Stages in the adoption process
The adoption process is about assessing individuals and families who are looking to adopt a child to make sure they meet certain legal and care requirements.
There are 6 stages in the adoption process:
- initial enquiry
- initial home visit
- preparation groups
- home study assessment
- adoption panel and approval
- linking process.
Initial enquiry
At this stage, you’ll be reading up on adoption and assessing if this is something you want to do.
To express an interest in adoption, you can speak to our adoption team by:
- phone: 0300 300 1199
- email: childrenandfamilies@renfrewshire.gov.uk.
A member of our adoption team will ask you some questions to gather some initial information and answer any questions you may have.
We’ll then send you an information pack.
We’ll contact you again to arrange an initial home visit and discuss the adoption process further, if you’d like to progress after reading the information pack.
Initial home visit
A social worker will carry out an initial home visit. During the visit, we’ll look at your decision to adopt and the legal requirements for adoption.
If there are any major health issues or past criminal convictions within your family, you must tell us at this time so that we can assess these concerns early.
If both you and the social worker are happy to continue, you’ll be invited to attend the next available preparation group and continue the process of adoption.
Preparation groups
Preparation groups are designed to give you a comprehensive understanding of the roles and responsibilities of adopting a child.
Preparation groups run over 3 days.
You’ll hear about experiences of other adoptive parents and staff on areas including:
- why children need to be adopted
- further stages of the adoption process
- case studies and experiences of matching children to their adoptive parents
- attachment and child development
- post adoption support.
You must attend the preparation groups to move to the next stage in the adoption process.
After you’ve completed the preparation groups, we’ll arrange a home visit with you to:
- give you feedback on your participation at the preparation groups
- advise if you’re still suitable to move forward for adoption.
If we're happy for you to continue to the next stage, we’ll give you a formal application form to complete.
Home study assessment
Once your application has been received by the adoption team, they'll allocate you a supervising social worker.
The supervising social worker will carry out a home study assessment and help you through the rest of the adoption process.
The home study assessment looks at each person applying to adopt and goes into detail about your:
- background
- family history
- relationships
- home living situation.
This is a very thorough assessment and can take between 6 to 9 months to complete.
Once the home study assessment is completed, we’ll present it to an adoption panel for final review and recommendations.
Adoption panel and approval
Your home study assessment will be reviewed by an adoption panel, which could include:
- medical advisors
- legal services
- experienced foster carers or adoptive parents
- representatives from education
- independent panel members who come from a variety of backgrounds and bring different life and professional experiences
- social work staff
- elected members.
The panel may ask questions on the information detailed in your home study assessment.
The panel will make recommendations on the age, gender, and number of children you’ll be allowed to adopt.
The panel will pass its recommendations to an agency decision maker, who make the final decision. If approval is agreed, we'll send you an official letter of confirmation within 14 working days of approval.
Linking process
Linking in adoption is the process of deciding if a particular family can meet the needs of an individual child or group of brothers and sisters.
Your supervising social worker will help you make the right choice by looking at the children’s profiles and discussing whether you have the specific skills and circumstances to meet their needs.
Timescales
We aim to complete the adoption process within 6 to 9 months, but timescales can vary from case to case to make sure that adoption is right for you and your family.
Each case is dependent on the individual and issues may arise which need to be assessed and discussed between you and your assessing social worker.
More information
You can contact our adoption service by: