The adoption process

This mandatory training takes place during Stage 1 of the prospective adopter process, alongside the process of statutory checks. The focus of this training, delivered over three consecutive days, is to explore is adoption right for you and the journey children go on in order to reach the point of a plan of permanence by way of adoption, including the implications of the lived experience of children requiring adoption. You will be provided with a handbook once accepted into stage 1.  The handbook will include information to aid your learning and development and support you through your assessment. 

Areas of focus include:

·        Attachment theory

·        Child development

·        Loss and the implications for adoption

·        Brain development and the impact of trauma

·        The child’s journey to adoption

·        How the family of birth can impact the child

·        The importance of maintaining relationships.

·        The concept of and promotion of identity

·        Understanding a child’s life story

·        The different paths of adopters to adoption

·        Trauma and the use of therapeutic parenting

·        Understand the Prospective Adopter assessment process and the tools used

·        The qualities and capacities adopters need

·        Overview of the adoption process

·        What is Early Permanence and the benefits for the child, birth family and adopters

·        Understanding Family Finding and the linking and matching process

·        What is Post Adoption Support

Training is delivered by Qualified Social Workers and supplemented by experienced adopters who share their first-hand experiences of adoption. The training allows us to support you and tailor any additional learning to your needs and inform your assessment. 

Adopt North East also represents the voices of children and birth families within the presentation.

Adopt North East provides preparation and training specifically for prospective adopters who may wish to consider expanding their family through Early Permanence. All prospective adopters who are interested in learning more about Early Permanence are encouraged to join our two-day training course. To attend this training, you must have firstly attended Stage 1 training. (see suggested training timeline)

The two-day training aims to share in-depth information about what Early Permanence means, whilst also discussing the benefits and challenges, and specifically the role of a foster carer.

Areas of focus also include:

• What is Early Permanence

• What is the legal context of Early Permanence

• How do I become an Early Permanence carer

• What does it meant to be a Foster Carer

• What routes do children take to Early Permanence

It is hoped this training will assist prospective adopters to make an informed and considered choice during their assessment as to whether Early Permanence is something they would wish to consider.

Training is delivered by qualified Social Workers and supplemented by an adopter who has experienced an Early Permanence Placement who shares their first-hand experiences of the process. Adopt North East also represents the voices of children and birth families within the presentation.

As Early Permanence Placements are a priority for Adopt North East, prospective adopters are very much encouraged to consider this pathway to adoption.

If you wished to be assessed and approved as Early Permanence Carers you will be required to complete our Emergency Paediatric First Aid course (an 8 hour face-to-face course) unless you hold an equivalent accredited qualification.  This is a legal requirement.. 

Often those wishing to be Early Permanence Carers may be first time parents and/or have limited childcare experiences so Adopt North East offers a voluntary ½ day practical parenting course.

The course covers practical tasks including: bathing, nappy changing, preparing bottles, administrating medication, etc.

Stage 2 Module 2 training is mandatory and usually takes place during stage 2 of the prospective adopter process concurrent to the assessment work. It normally takes place a couple of months after the stage 1 training (and as far as possible with the same group of people they did their Stage 1 and EPP training with). The training picks up from the end of stage 1 training and considers adoption in more detail, including the process of approval, family finding, matching and placement.   Colleagues from the Family Finding Team join the training to explain about the children the Agency is currently family finding for and a Post Adoption Support Social Worker attends to talk about the lifelong support that is available to adoptive families.

The training also explores the issues of compassion fatigue, post placement depression and asking for help. Learning from Disruptions inform this training.

The training engages the participants in therapeutic play techniques and how to build relationships with children.

Colleagues from the Family Finding Team join the training to explain about the children the Agency is currently family finding for and a Post Adoption Support Social Worker attends to talk about the lifelong support that is available to adoptive families.

Areas of focus include:

• Understand the Introductions process (Moving to Adoption Model)

• The Adoption Panel process

• Matching and Family Finding

• Post Adoption Support including Maintaining Relationships

Training is delivered by Qualified Social Workers including our colleagues from Family Finding Team and Post Adoption Support Team and supplemented by experienced adopters who share their first-hand experiences of the process.

Adopt North East also represents the voices of children and birth families within the presentation.

This training is mandatory for those prospective adopters who already have children either by birth, adoption, stepchildren or other arrangement.

This training offer has been developed because of the learning derived from research around Disruptions relating to the impact of an adopted child on an established family.

The training seeks to equip prospective adopters to think through the potential issues in advance and improve practical and emotional resilience.

