Home
Adoption Week 2022
Preparing To Adopt
Adoptive Families
Professionals
Training Materials
Suggested Reading
Contact Us
Covid 19 Advice
FASD
Therapeutic Parenting
Intercountry Adoption
More

Preparing to adopt

STILL IN THE EARLY STAGES OF THINKING ABOUT ADOPTION ?

Watch these short stories of other adopters on the "You Can Adopt" website. The website is written for an English audience - but we feel the stories shown here are just as relevant to Scotland - take a watch.

click here

ADOPTION SUPPORT

When you adopt you will be entitled to formal support from your local authority in Scotland. Each adoption agency will offer varying different support (within a broad framework) so you will need to look at what your agency offers. There will be financial support in the form of adoption allowances given for a variety of reasons, however these need to be investigated locally to see if your situation is eligible. The agency that places the child is responsible for supporting you as an adoptive family for the first 3 years you are together, after that it is the local authority you live in that will be responsible for supporting you. You should have an adoption support plan in place right from the start - it's something that you should be discussing after your matching panel.

Keep all doors open - even if you don't feel you need support at this stage.

Before applying for an adoption order you will legally be your child's foster carer, at this stage you should enquire as to whether there is a fostering allowance available for the care of your child. You will be entitled to statutory adoption leave and pay, talk to your employer about what they offer. If you are self-employed there is not entitlement to any statutory pay. More information about adoption support in each local authority can be found here

Finding an Agency

There are 32 local authorities in Scotland that offer adoption Services and 4 voluntary sector agencies; Scottish Adoption, St Andrew’s Children’s Society, Barnardo’s Scotland Adoption Placement Services and St Margaret’s Children and Family Care Society. It is worth comparing what each agency offers and talking to people from some of the agencies. To find out more about the different agencies available, visit the Find An Agency Pages on Scotland’s Adoption Register website

Applying

Agencies usually ask you to complete 2 stages of application, an initial interest form and then a more detailed application form.

You will also be asked to provide references at this stage.

Preparation

Everyone wanting to adopt must go through the preparation process so that they;

Understand the realities of adoption

Explore how prepared they are to deal with adoption

Find out more about the children awaiting adoption

Understand the qualities needed to be an adopter

Meet adopters and hear their stories

Meet other prospective adopters.

After the preparation course the decision to move on to the next stage of home visits and assessments is a mutual one made by you and the agency you are working with. More detailed information on these stages can be found here

ASSESSMENT

If you decide to continue with the adoption process, you will be assigned a link worker who will work with you over the next 6 – 12 months getting to know you and your family.

At this stage you will look at:

Your life experience and motivation to adopt

The strengths you bring to adoption, individually and as a couple (if relevant)

Your childhood experience of family and views on parenting

Your childcare experience or potential

Your wider support network

Your understanding of the needs of adopted children

Your financial readiness to adopt

At the end of the assessment period the agency you are working with will pull together all your information into a report which is presented to the Adoption Approval Panel.

Adoption Approval Panel

Your adoption agency’s independent Adoption Approval Panel will review the information provided to them. The Adoption Panel is made up of adoption experts and experienced adopters and is independent of the adoption agency, they will make a judgement on your suitability to be an adoptive parent. You will attend the panel with your social worker and clarify anything they question in the report. You are usually told on the day if you are approved by the panel. There is one final stage before you are officially approved, and that is for your agency’s decision maker to accept the decision. More detailed information on these stages can be found here

Finding a Match

Once officially approved for adopting then the next stage is to find a suitable match for you. If your agency is a local authority they will look to see if there are children waiting for a family within their agency. If a local search does not yield a match then your social worker will widen the search and work with the Scotland’s Adoption Register.

There are three main family finding services available through Scotland’s Adoption Register.

National Online Register –allows you to view profiles of children waiting for adoption across Scotland. (It is best to work through this with your social worker as looking at it alone can be overwhelming). You can also upload your profile for social workers from across Scotland to view. A video guide to the online register is below.

Adoption Exchange Days - chance for you to meet social workers, foster carers and agencies from all over Scotland looking to establish links and make matches. Note: you won't met children, but you will see profiles, pictures and sometimes videos.

Adoption Activity Days - give you the chance to meet children waiting for adoption, in a relaxing and child friendly environment; where the focus is on encouraging adults and children interaction through a range of activities and games.

Find out more here