Our steps to adoption

Start your journey by getting in touch.

You can reach out to our friendly team or join one of our welcoming monthly information sessions.

Once you have been to an information session, we'll organise an initial appointment with a duty worker. They’ll answer any further queries and get to hear more about you and your circumstances to make sure you're ready to adopt.

if you are ready to move forwards, we will give you a registration of interest form. When accepted, we can quickly move you onto stage 1.

Stage 1 is the exciting first step on your adoption journey.

Over the next couple of months, you’ll explore helpful reading and research, complete some simple tasks, and start imagining the future you’re building.

Your social worker will be by your side with guidance and support, and once the key checks are complete, you’ll be ready to move forward to Stage 2 with confidence.

Once Stage 1 is complete, it’s on to Stage 2, where we’ll work together to create your Prospective Adopter’s Report (PAR). This stage usually takes around 4 months, and your social worker will be by your side throughout - offering guidance, answering questions, and helping you feel confident as you move closer to becoming approved. Here we will discuss with you your family, background, skills and readiness to adopt.

We’ll make sure everything feels clear and manageable, so you never feel alone in the process.

Finally, you’ll reach an exciting milestone! You and your social worker will attend the Adoption Panel, where a group of individuals experienced in adoption both professionals and those with lived experience, will review your journey and make a recommendation. After that, the Agency Decision Maker will confirm the decision - and if approved, you’ll be just one step away from bringing your child home.

We’ll be with you every step of the way to make sure you feel prepared and supported.

We’ll share profiles of children who could be a wonderful match for you, and you’ll have the chance to read their Child Permanency Report (CPR) to learn more about their story and needs.

If you feel ready, you can let us know you’d like to be considered and share how you’ll support their short, medium, and long-term needs.

We’ll be here to guide you through every step and answer any questions along the way.

This stage is all about making sure the match feels right for everyone.

You’ll meet with your social worker, the child’s social worker, and their family finder to talk through how you can meet the child’s needs and start building a connection.

If you’re ready to move forward, we’ll agree together to take the next step toward the Adoption Panel for matching. Along the way, there will be meetings and paperwork to help show how you’ll support the child, and you’ll have plenty of opportunities to get to know them better.

Finally, you’ll attend the Adoption Panel with your social worker and your child’s social worker, where the panel members will recommend the match.

Once the Agency Decision Maker confirms, you’ll be officially matched and one step closer to welcoming your child home!

Welcome your child into their new home and start life together.

This is the moment when everything starts coming together. We’ll hold a Placement Planning Meeting to talk about how your child will move from foster care into their growing up family home with you.

The transition plan will be child-led but usually with time spent in their foster family home to learn their routines and then switching to your home with lots of support from the child's foster family and their workers - and of course your own too.

Then, introductions and transitions begin - an exciting time to start building bonds. During introductions we’ll check in daily with you and also hold a midway review where all involved attend to make sure everything is going smoothly and offer extra support if needed.

When your child finally moves in, we’ll continue visiting and meeting with you to ensure you have all the help and guidance you need as your new family begins its journey together.

Enjoy family life with ongoing support from us whenever you need it.

About 10 weeks after your child moves in, you can apply for the Adoption Order - the final legal step in making your family official.

If birth parents oppose, a court hearing will take place, but you won’t need to attend. After the final hearing, the Adoption Order is granted, and you become your child’s legal parents, a truly special moment!

To celebrate, you’ll attend a Celebration Hearing with your child and loved ones - a joyful occasion to mark this new chapter. Within 10 working days, your child will also receive their Life Story Book and Later in Life Letter, precious documents to help them understand their journey.

We’ll continue to check in at 3, 6, and 12 months to offer support over the that first year the adoption order was granted, and our Post-Adoption Team is always here if you need us. First step to accessing support is to just email or give us a ring to discuss how we can help.