Areas of focus include:

• Reflecting on experiences of first-time parenting

• Expectations versus Reality – Hopes and Fears around adoption

• Living with Difference – the needs of the existing child/children

• Meeting all your children’s needs

• Preparing for the new child

• Ensuring your needs are met

• Addressing Support Needs

Training is delivered by Qualified Social Workers and supplemented by an adopter who has experienced growing their family through adoption who shares their first-hand experiences of the process. Adopt North East also represents the voices of children within the presentation.

This training is not mandatory but participation is strongly encouraged.

The training seeks to provide those within the support network of a prospective adopter with information and advice about adoption to be able to better support adopters in their adoption journey.  This is available in addition to the network meeting undertaken as part of the Adopters Assessment Record

Areas of focus include: 

• Understand how secure and insecure attachment is formed  

• Understand how loss and separation can affect children 

• Understand the impact of abuse and neglect upon a child’s development and how this may influence their behaviour

• Start to think how you can help your family member/friends in raising their child through adoption 

Training is delivered by Qualified Social Workers and supplemented by an experienced adopter. Adopt North East also represents the voices of children and birth families within the presentation. 

The Waiting Adopter Group is an opportunity to continue your development while you await a match.  For some adopters matching happens quickly but for others they may wait longer.  This will depend upon the profiles of the children requiring adoption at the time of your approval and your own matching considerations.

This period of waiting can be frustrating and there are a number of things that you can be doing during this time.  One of these is attending our Waiting Adopter Group.  You can access the Waiting Adopter Group one month prior to going to your approval panel and up to your matching panel. 

Groups are held monthly at the Adopt North East office from 6pm – 8.30pm.  Each session is topic based and will focus on the next steps in your journey with topics covered including, Approved at panel – what next, early days in placement and what to expect.

We will provide refreshments and will allow time for prospective adopters to connect and chat with each other.

A family finder will be available at each group to share profiles of the children we are currently family finding for.

There are several purposes of this group:

·        To continue to prepare yourself to be an adoptive parent through ongoing training and development

·        To meet other adopters

·        To develop your support network

·        To get to hear about the children we are currently family finding for

·        To strengthen your profile as a prospective adopter

You cannot be an approved adopter unless you have been habitually resident in the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man, for at least the last 12 months. Accordingly, UK citizens living abroad cannot adopt from the UK. We will require evidence that shows that you have been habitually resident in the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man for at least the last 12 months prior to the Registration of Interest. The particular evidence required will depend upon all the circumstances and facts of an individual case.

By law we are required to conduct a UK Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) enhanced criminal record check on a prospective adopter or any other adult member of their household.

Where an applicant (or member of their household) has spent a significant period of time outside of the United Kingdom working and/or residing in one or more other countries, it is the policy of Adopt North East that it will undertake checks in the following circumstances: 

• The applicant has:

  • lived at an address outside of the United Kingdom for more than one year (365 Days) in duration; or

  • spends or has spent a significant amount of time (at the discretion of the Agency) in a given year at an address outside of the United Kingdom;

• The applicant has done so within the last 10 years (calculated from the date of Registration of Interest);

• The country in question has a sufficiently developed legal and administrative system to make it likely that a check might be considered valid and reliable;

• The check/s will not unreasonably delay the progress of assessment (at the discretion of the Agency).

The Agency may, in the particular circumstances of a case, exercise the discretion afforded to it under Regulation 25(10) and seek information outside of the time-limits referred to above, based on emerging evidence from other elements of assessment.

Adopt North East follows evidence-informed best practice that an assessment of a prospective adopter should include contact with relevant former partners to ask about their views and perspective of an applicant’s suitability to adopt save in exceptional circumstances. Adopt North East will request written consent of the applicant adopter to do so.

Checks will always be undertaken on all former partners of an applicant during the course of the last ten years prior to the date of the Registration of Interest where the relationship was significant. We will do so because a former partner is uniquely placed to provide insight into an applicant’s ability and suitability to be an adoptive parent.

A relationship will be deemed significant by the Agency if:

• at any time the applicant and the former partner jointly cared or parented a child; or

• the applicant and the former partner co-habited for any period of time or;

• a non-cohabiting relationship endured for six months or longer.

Checks of former partners will commence during Stage 1 of the assessment process and must be concluded before the completion of the Stage 2 assessment.

An applicant cannot refuse to consent to Adopt North East contacting a former partner. To do so would end the assessment process. However, there may be legitimate reasons why Adopt North East decides not to contact the former partner of an applicant.

Some applicant adopters will be understandably anxious about Adopt North East contacting a former partner. For example, applicants may feel their decision to adopt should not be shared with a former partner following separation – that the ex-partner has no right to know about their application, or concerned that a former partner may be deliberately untruthful and seek to undermine their application.

