Thinking about Adoption?
What is adoption?
Adoption is a legal process by which parental responsibility for a child is transferred from the child’s birth parents to adoptive parents. Adoption focuses on providing a home for a child rather than finding a child for adopters and is a means of securing permanent care for children who cannot, for many different reasons, live with their birth family. Adoption is about nurturing and loving a child as a parent, enjoying their successes, supporting them with challenges and helping them combine their identify of having a birth family, and an adopted family. Adoption can be complex but equally as rewarding in a path to parenthood.
Who can adopt?
Anyone aged over 21, regardless of sex, gender, disability, race, religion or sexual orientation can adopt. You can be working or not, single, married or in a partnership.
If you are thinking about adoption, it might be helpful to think through these questions:
- Can you provide love, time and commitment to offer a stable home to a child?
- Can you empathise with a child who may never have experienced the security of feeling safe and loved?
- Can you be patient and flexible, to supportively adapt to whatever unique challenges may come from the child’s circumstances?
- Do you have the energy and health to provide a family for a child for the long-term?
You will need strong support systems and a network of family, friends and professionals to help you.
Can you start the adoption process while still having fertility treatment?
Adoption agencies ask that adopting a child is your priority. This means waiting until the outcome of your fertility treatment is known before starting the adoption process. The adoption team will want you to come to terms with unsuccessful fertility treatment before moving on to the adoption process.
Your fertility counsellor can guide you through the emotions and feelings surrounding unsuccessful fertility treatment. This is a time to invest in self-care, to come to terms with the end of your fertility journey and to accept that a birth child is no longer an option for you, before moving forward to focus on adoption.
Adoption Agencies hold regular online and in-person information events. Adoption agency staff would be happy to talk to interested parties about the adoption process at any stage and will be able to make recommendations about the appropriate timing of any application. Attending an information event at one or more agencies does not commit you to anything. It is often useful to gather information before deciding how to proceed.
What is the adoption assessment process?
The adoption assessment process involves a range of checks, for example health checks, police checks and reference checks. You will also be expected to participate in training. A specialist adoption social worker will do several home visits. You will spend time with the social worker getting to know each other and exploring whether you will be recommended as a suitable person to be an adopter.
The preparation and assessment stages take at least 6 months to complete though some adopters might want to go at a slower pace. Your adoption agency and social work team will guide you through this.
Will I be approved to adopt?
At the end of the assessment process, independent experts in adoption will consider whether you should or should not be approved as an adopter.
Your social worker will discuss any concerns that arise that may mean that you are unlikely to be approved to adopt.
How long does the matching process take?
Once you have been approved as an adopter, you will be able to express an interest in children requiring adoption and, equally, Social Workers may express an interest in you. Working together and having open and honest conversations along the way, with children at the very centre of discussions, a link with a child or children will be formed.
Making sure that children get the best possible forever family takes time and effort and patience. Each child is different, and your suitability to meet their needs must be carefully considered.
Can you apply just to adopt a baby or is it always to adopt a child?
Children of every age and background need adoptive families. Some are babies and toddlers, and others are of primary school age. There are also brothers and sisters who need to live together and children who need parents to support their own ethnic and cultural background.
Any adoption assessment will consider a family’s capacity to meet the varied needs of children, and your matching preferences will form part of this recommendation.
Where do I find more information?
Your local council website will have information about adoption in your area.
Alternatively, there are voluntary adoption agencies who can provide more information. You can find a list of these at https://cvaa.org.uk/agency-finder/.
