Adoption FAQs

Adopters may have debts and as long as these are understood, and repayments can be managed alongside living expenses then this should not be a problem. We would also encourage adopters to have considered how they will manage financially whilst taking time off work.

The emphasis would be on financial stability and in some circumstances financial support may be available from the adoption agency. There would need to be evidence of a stable lifestyle and the ability to manage on the income coming into the household. Openness and honesty about financial pressures is encouraged right from the outset of your application.

We recommend that at least one adopter has time off work following a child moving in with their family. A child will need time to build a relationship with their new family and it will take time for them to feel safe and secure. It is difficult to say how long this will take but 12 months is not unusual. If an older child is moving in with their family and attends school, then after a period of settling in it may be possible to work and still be there for the child at either end of the school day.

On occasions a child may need a parent to be off work longer and financial support may be available from the adoption agency in such circumstances. For people who are self-employed and not entitled to adoption leave allowances then we would need to discuss how to balance the need for work and offering a child the stability that they need early on.

Many people who adopt have medical conditions. Medical advice will be sought in relation to all medical conditions and the focus of discussion will relate to how well you are able to care for a child throughout childhood, the sort of support you have from a partner or other close family members or friends if you are unwell and consideration about the long term prognosis of your condition. The focus will be on considering how you can consistently meet the needs of a child throughout their childhood.

Many disabled people adopt a child successfully. The early part of the process of becoming an adopter will involve all adopters having a medical and the adoption agency would rely on that medical advice alongside consideration of your personal circumstances in determining your ability to consistently and safely parent an adopted child throughout their childhood.

There are no hard and fast rules about this. The core issue for an adoption agency is the stability of the adoption placement for the child over time and the capacity of the adopter to be sufficiently healthy to ensure this. A medical is sought on all prospective adopters and this will include a prediction about future health and wellbeing.

The only restriction on age is a lower age limit in that you must be at least 21 to adopt. Other than that, the consideration will be your ability to parent a child into adulthood based on your health and the health of a partner if you have one.

Many people have short periods of stress, depression, or anxiety in their lives and whilst there would need to be discussion about how this has been managed this is unlikely to prevent you adopting a child.

Some people have longer term mental health conditions which are well controlled with medication. There would need to be discussion about this and a medical would provide the agency with medical advice in relation to your ability to adopt a child. The main considerations will relate to the frequency with which you are unwell, how that manifests itself and who is there to offer support at such times.

The focus for the adoption agency will always be to assess your ability to meet a child’s needs in a consistent way and to consider how the stress of adopting a child will affect your mental health. There may be times when the agency feels that some one’s mental health is not stable enough to parent an adopted child but that would be considered early on in the process with the input of medical professionals and the people who know you well.

People adopt for many different reasons, and it is not essential to have explored having a birth child prior to adopting. However, for those who have embarked on fertility treatment first then the following advice is given.

It is important that if you have had fertility treatment it has come to an end before starting your adoption journey. Adopting a child needs to be your priority and that will require you to have finally accepted that having a birth child is no longer an option.

Many people who come to adoption due to infertility have accessed counselling following fertility treatments and this is viewed positively.

Once treatment has ended, we recommend that you take some time to come to terms with the fact that it has not resulted in a birth child. Some people can be ready to adopt within a few months and for others it will take longer. We would encourage you to discuss this with your adoption agency who will advise you on this depending on your personal circumstances.

Yes, you can. Adopters can be of all faiths and none. Research has shown that faith and its inherent altruism and care for the vulnerable, can be a great motivator for people to adopt.

Children who need to be placed for adoption come from many different cultures, backgrounds and religions and it is good if the family they are placed with reflects that. That means that adopters are welcomed if they have a faith or are from a variety of cultural and/or religious backgrounds.

Children needing families from certain cultural backgrounds wait longer than others for adoptive families and we would encourage adopters to consider adopting a child from an ethnicity, culture, or religion other than their own.