Occasionally, an applicant adopter may be concerned that contact by Adopt North East may even place them at risk, for example, where the previous relationship was domestically abusive – either through triggering the trauma associated with past experiences that may impact upon their wellbeing or through the risk of re-establishing some form of connection between them and their ex-partner as a result of Adopt North East’s involvement. Likewise, an applicant adopter may feel that contact by Adopt North East with an ex-partner may place the ex-partner at risk, for example impacting their mental health and well-being. In all cases, any concerns by an applicant about the implications of contact by Adopt North East with a former partner should be shared in full and in confidence with Adopt North East.

Where reasonable to do so, Adopt North East will require evidence from the applicant to support their concerns. Where concerns are determined to be reasonable and legitimate in the opinion of the relevant Team Manager, and evidenced, Adopt North East will not undertake checks of a former partner and instead seek through other sources to gain insight into that period of an applicant’s life journey. Alternatively, it may be that Adopt North East can mitigate the risks identified whilst still undertaking the check. Adopt North East will work hard to balance the views and wishes of an applicant with its overriding duty to safeguard children requiring adoption.

It is the responsibility of applicant adopters to provide written consent and the contact details necessary for the Agency to conduct all necessary reference checks – this includes the contact details of all former partners of an applicant during the course of the last ten years prior to the date of the Registration of Interest where the relationship was significant.

Where an applicant adopter advises that they do not have the contact details of a former partner, the applicant will be encouraged to take all reasonable steps to try to obtain the contact details of the former partner. It is noted that Adopt North East is not responsible for facilitating or supporting an applicant’s search for a former partner’s contact details and will not do so.

Where an applicant adopter advises that they are not able to obtain the contact details of a former partner and can evidence they have made reasonable attempts to do so, the relevant Team Manager will come to a judgment as to whether the inability of the Agency to undertake a relevant former partner check is such that the application cannot progress or whether the gap in reference checks can be addressed through other sources to gain insight into that period of an applicant’s life journey. As noted, at all times the Agency will to try to balance the needs of an applicant with its overriding duty to safeguard children requiring adoption.

Where however the prospective adopter has previously been approved, in acknowledgement of the sensitivity of Agency contact with former partners, it is the practice of the Agency not to require a second reference where a full response was provided first time around in relation suitability.

However, the Agency will request a reference from a former partner where there was no response or an inadequate response during the previous assessment process, or where new information has come to the attention of the Agency which means a reference is deemed necessary to enable the Agency to come to an informed decision about suitability.

By law, Adopt North East must obtain a written report from a registered medical practitioner about the health of the prospective adopter following a full examination.

The Agency has a duty to satisfy itself that prospective adopters have a reasonable expectation of continuing to enjoy good health and that their health would not place a child at risk through an inability of the individual to protect the child from commonplace hazards or limit them in being able to provide a child with a range of beneficial experiences and opportunities.

The Agency will be mindful of the need and possibility of providing support in appropriate cases to assist in overcoming any possible negative consequences arising from disability or restricted mobility.

More severe health conditions may raise a question about the suitability of the prospective adopter, but the Agency will consider each case on its own facts and with appropriate advice.

Where however the prospective adopter has previously been approved or is an approved Foster Carer in England at the time they apply to adopt, the regulations merely require that the Agency must ensure that there is a ‘summary, written by the agency’s medical adviser, of the state of health of the prospective adopter’ without the statutory requirement that there must be a full examination.

Accordingly, for previously approved adopters, the Agency will request a summary from the Medical Advisor and it will be a matter for the Medical Advisor as to whether a full examination is or is not necessary in order to provide such a summary. This is likely to depend on matters such as the length of time since the previous approval, any self-reported changes in health or information about health coming to the attention of the assessing Social Worker.

In short, the Agency does not require a full medical examination for those prospective adopters who have previously been approved or are approved Foster Carer in England at the time they apply to adopt (although the Medical Advisor may choose to do so).

The Agency will check with the Local Authority in whose area the prospective adopter has their home for any information about them that may be relevant to the assessment.

All adult children will be contacted by the Agency and, save in exceptional circumstances, interviewed by a Social Worker from the Agency.

Where it is not possible to make contact with an adult child, or where they refuse to be interviewed or provide information, the Agency will make a decision regarding the requirement to undertake a risk assessment or seek additional references in order to inform a recommendation regarding the applicant's suitability to adopt.

Where an adult is likely to be significantly involved as part of the applicant’s support network, contact will be made by the Agency.

The Agency will check with current employers and any employers of the applicant during the past three-year period. Additionally, if an applicant was employed in a caring profession with children or vulnerable adults, all former employers will be contacted during the past ten-year period.

The Agency will check with the Headteacher if there is a school age child in the family; the Nursery if in pre-school and/or the Health Visitor if pre-school.

The Agency will check with any adoption or fostering agency that previously assessed or approved an applicant.

