What is the adoption process?

What is the adoption process?

David Holmes (Chief Executive) gives expert video advice on: What do I do if I am not approved for adoption? and more...

It is quite a long and complex process. It needs to be quite long and complex. If you think about it, when a woman becomes pregnant, she is pregnant for nine months, so that whole process is quite a long process. The adoption process is similarly long and complex. It begins with finding information, perhaps being invited to an information day or an information evening at your local authority. After that, if you are still really interested in adoption, you may be invited to meet other adopters and go through some initial preparation work. After that you would be asked to fill out an application form to be an adopter, and then a home study process would begin which would probably involve 6-8 meetings with a social worker. That would be quite long, and intense conversations with the social worker that would really explore your motivation to adopt. After all of that, a report will be compiled which is a report about your suitability to adopt a child. That report would then be presented to an adoption panel which has a large independent element. The panel would consider all of that information and would make a recommendation on whether or not to approve you as an adopter. The adoption agency would then make a final decision, and then you would become an approved adopter.