Adopting and Adoption - With Somerset County Council

How will I know what adoption will be like?

Once we have received your application, we will arrange for you to attend a preparation course for prospective adopters. It is expected that you attend a course before the ‘home study’ part of the assessment begins. The course we run in Somerset is called Preparation

For Adoption and has been devised by the British Association for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF). It is an informal course, based on discussions, exercises and case studies and provides you with the opportunity to learn more about adoption, to explore complex issues and hear from experienced adopters, social workers and other professionals. The courses are arranged in different parts of the county approximately 4 times a year and are held either on 3 consecutive working days or one day a week for three weeks, plus an extra module on attachment about 6-8 weeks later. You are encouraged to make contact with other prospective adopters for support. A booklist is attached with these notes for further reading.

On completion of the course, a trainers report is completed on your attendance and you will be sent a copy. This will be incorporated into your assessment.

Your assessment will commence after you have attended the training course and will be completed within eight months of the receipt of your application form. You will know at this stage the date for your assessment report to be presented to adoption panel.

What checks do you carry out?

Medical Checks: When placing children for adoption, we need to attempt to ensure that you will be fit enough to care for them throughout their childhood. Therefore we need medical advice about what known risks there may be to your health and so as part of your assessment you will have a full medical examination with your GP. We pay for this. We may ask you to undertake a medical prior to starting your assessment if you have health issues that we will need to take into account at an early stage.

Can I adopt if I smoke?

Somerset, in line with guidance from BAAF, will not place children under the age of five and older children with asthma or other respiratory problems in a household with people who smoke. This applies to regular and occasional smokers. Adopters will need to demonstrate that they have not smoked for at least a year before they can be approved to demonstrate that they have not smoked for at least a year before they can be approved to care for a child under the age of 5.
Children who are adopted need to grow up in a healthy environment so we expect applicants for children over the age of 5 to only smoke outside and not in a car where the child is present. We encourage all applicants to stop smoking and you will be advised about this at your interview if you smoke.
 

What references do I need?

You will need three personal references. The referees will be interviewed. The personal references are confidential and will not be shared with you.

• One referee who has known one partner for as long as possible but at least 5 years and the other partner as long as possible
• One referee who has known you both for at least 2 years but ideally four years.
• 1 referee can be a relative.
• Former partners where you have parented together and adult children of applicants must be contacted by the assessing social worker for their views and any key information. It is appreciated that this may cause concern in some circumstances but it will be handled sensitively following discussion with applicants.
• We will contact your employer for a reference
• We will write to the schools attended by applicants’ children.
• SSAFA will be contacted regarding applicants who are serving or have served in the
• Navy.
• A Health visitor attached to your GP practice will be asked for a reference if applicants are known to her or him.
• Checks will be made with the local authorities covering previous addresses for the past ten years.

What is a home study assessment?

The assessment is an intensive piece of work over several months, which considers your strengths and areas of difficulty. You will need to make the time available to see your social worker on at least 6-8 occasions during the daytime and sometimes we need to see you more often. You will be asked to provide information, take part in discussions, complete exercises and prepare for the meetings in various ways. The process aims to offer you a full, open and honest assessment during which you will work in partnership with your adoption social worker. It should provide you with the opportunity for sharing the strengths you bring to adoption as well as any concerns. You must as an applicant, be able to recognise your own strengths, needs and difficulties. This involves considering how your own needs will be met, including those of any children already in your family.

I have birth children. Will a social worker speak to them?

The assessment process involves looking at your background and potential capacity as a parent, including your knowledge and experience of caring for children. Sources for this may come from your own children. We will need to interview your children even if they are adult, about your ability to provide a safe and caring family for a child in the future. The process will help you and your social worker build on your existing knowledge and skills. The assessment will consider the different stages of family life and how you might adapt to possible changes within your family in the future. The process brings up a lot of emotions and strong feelings but we need to be sure that children will be safe and that adoption is in everyone’s best interests. The aim is to work towards a successful placement for the child and yourself.

Parenting children who have not been born to you and who have been fostered is different, whatever your previous experience with children has been. Even if you have a lot of experience of looking after children, you will need to recognise that most children who need permanent new families will have had a number of difficult experiences, unlike those of most of the other children you may know. In caring for them throughout their childhood, your expectations both of them and yourself need to be realistic as this will be a crucialfactor in achieving long term success. The assessment will enable you, your social worker and ultimately the adoption panel to determine whether your family will be able to care for a child who needs to be adopted.

Will my ex-partner know I am adopting a child?

Yes. Key information will come from former partners who have jointly parented or cared for a child with a prospective adopter, such as a former spouse, civil partner or person you have lived with in an enduring family relationship. We will approach your ex partner unless we consider that there are exceptional reasons for not doing so.

I do not have birth children but did have a long term relationship with my former partner. Will you need to contact him/her?

No. Where former partners have not jointly parented or cared for a child with the prospective adopter, they will only be approached if there is a specific reason to do so. We will discuss this with you before proceeding.

Who decides if I can adopt?

Your social worker will share his or her views and any concerns about your assessment, making clear the information and evidence on which these are based. All this information will be written into a Form F which is a form devised by BAAF and is used nationally in the assessment of adopters and presented to Adoption Panel. Towards the end of the assessment process, a manager or another social worker may visit you so that a second opinion regarding your suitability to adopt can be presented to the adoption panel. Having accepted your application, we are required to take your Form F assessment to the Adoption

Panel if you request this, even if we feel that we cannot recommend you as adoptive parents. The Adoption Panel can consider a brief report if issues arise early in the assessment, or the full prospective adopters’ report. If they consider a brief report, they can either recommend that a full assessment is completed or recommend that applicants should not be approved as adoptive parents. Whatever the recommendation, you have 10 days in which to read the assessment report and add your comments to it before it is presented to the Adoption Panel.

The time from accepting your application to the consideration of your Form F by the Adoption Panel should be no more than 8 months. You are invited to attend the panel meeting and most applicants like to take this opportunity to be fully involved in the process.

Can I attend Adoption Panel?

You are invited to attend the Adoption Panel on the day that it considers whether you are approved to adopt, or whether there is further work still to complete and the decision is deferred. The decision of the Panel is not the final stage, as the decision needs to be ratified by a senior manager in Children’s Social Care. You will be told the panel’s recommendation on the day of the panel meeting and informed in writing within seven days as to whether you have been approved to adopt.

What happens if my application to adopt is turned down?

Should the Panel turn down your application, you can ask the Adoption Panel to reconsider your case or you can apply to the Independent Review Mechanism for your case to be reviewed. Your social worker will give you more information about this if these circumstances apply. Fortunately, few cases go to the IRM and most applicants are approved. Some people withdraw during the assessment, feeling that adoption is not for them.