Adoption process

Two months

This is where we carry out a number of checks, such as:

• referees, some of whom must not be related to you
• a medical completed by your GP then considered by our Medical Adviser, which is simply to ensure that you are fit enough to cope with the rigours of parenting
• a criminal background check (DBS) to confirm that you have no convictions or cautions that would prevent you from being an adoptive parent
• a reference from your current employer
• previous employment and/or voluntary work with children or vulnerable adults

At this point you will also be invited to attend our adoption preparation training. This helps you find out more about adopting, the children we have who are waiting to find their forever family and how you can best prepare for a child coming to live with you. We also offer support and training for your friends and family so that they know how they can support you during the adoption process and after your child comes home to you.

Once the checks and training are done, the Manager will decide if your application can go ahead.

Around four months

Your adoption social worker will be your main point of contact.

They will work with you to complete a Prospective Adopter Report, which helps us decide whether you are suitable to adopt. This will include your social worker meeting your referees, family and household members.

Your social worker will also talk to you about your feelings towards supporting your future adopted child. You will need to think about –

• your feelings towards your child's birth family
• the reasons the child needs a new family
• how you would feel about potentially maintaining some level of contact between the child and their birth family.

It’s important to be honest about your feelings with your social worker. It is common to have reservations about adoption, and you are encouraged to talk about them. Do you have questions about adapting your home, and whether you can afford it? Now is the time to speak out about these questions and anything else you’re concerned about.

Your Prospective Adopter Report goes to an Adoption Panel, which will include an adopted person, adoption experts and/or experienced adopters. The Panel is chaired by an experienced social worker who is independent of the local authority.

The Panel makes a recommendation on your suitability as adoptive parent/s. A senior manager called the Agency Decision Maker will then make the final decision whether to approve you as an adoptive family.

Your adoption social worker will continue to support you throughout, making sure you get the help and support that you need and identify any types of training that you might need to help you.

Adoption is a big decision and you can be confident that we are there for you throughout.

Once your application is approved, we then match you with a suitable child or children, if this hasn’t already happened.

Appeals - what to do if you don't agree

We generally try to ensure that the applicants we accept for assessment have the experience and strengths that would enable them to meet the needs of the children who are waiting to be adopted. If for some reason your application is not recommended by the Adoption Panel, and you disagree with the reasons for their recommendation, you may request that it be reconsidered.

You can request this either through the agency or request that your application is considered by the Independent Review Mechanism (IRM), an independent body. In these cases, the IRM undertakes a review of your application and then makes a recommendation to us. It is then up to the agency decision maker to make a final decision.

Once you are approved as a prospective adopter, the next step is to be matched with a child who could thrive in your family.

Your social worker is responsible for seeking a potential child for you, initially from across the North East of England.

Some prospective adopters are matched with a child quite quickly, but for others it may take longer. Currently most approved adopters are being matched within 6–12 months.

Finding out about the children waiting

You will have discussed with your social worker the backgrounds of children that you hope to care for. Your social worker will have gained an understanding of your particular strengths, together with your experiences with children and the skills that will equip you to manage the challenges ahead. This will be detailed in your Prospective Adopter Report. Information about your ethnic and religious background will have been discussed and how you would support children from a range of different backgrounds.

The matching panel

The independent adoption panel of the child’s agency will read through all the information in your Prospective Adopter Report and the Child’s Permanence Report, together with the Adoption Placement Report. These reports will help the panel to understand more about the child’s needs and how you will hope to meet them. This will enable them to decide if you are the best match for the child. You are generally invited to attend the panel considering the match, perhaps to talk about what drew you to the child. If the panel recommends the match, the child’s adoption agency will make the final decision about whether the match should go ahead.

Getting to know you – initial visits

Once the right child has been found for your family and the child’s adoption agency has given its approval, an Adoption Placement Plan is prepared. This plans out a series of managed introductory meetings where you and the child can get to know each other. These meetings will be built up over time and at a pace that is right for the child and for you, leading up to them moving in with you.