How To Become An Adopter

Information Meeting

Following an initial enquiry, you will be sent some information about adoption. If you are interested in finding out more, a family placement social worker will offer you an opportunity to attend an Information Meeting. This will enable you to find out more about the process of becoming an adopter, and the children who are looking for permanent families. The meeting will give you information about adoption in general as well as talking about how the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Adoption Service operates. The meeting will inform you about the local and national need for adopters. If you are still interested after this, we will offer you an initial visit at your home with a family placement social worker, where your individual circumstances will be explored.

Preparation Groups

If it is agreed that you go forward to the next stage, you will be invited to make an application and attend a Preparation Group. You will join a group of prospective adopters to learn more about the needs of children and to hear from experienced adopters. You will also be asked to complete Criminal Records Bureau checks at this stage.

Assessment / Home Study

Preparation Groups: Groups are run for prospective adopters at regular intervals by the different councils around the county, known as the "Berkshire Consortium of Adoption Agencies" and prospective adopters are invited to attend the next available group. Training includes important information and opportunities for discussion about the needs of adoptive children - the challenges they present, the different ways in which adopters can help them and manage their behaviour, and information about the legal and procedural framework of adoption. All prospective adopters are expected to attend a preparation group. The groups also provide a valuable opportunity to hear experienced adopters talk about adoption.

Statutory Checks: We have to ensure that the adoption process is safe for all children and unfortunately, we know that occasionally people who might prove unsafe try to obtain approval as adopters. In order to prevent this, we check with the local authority where you live, including the Education Department if you have a child in school, and the Criminal Records Bureau. We also ask to see your birth certificates and, if applicable, marriage certificates and naturalisation papers. We ask you to arrange a health check with your GP so that we can be sure that there are no health problems which could affect your capacity to act as an adopter.

Personal References: We ask you to provide the names of personal referees—people who know you well in your own home as friends - people who may have known you in different stages of your life.We will approach these people for a written reference in confidence, and will meet with them. You should have asked them first to establish that they are happy to act as a referee for you. One of your referees could be a relative. It is helpful if your referees live within easy travelling distance of your home. If you have a previous partner or adult children, we will also need to contact them.

Home Study Report - PAR (Prospective Adopters' Report) You will be invited to contribute to the assessment yourself, which will explore the following areas:

• Your personal history, your wider family, your employment, leisure interests and your support networks
• Any children you have
• Any other members of your household
• Your current relationship, if applicable, and any past relationships of significance
• Your family lifestyle, daily routines, what you do on 'special days'
• Why you want to adopt
• Your expectations of an adopted child, and how you will adapt to being the parent to someone else's child
• The age/gender/range of special needs/number of children that you feel you can manage
• Your understanding of adoption
• Your understanding of the importance of the adopted child's background
• Your views on any contact arrangements with the child's family of origin after adoption
• You are entitled to see and keep the social worker's assessment for up to 10 days
• You will be invited to sign your acceptance of the report, and to add your own observations.

  Approval Process

  Your Home Study / PAR is presented to the Berkshire Adoption Panel, which consists of social care staff, a medical advisor and other people with personal and professional knowledge of adoption. Prospective adopters are invited to attend panel, and panel members have the opportunity to read your own comments and contributions to the PAR. Panels make a recommendation to the Safeguarding Specialist Services' Agency Decision Maker, who makes a final decision about whether to approve your application to be an adopter.

  If, for any reason, your application is not subject to a positive panel recommendation and cannot be agreed, the reasons for this will be explained to you. There is an Independent Review Mechanism, which you can access in these circumstances.

  Notification of a Decision

  You will be notified of the panel's recommendation immediately following the panel meeting, and of the Agency Decision Maker's decision within two weeks of this date.

  Time Scales

  The preparation groups and the depth of the Home Study mean that it takes some months from the point of applying to the point of a decision about your approval as an adopter. In line with National Minimum Standards, we aim to complete the assessment within 8 months of taking up your application.

  Post Approval Support and Training

  On approval, adopters are provided with a letter confirming their approval. Your details are added to our list of waiting adopters, and also placed on a national register. You could be approached at any time following approval about a potential placement.

  You will have your own adoption social worker (usually the worker who completed your Home Study) who will support you and liaise with you and the child's social worker about any potential placements. They will also link you to the local adopters group and to relevant adoption training events.

  If you are not linked with any children within the Royal Borough or the Berkshire Adoption Consortium after a 3 month period, we will arrange to make your details available to other adoption agencies, via the national register, with your agreement.

  Comments and Feedback

  The assessment process is designed to help prepare you for your role as an adopter, and we hope you find it useful and relevant. We are always open to receiving comments and suggestions from you to inform our future work. It is helpful to know what has worked well and what could be improved.

  The Local Authority's Complaints Procedure is available to those who feel that the process has not been operated in a proper or fair manner. The Department's Complaints leaflet is available upon request.

  Adoption Support

  The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead will continue to offer advice and support to adoptive parents, and their children living in the Borough after adoption, as well as during the process of adoption. An Adoption Support Plan will be drawn up at the time of matching you with a child.

  Adoptive parents can get seek assistance from the Fostering, Adoption and Respite Service at any time after adoption.

  There is an adopters group which runs regularly and a number of high quality events and training are arranged by the Berkshire Adoption Advisory Service.

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