When you fill out our online enquiry form, we’ll send you an information pack and invite you to join one of our online information sessions.
In the session, our team will walk you through the adoption process in more detail, and there’ll be time at the end to ask any questions you might have. We recommend attending one of these sessions before starting stage one.
Once you’ve been to an information session and had a chance to read through the information pack, if you’re ready to move forward, we’ll arrange a phone call to complete your initial enquiry, followed by a home visit.
The full adoption assessment process usually takes around 10 months, but every journey is different, so timescales can vary.
Stage one of the adoption process
Once you’ve completed the initial steps and we agree it’s the right time to move forward, you’ll be asked to fill out a Registration of Interest form. You’ll then be invited to join a preparation group, where you’ll learn more about the children currently waiting for families and the kind of parenting they may need.
The preparation training runs over three days and is a valuable chance to understand more about adopted children, their needs, and how to support a child who has experienced loss or trauma.
It’s also a great opportunity to connect with others who are going through the adoption process. There is also training for your friends and family to attend in supporting their understanding.
We’ll encourage you to continue building your knowledge around adoption and the experiences of adopted children. In some cases, we might ask you to take part in a voluntary childcare placement to help you gain hands-on experience.
Checks and references
We ask for the following references:
Six personal references, one of which must be from a family member (three references each if you are in a couple, four for single applicants).
References from ex-partners (if you have lived with someone, co-parented or been married before).
If you are or have worked or volunteered with vulnerable children or adults, we’ll request a reference from that time.
We ask for the following checks:
A medical check by your GP
A check from the Disclosure and Barring Service
If you have lived abroad for 12 months or longer, overseas checks will need to be completed
You’ll also be asked to complete an ‘All About Me’ workbook, with support from your social worker. This helps us get to know you better by exploring your background, your experiences, and what’s led you to consider adoption. It’s a chance to reflect on your own childhood and the life events that have shaped who you are today.
We will also complete all the required checks and references.
Stage one takes around ten months.
Stage two of the adoption process
During stage two, a social worker will visit you at home regularly to start putting together your Prospective Adopters Report (PAR). This is a detailed assessment that looks at your background, lifestyle, family situation, and the kind of adoptive parent you hope to be.
There is further training provided in this stage which focuses in more depth around trauma, informed parenting, the importance of maintaining relationships and keeping in touch with birth family.
These visits will build on the information you shared during stage one, giving you and your social worker a chance to explore things in more depth. The goal of this stage is to progress to panel to be recommended as suitable to adopt.
Stage two takes four months.
The adoption panel
Next, you’ll attend the Adoption Panel alongside the Social Worker who completed your assessment.
The adoption panel is made up of professionals and people with experience of adoption including adoptive parents, people who have been adopted, social workers, health professionals, along with a legal and medical adviser.Name and Position
The panel will review your Prospective Adopters Report (PAR), listen to both you and your Social Worker, and then make a recommendation on your suitability to adopt. It’s important to know that the AiM team wouldn’t take you to a panel unless they were confident you were ready and likely to be approved.
The panel’s recommendation is then reviewed and ratified by the Agency Decision Maker.
Linking and matching with children
Once you are approved, we’ll match you to a child using the information in your PAR. We work closely with our family finding team and our local authority teams to identify the strongest match for our children.
There is no timeline for this, but adopters don’t wait long due to the number of children that need families.
Adoption order
When a child is placed with you, we’ll visit you and provide any support you need. Once your child has lived with you for more than 10 weeks, we will help you to make an application for an adoption order, providing it is the right time.
Your supporting social worker and the child’s social worker will complete a report to the court to support your application.
It can take up to eight weeks for the court to hold a final hearing when they make their decision.
