FAMILY MATTERS JULY 4-10, 2013
Thinking about adoption? The British Association for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF) answer all your questions approved as adopters who will be given the opportunity to meet the panel.
What is adoption? Adoption is a way of providing a new family for children who cannot be brought up by their own parents.
How are approved adopters matched with a child? After prospective adopters are approved, their agency will try and match them with a child.
It’s a legal procedure in which all the parental responsibility is transferred to the adopters. Once an adoption order has been granted it can’t be reversed except in extremely rare circumstances.
What happens when the child moves in? The child will move to live with their new parent (s) after a planned period of introductions, which lasts a few weeks or a month or two, depending on the child’s needs.
An adopted child loses all legal ties with their first mother and father (the “birth parents�) and becomes a full member of the new family, usually taking the family’s name.
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What is the difference between adoption and fostering? Foster carers share the responsibility for the child with a local authority and the child’s parents. Fostering is usually a temporary arrangement, though sometimes foster care may be the plan until the child grows up. This long term or “permanent� fostering cannot provide the same legal security as adoption for either the child or the foster family but it may be the right plan for some children. Who are the children who need adopting? There are around 4,000 children across the UK needing adoption every year. These children are from a great variety of ethnic and religious backgrounds. Many of these children are of school age and over half of them are in groups of brothers and sisters who need to be placed together. There are disabled children and children whose future development is unclear. Some children will have been abused and/or neglected and all will have experienced moves and uncertainty and their resulting behaviour may be challenging. Who can adopt? s 9OU HAVE TO BE OVER
happy to make space in your life and home for a child, patient, flexible and energetic, and determined to make a real
difference to a child’s life, for a lifetime. s 3OME PEOPLE THINK ABOUT adoption but never look into it further – possibly because they are over 40 and think they’ll be ruled out. But they are wrong, there is no upper age limit. Agencies are looking for adopters who have the physical and mental energy to care for demanding children, and whose lifestyle suggests they will still have that energy when the child is a teenager, or young adult. Older children are among those children who wait the longest so adoption agencies are keen to hear from people who can give a permanent and loving home to an older child. s ! RECORD OF OFFENCES WILL need to be carefully looked into but, apart from some offences against children, will not necessarily rule someone out. s %VERYONE HAS TO HAVE A medical examination and health issues will need to be explored. s 0EOPLE FROM ALL ETHNIC origins and religions can adopt although some
religions and cultures have their own perspectives on this. It is essential that any family with whom a child is placed is in a strong position to meet the child’s emotional, identity, health and development needs. Over many years, research and practice experience indicates that children usually do best when brought up in a family that reflects or promotes their ethnic, cultural or religious identity. What this means in practice is that efforts are made to find a family that reflects or can promote the child’s individual identity. This search always needs to be balanced against the importance of minimising any delay in placing the child. In practice, social workers need to carefully consider how available adopters can meet as many of a child’s assessed needs as possible while ensuring the child is placed with the minimum of DELAY )N %NGLAND THE REVISED Adoption Statutory Guidance ESTABLISHES A CLEAR framework for addressing these complex issues. s $ISABLED PEOPLE ARE NOT excluded and sometimes
experience of disability will be positively welcomed. s ! SINGLE PERSON OR ONE partner in an unmarried couple - heterosexual, lesbian or gay - can adopt. Since 30 $ECEMBER UNMARRIED COUPLES IN %NGLAND AND 7ALES can apply to adopt jointly. How do people apply to adopt? They will need to go through an adoption agency. Some agencies are voluntary organisation. Most are part of the local authority children’s SERVICES IN %NGLAND AND Wales) or social work (in 3COTLAND DEPARTMENT 9OU can find an agency near you by visiting www.baaf. org.uk/agencies or find your local authority or voluntary adoption agency’s contact details in your phone book. 0EOPLE ARE NOT LIMITED TO THEIR own immediate locality but most agencies work roughly WITHIN A MILE RADIUS of their office. Although it is only possible to follow through an application with one agency, several can be contacted at this early stage. How do people get
approved to adopt? It usually takes at least six months for social workers from an adoption agency to get to know prospective adopters, assess them and help prepare them for the task ahead. Confidential enquiries will be made of the local social services or social work department and the police. Applicants will be examined BY THEIR '0 AND WILL BE asked to provide personal references from at least two friends. The agency’s independent adoption panel will consider a report on the application and recommend whether or not applicants should be
Social workers will remain involved to support the new family and the child at least until an adoption order is made. Should children be told that they are adopted? 9ES #HILDREN SHOULD BE RAISED knowing they were adopted. Adoptive parents should give appropriate information to the child from the time the child is little and as they grow up. Do birth parents and other relatives have any contact with their child after adoption? It is common for there to be an exchange of written information, perhaps once or twice a year, via the adoption agency. There will be unique arrangements for each individual child, which may mean direct contact for some children with various members of their birth family, including grandparents and brothers and sisters who may be placed elsewhere. Sometimes there will also be contact with birth parents - if this is best for the child.
According to a study by BAAF: “It takes on average 200 days longer for a black child to be adopted compared to a white child� Let’s make a positive difference: Tell us your views, we want to publish your story if you have been adopted or are wanting to adopt please contact: Jacqueline.asafu-adjaye@gvmedia.co.uk
Family Matters
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JULY 4 - 10, 2013 THE VOICE | 37
Meet the couple who said ‘yes’ After being together for 20 years, Errol and An-‐ gela’s lives changed when Errol saw an advert calling for adoptive families in a leaflet at work. “We had a great life together, and even though we loved each other we both knew there was a gap – there was something missing,” says Angela. Angela’s sister adopted a little girl, and everything just fell into place for Errol and Angela. They called Islington’s adoption team to find out more about adoption. Once they were approved as adopters and matched with their son, Angela goes on to describe
how they first met him: “It’s been three months since we met our son Dan-‐ iel, back then our biggest fear was whether he would like us – what if he didn’t? The social workers guided us through the first few meetings with Daniel – it’s very carefully planned.” “We made a picture
can’t wait to meet you!” Daniel’s foster carer was fantastic – she would show Daniel the film and had laminated pictures of us around her home, so Daniel would get familiar with our faces, so even though he was only a year old – on our first meet-‐ ing, he recognised us
for a few days, and be-‐ came part of his routine. We changed his nappy and fed him, then he fell asleep in my arms.” Angela recalls the final day: “It was emotional, Daniel and his carer had a great bond, it was over-‐ whelming to have to take him with us – even though
“Hello Daniel, Mummy and Daddy can’t wait to meet you!” book and a little film of ourselves and our home, on camera we said: “Hello Daniel, Mummy and Daddy
and started jumping and laughing – that was a huge relief. “We saw him every day
we were ready to wel-‐ come our son home. The first night was amazing – he slept right through, he
was ours.” Errol shares one of many special moments: “Since then Daniel has just fitted into our lives perfectly, bit by bit he has become more comfortable and confident and our fami-‐ lies love him – Mum even travelled from the Carib-‐ bean to meet her grand-‐ son and I’m the proud owner of a ‘world’s greatest dad’ Father’s Day mug. When I come in from work Daniel runs to the front door to give me a hug – it’s probably the most amazing feeling ever. All the love we give him, we get that love right back.”
DID YOU KNOW:
Social workers in Islington work hard to find the right child for you. The informa-‐ tion they gather as part of the assessment is matched with information they have about the children. Social workers, foster car-‐ ers and the adopters plan the first few days of chil-‐ dren and adopters meeting each other. Detailed information, photographs and film footage are used before the first meeting day.
Find out more, visit: www. islington.gov.uk/ adoption