We know you have a choice and we’re delighted that you’re visiting our website. We would advise you to complete our online enquiry form which will enable you to download our adopters information guide.  In here, you will receive our ‘general enquiry form’. If you are interested in proceeding, please complete this form and send back to us either by email or post.  

On receipt of your form, we will contact you to arrange a planned telephone call for an informal discussion about your interest. We will aim to make this telephone call within 10 working days of receipt of your enquiry form.

We may visit you at home if agreed for an ‘informal visit’.  This visit will be carried out by an experienced social worker.  This is an opportunity for us to go through your queries together and to look at your individual circumstances.  

We understand that you maybe anxious about this visit, please don’t be.  It’s called ‘informal’ for a good reason.  We will discuss checks, recruitment criteria and the needs of the children we are currently finding families for at this visit. 

Following the home visit if you, and we agree, we will then ask you to complete a more detailed form called a ‘registration of interest’. This provides the information we need to begin to take up the checks required, medicals, police, reference etc.

We will allocate you a social worker who will guide you through the every step of process from then on. This is also the start of the Stage 1 Process of adoption which we will take at your pace, but we aim to complete within 2 months.

You will be invited to attend our Adoption Preparation Training Groups.  These are training courses held for all prospective adopters held frequently across the regions we cover.  Our courses are held during the day over 4 short days, 10am to 4pm including refreshment and lunch breaks. 

The courses will give you an overview about the adoption process.  Again, please try not to be too nervous, we know how daunting these course are for our prospective adopters.  You will need to complete the courses before proceeding with your journey and like a lot of other steps in the adoption journey, it is a statutory requirement for you to attend and complete the course.

After successful completion of the preparation training groups and once all the checks and references are satisfactorily completed, a shared decision is made between you and the agency to make your formal application to adopt.  This starts Stage 2 of the adoption process and your assessment will begin.  We take Stage 2 of the process at your pace, but we will aim to complete it within 4 months. If we have any issues to raise before Stage 2, we will arrange to discuss these with you.   

The Stage 2 assessment involves regular meetings with your social worker so they can complete their report – called a Prospective Adopters Report or PAR for short.  You will need to be available for these meetings.  It is important to note that at any time during the assessment you, or we, may decide that adoption is not right for you.  This could be due to something that arises in the assessment process, for example, changing life circumstances or other concerns that arise that lead you, or us,  to decide that now isn’t the right time.  

All reports are submitted to an independent adoption panel who will consider all the information provided and make a recommendation about whether you are suitable to adopt.

Again, if we have any issues to raise, we will arrange to discuss these with you, prior to your attendance. 

The panel will make a recommendation to the agency based on the social workers assessment (PAR) to approve you or not as suitable to adopt.  This completes stage 2 of the adoption process and you can now celebrate!  The timescale for completion of Stage 2 – we take this at your pace, but aim to complete it in 4 months. 

In the event you do not agree with the Agency Decision, you have the right to appeal to the agency or alternatively the Independent Review Mechanism, we will give you full details of the appeals procedure before panel. 

Now you are an approved adopter we will work hard to start looking for a child or children whose needs we believe you can best meet.  This is where are expertise really shines. We have extensive experience of family finding and ensuring we find the right family for the right child. 

As we work with local authority adoption services across the whole of the UK – and we search extensively across the whole of the UK we have a greater ‘pool’ of children to look at.  You will receive regular communication from your social worker throughout this process and we will advise and guide you on the best way to assist the process. 

When a ‘match’ to a child is found, we will work closely with you and the child’s local authority adoption service, in putting together plans for meetings, introductions and support.  We will do our utmost to obtain full and accurate information about the child/ren you are being matched with or are considering.  We will guide you through discussions regarding the children who will eventually join your family and support you through introductions to them. 

We will then remain in close contact to help you with advice and guidance regarding any particular issues that you encounter caring for the child/ren, especially in those early weeks and months.  Once a child has moved in with you, you will apply for an adoption order from court and once granted, you will then become their legal parent/s.   

As part of the matching process, ongoing support will be discussed and agreed. Prospective adopters tell us that one of the main reasons they chose our agency was due to our clear commitment to the support of our adopters and our strong reputation for this service.  Support is offered through all stages of the process from enquiry, to your registration as adopters through to placement and if you wish, even in the years ahead after an Adoption Order has been made. 

We also work closely with local authorities in assisting applications to the Adoption Support Fund on families behalf.  Our Centre for Adoption Support has been commended by the Children & Families Minister, Edward Timpson and offers a wealth of support including therapeutic & attachment training, training for schools, adopter support groups and activity days for the whole family.  www.centreforadoptionsupport.org