Adoption questions and answers
Adoption questions and answers
Many of the aspects written below are set out by the Adoption and Children Act 2002 which provides guidance for us when we are assessing and advising people who wish to adopt.
What is adoption?
Adoption is a legal process by which all the decision making rights and responsibilities of birth parents towards a child are transferred to the adoptive parent(s). The child usually takes the surname of the adoptive family and becomes a fully integrated member of that family.
It is a way of providing both legal and emotional stability and security for children who have a disrupted early family life due to parental ill health, family problems or neglect or abuse of the child.
Research shows children who have had a difficult early life settle can flourish from the stability and security adoptive families offer.
What is permanent fostering?
Permanent fostering is an arrangement where children who cannot return home to their birth family live with a foster family on a permanent basis.
The children are often over ten years or age, maybe part of a sibling group and have ongoing contact with their birth family members.
The permanent foster family are paid an allowance to provide for the for the care of the children.
The children and the permanent foster family have social workers supporting them as part of the permanent fostering arrangement.
Permanent foster carers are offered training according to the CWDC guidelines and requirements.
Who may adopt and permanent foster
- You must be over the age of 18. There is no upper age limit but we do have to consider the needs of the child when placing them for adoption.
- You can be single of married, divorced or living with a partner or in a civil partnership.
- You can be straight, lesbian or gay.
- You can be childless or already a parent. We look to place children with at least a two year chronological gap. Some experience of parenting or caring for children is useful but not essential.
- You can be renting or a home owner, and have a enough living space to be able to bring up a child.
- You must have lived in the UK, (domiciled or habitually resident) for at least a year before applying to the court for an adoption order.
- You should live within the M25 radius.
Who may not be allowed to adopt?
People who smoke will be encouraged to undertake support to stop smoking before an assessment can begin. This is based on research showing the connection between child's long term health issues and the harmful effects of passive smoking.
People with a criminal record that includes offences against the person, especially against children, are unlikely to be approved. The nature and seriousness of other types of offences will be carefully considered in deciding whether a person with a criminal record would be suitable as an adoptive parent.
We ask families who have undergone infertility treatment to wait until at least six months before considering the adoption process. The adoption process is intense and thorough, requiring applicants to consider many aspects of their and children's lives which they have not previously thought about. Thus we ask people to undertake the adoption process when they are ready and when they can commit themselves fully to it.
What are the qualities we're looking for?
We are looking for people who are patient, flexible, and have or are willing to gain an understanding of children who have had a difficult and disrupted early start to their life.
Permanent families need to demonstrate great resilience and are practically, financially and emotionally prepared to parent children through to maturity and beyond.
Families who have children in their care who have been separated from their parents have the capacity to be adaptive, a willingness to learn and also to seek support and assistance in the future if necessary.
Do I have to have training before I can adopt or foster?
We offer a comprehensive four day Preparation and Training programme following a positive outcome to an initial home visit undertaken by a social worker from our team. We ask all applicants to attend all four days. People who have adopted previously with us or with another adoption agency are also encouraged to attend the training.
The training looks at all aspects of caring for children permanently, including:
- Why children need permanent families
- The adoption and fostering assessment processes
- The legal processes
- Contact in adoption and permanent foster care arrangements
- Medical, emotional and behavioural issues of children needing adoptive and foster families
- Opportunities for applicants to look at what they can offer children in their care
- Post placement and post order support
- Advice and guidance on further reading and research from which new families can develop their learning and knowledge to assist in their parenting of children placed with them.
What are the challenges facing families who wish to adopt or permanently foster?
When children have been removed from their parents, regardless of their age, they experience periods of grieving. They carry sadness and loss from this separation from their families and this can manifest in behavioural challenges for their new families. Children can be helped by their families to manage these feelings but they can be aspects of their childhood and go with them into their adult lives.
Long lasting effects of being separated from their families are feelings of rejection, sadness and hurt. Children often struggle to understand why they cannot live with their birth family, and they can carry deep feelings of mistrust of adults. Children often carry feelings of low self- esteem and a belief that they are not lovable.
New families are offered guidance and support in helping children manage these feelings as they settle. However, the settling period can be quite lengthy, and families need high levels of patience, resilience, unconditional nurturing and flexibility to assist children in gaining self-esteem and to build their confidence.
For the majority of children placed for adoption or with permanent foster families there is an ongoing contact arrangement. In adoption arrangements this could be indirect - letterbox contact , or direct - face to face. This has been identified early on in a child's permanency plan and based on the child's needs to remain connected through letters or meetings with their birth family members. Thus there is an expectation that adoptive and permanent foster families are committed to facilitating some level of contact for their adopted children or children in their care.
Page last updated: 16/11/2010
