Change a Life, Adopt a Child

It’s free to be assessed as an adopter. The only costs we would expect to be covered by you would be the medical assessment and any overseas checks.

The adoption process is divided into two stages. We aim to complete stage one within two months. After this, you can take a break of up to 6 months or proceed to stage two, which normally takes four months to complete. You must ensure that you have enough time and flexibility to attend meetings with your social worker and undertake the preparation training.

Once approved as adopters, the matching process begins. We’re unable to put a timescale on this part of the process as it will depend on the child’s needs and your preferences. If you work, you will need to have some time available during the matching process and introductions, you also need to take time off in order to settle a child into your family.

Initial Enquiry

The first step is to get in touch with us by telephone, email, or by submitting an enquiry online. Our enquiries team will be on hand to provide you with further information on adoption and to answer any questions you may have.

Registration of Interest

Upon reviewing all the information you may decide they would like to continue with the process and apply to become an adopter with Adopters for Adoption. You can do this by requesting a registration of interest form (ROI).

Once we accept the registration of interest form we will invite you to start stage one of the adoption process. During this stage, we’ll undertake the relevant checks and references and invite you to join our Preparation to Adopt training.

Stage Two

After satisfactory completion of stage one,you will proceed onto stage two of the process. During this stage your allocated social worker will visit you regularly and together you will produce a prospective adopters’ report (PAR), which will be presented to the adoption panel.

Adoption Panel

The adoption panel is made up of individuals with experience in relation to adoption. The panel will consider you application and provide a recommendation on your suitability to adopt to the Agency Decision Maker (ADM). If the ADM agrees, you will be approved as an adopter.

Family Finding

Following your approval, we’ll start looking for a child or children who would fit well with you and your family. This is called matching.

All children waiting for adoption have a social worker and this worker will want to make sure that you are right for this child. If all parties think it is a good match, there will be a matching panel and after a period of introductions, the child will move into their new home. An Adoption Order will then be made by the court and you will become the child’s legal parent.

Adoption Support

As part of the matching and support plan, we’ll talk about the post-adoption support that you and your child or children may need and how you can access this.

Adopters will be given all of the information about the child and their birth family that is available to help them make an informed decision. This will include information on any health needs, the family circumstances of the child, their background and information about their birth parents.

We know that families can experience challenges and need support at different times during their lives. We have a national programme of family support and therapy services for those who may be experiencing some difficulties.

Our experienced team of professionals can provide caring, specialist support throughout the entire adoption process, and after the child or children move into your home.

We believe that every child deserves to have a space of their own and most local authorities require an adopted child to have their own bedroom. Therefore, we would ask that you have a spare bedroom available when you apply to adopt.

Yes, you can still adopt if you have pets. We recognise the value for children in being raised in a family that has pets. During stage one, we would carry out a pet assessment in order to consider any safety and compatibility issues.  We would need to be assured that you could make arrangements to rehome your pet in the unlikely event that your pet and any child placed were not compatible.