Did you know?

Young girl

There is no upper age limit for adopting, you just need to be fit and able to look after a child.
We need a variety of families for a variety of children and welcome applicants from all ethnic and religious backgrounds.
Whether you’re single, married, or living together, gay or straight, all applicants are treated with equal fairness.
You can rent or own your home as long as you've the space to accommodate a child.
You may have a family already or be childless; it makes no difference.
We work very hard to enable children to go on living with their birth family, so it can take some time before everyone, including the courts, is agreed that adoption is right for a child.
Very few babies are placed for adoption.
Children who are looked after are likely to have had a difficult early life and may have been abused or neglected.
In addition to their emotional needs, some children will have medical needs.
Some children may have a physical disability and some may have learning difficulties which means they need extra help at school or will need to attend special schools when they are older.
Preparing and assessing people to adopt takes time .Initially we will invite you to one of our open evenings where you can find out more about adoption and meet other people who have adopted.
We can arrange an initial visit from a family placement social worker to discuss your individual circumstances.
After your initial visit, you will be invited to attend preparation groups to prepare you for adoption and complete an application form.
We will carry out Criminal Record Bureau (police) and other checks including a medical.
You will receive several visits from your family placement social worker who will complete a prospective adopter report, which will then be submitted to the adoption panel for consideration.
From submitting your application form to being approved should take six months.
Following approval, most adopters are matched with a child within six months.
We ask all adopters to maintain a smoke free home. If we have a choice of adoptive families then smoking may put you at a disadvantage in the matching process.
We aim to place all children under the age of five and children with chest complaints or heart problems in a non-smoking household. If you wish to adopt a child of this age and are a smoker we will not take up your adoption application until you have given up smoking for at least six months.