Applicants will be asked to provide the names of six personal referees. These must be adults and not more than two of whom should be related to them. Personal Referees must have known the applicant for at least two years prior to their Registration of Interest and they must be willing to give written references to the Agency about the prospective adopter and also to being interviewed by the Agency following the provision of a written reference.

If you want to proceed with step-parent or non-agency adoption, you will need to contact us. A Social Worker will arrange to meet with you in your home so that you can find out much more about what will be involved in the process, understand the legal orders and alternatives to step-parent adoption and get answers to any questions you may have. We will also use the opportunity to begin to ask you about your circumstances.

Following this meeting, if you wish to proceed, you will need to contact us to request a Step-Parent / Non-Agency Application Pack. We will send this to you. Within the Pack is a Notice of Intention to Apply. You must complete and return it to us three months before you apply to the Court.

If we do not receive a Notice of Intention to Apply from you within three months of our visit to you we will close your case.

Upon receipt of your Notice of Intention to Apply, we will advise you how and when to make your application to your local County Court or Family Proceedings (Magistrates) Court.

Where the Agency receives a Notice of Intention to Apply from carer/s of a child under the age of sixteen where no carer/s have parental responsibility for the child, the Agency will notify the relevant Local Authority Children’s Services of a potential Private Fostering Arrangement.

Upon receipt of Notification of Intention to Apply, the Agency will contact you and ask you to pay for Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check for every adult member of your household.

We will not start the process until we have received payment.

We will require written consent from you (and any other adult member of your household) to undertake the check and evidence of identification and supporting documentation.

We will progress the checks upon receipt of payment even if you subsequently do not make an application to the Court – this avoids any delay at a later stage.

An application for a non-agency adoption order is made on Form A58 which is available online or from the Local Family Court. You must apply to the Court within two years of your Notice of Intention to apply (and no earlier than three months).

Those involved in your application will be each person with parental responsibility for the child (unless they have given notice stating that they do not wish to be informed), any person who is named in a child arrangements order as a person with whom the child is to have contact or spend time with, and the child in rare cases.

You will be expected to pay directly to the Court the non-refundable Court Fee for an Adoption Order Application.

The Court will ask Adopt North East to appoint a Social Worker to provide them with a detailed report on all the circumstances.

Where a Court receives an adoption application in relation to a non-agency adoptive placement, the Court will notify the Adoption Agency of the hearing date and request a report be prepared and submitted to the Court, usually within six weeks of the receipt of the notification. The Court timescales will be clarified at an early stage and if more time is required, a written request must be submitted to the Court as soon as the need for an extension is identified.

A qualified Social Worker will complete an assessment which focuses on your relationship with the child and why you believe they should become a legal member of your family. Your relationship and knowledge of the absent birth parent(s) will be discussed as will your relationship with your partner (if applicable). We also need to understand you and your partner’s personal history, including childhood, relationship with your parents, education and employment.

The child will be spoken to and their understanding of adoption and their wishes gained, taking into consideration their age and understanding. Where the child is not aware of the adoption application, the Social Worker will discuss this with you to agree the best way to address this so that the child's views can be obtained. The discussion with the child should address any confusion on the part of the child in relation to the implications of an Adoption Order, for example where the adoptive applicant is a relative.

You must be able to show why adoption is in the best interests of the child and why they should be permanently legally removed from their absent birth parent’s family. You will have to evidence how you will share information with the child about their birth family history and information about their absent birth parent. You also need to consider what future contact arrangements there will be with the absent birth parent.

The report must contain information about:

• The child

• Each parent of the child and other family members, including other children

• What alternatives to adoption have been considered

• Evidence that adequate attempts have been made to trace, contact and seek the views of an absent parent

• The impact of the proposed adoption on the child and both birth parents

• Whether, taking into account all the circumstances, adoption is likely to be in the child’s best interests

This report will help the court decide if an Adoption Order should be made. The Court must decide what is best for the child/children.

As part of the assessment that will be presented to the Court, the Social Worker will undertake some checks about your circumstances. You will need to consent to these checks (if you do not, the assessment cannot continue and your application will be ended).

Following your written consent, Adopt North East will check with:

• Probation

• The school/s of your child/ren

• Local Authority Children’s Services in the area you live

• Your General Practitioner

• Two family members

• Three friends

The court will initially convene a Directions Hearing. At this Hearing, any emerging issues will be considered to ensure the case is prepared for a Final Hearing to take place.

At the Final Hearing, the application for an Adoption Order will be considered. If a parent opposes the making of an Adoption Order, the principal issue to be determined at the Final Hearing is likely to be whether their consent should be dispensed with. A Court will only dispense with consent where:

• The parent or guardian cannot be found or is incapable of giving consent, or

• The welfare of the child requires the consent to be dispensed with

The role of the Agency will end with the decision of the Court.