Adoption Activity Days are also known as play days and are events that give approved adopters, or prospective adopters at an advanced stage in their adoption assessment, the opportunity to meet children who need adoptive families.

Children are fully prepared for the day and adults and children meet in a fun environment with themes, games and dressing up, and can play together as a way of making a personal and emotional connection. Prospective adopters and social workers can then work together to develop potential matches.

Adoption agencies are regulated by the government through Ofsted. There are two kinds of adoption agency in England — local authorities, mostly working together through regional adoption agencies and voluntary adoption agencies. The main difference between the two is that local authorities (or children’s trusts operating as Voluntary adoption agencies) have children in their care, whereas voluntary agencies do not.

The local authority has responsibility for finding homes for children in care but both local authority and independent/voluntary adoption agencies assess prospective adopters and match children with them. Adoption agencies do not charge for their services to prospective parents adopting children from care in the UK, and no profit is legally permitted in adoption though some charges are made for those who wish to adopt children from abroad.

Adoption Panels make a recommendation on suitability to adopt regarding prospective adopters, the proposed plan for a relinquished child for adoption and makes a recommendation regarding a child to be matched with a specific adopter.

ontact is the word many have used in the past; we are supportive of a change in language to acknowledge the relational importance of keeping connected with significant people. Other relational terms may include staying in touch (SiT) or keeping in touch. Relationships between a child and their birth family (plus others who have been important in their lives) must always be considered when a child is adopted.

The child’s needs are central to any plan which must also take account the views of all those detailed within the plan. Staying in touch may be direct (face to face) or indirect (through letterbox /information exchanges). Direct contact will often take place between an adopted child and their siblings, who may be living in other adoptive or foster families. An initial face to face meeting or meetings between adopters and birth parents or relatives is expected to take place, unless there are reasons this is not safe to do so, with consideration given to the best way to stay in touch.

Individualised arrangements combined with life story work and diverse information sharing methods, help children in navigating loss/separation, understanding why they were in care, promotes stability in adoptive placements, facilitates the integration of their past and present to develop a coherent identity and is a potential resource in a child’s developmental recovery.

An Early Permanence Placement (EPP) refers to the situation where children may be placed in their home at the earliest opportunity by being placed with adopters who are also approved as foster carers, who initially foster the child and may become their adopters if the courts make a decision that a plan for adoption is agreed and make a Placement Order, once the court proceedings have been concluded. EPP is also referred to as concurrent planning and fostering for adoption.

These are usually put together by a child’s social worker, but are sometimes prepared and then developed by adopters, to record the child’s history up to and beyond the point of moving in with their adoptive family.

They often contain baby photos, pictures of birth parents, foster carers and other significant people, with some writing, helping children to understand their early history and the reasons why they could not remain with their birth family. All children adopted should have a Life Story Book completed prior to their formal adoption order.

Adopted children are helped by their adoptive parents or their social workers to understand their personal history and develop their sense of identity, through an ongoing process of life story work. This includes who they are, their birth family, why they were taken into care and their early life experiences, and how they came to be adopted. This can help a child to feel more settled with their adoptive family and deepen bonds within the family.

Matching is the process of finding a suitable adoptive family for a specific child (see also family finding). Once a suitable family has been identified this will then proceed to an adoption matching panel for consideration.

This is the formal panel that recommends a match between a specific child/ren and approved adopters. The adoption panel will read all the information in the adoption placement report, prepared by the child’s and prospective adopter’s agencies to consider the match. They will also consider the Adoption Support Plan, which outlines support to be provided for the child and family. If the panel recommends the match, the child’s local authority Agency Decision Maker then makes the final decision about whether the match should proceed.

These are run by regional adoption agencies where approved adopters who are not yet matched with a child or children, are invited to attend and have an opportunity to see profiles of children who are waiting for adoptive families nationally. Sometimes, these are in person or online.

When these take place nationally they may be called Exchange days where adoption agencies bring profiles and information about a range of children and adopters waiting for adoption giving adopters the opportunity to meet social workers from a number of different areas to discuss the children and adopters, they have waiting.