This could be through letters and photographs or even a meeting between you all. We can conduct this contact, help you arrange it, or just be there to support you.
Sometimes the best form of support comes from other adoptive parents, and you can find out more information about what is available from your local authority.
Each local authority has dedicated Post Adoption Support Workers whose job it is to advise and help adoptive families after adoption has taken place.
Adoption is a lifetime commitment, but you will not be on your own. There is help and support available to give you all of the help and support you need, to make your new family a success.
