Recruitment, Assessment and Approval of Prospective Adopters

The adoption agency recruits a range of adopters, in line with its Statement of Purpose, who can meet the diverse needs of children who require adoption. Managers review and act on the trends and patterns in the recruitment of adopters.

It is not part of the recruitment strategy of the adoption agency to turn away couples or single people because of their status, age or because they and the child do not share the same racial or cultural background as the children requiring adoptive placements.

Potential applicants may approach Adoption East Midlands or the adoption agency for general information about adoption. This can include, for example, information on the legal implications of adoption, eligibility criteria (see Section 17, Criteria for Prospective Adopters), the characteristics of children awaiting adoption and the approval process. People contacting the agency who are considering adoption should feel valued and welcomed. 

Where a potential applicant decides, after receiving general information, that he or she would like to pursue an adoption further, he or she may approach the adoption agency for more detailed information about adoption.

This information should be provided within ten working days through an information session, a visit, pre-planned telephone call or similar arrangement with the potential adopter. This may need to take place in the evening or at the weekend to fit around the potential adopters’ life style and working patterns. This is the minimum response at this stage; further information sessions may be provided if applicable.

Detailed information should enable potential adopters to consider better whether they want to proceed with the approval process and to reflect on the parenting needs of the children awaiting adoption. Detailed information should also enable them to consider their expectations of adoption, and the consequences for them and their family of caring for an adopted child who may have a range of complex needs. Those considering Adoption will be encouraged to attend an information event, but attendance is not a requirement.

Where an enquiry is about inter-country adoption, it should be established whether the potential adopter has considered adopting a Looked After child. Information should also be given about the policy on fees and an estimation of the costs the prospective adopter will have to pay to the agency and the Department for Education. Many people believe that they would not be able to adopt a child in this country but would be able to adopt a child from abroad. Where prospective applicants are likely to be considered unsuitable to adopt a Looked After child in England, they should not be advised to apply to adopt a child from overseas. Applicants can be signposted to the relevant Local Authority to proceed further.

There is a shortened process for prospective adopters who have already been approved as foster carers/adopters – see Section 6, Fast-Track Procedure for Approved Foster Carers and Previous Adopters Who Wish to Adopt.

The local authority has a duty to provide information on adoption support services to anyone contacting the authority to request information about adopting a child. See Adoption Support Procedure.

Basic information about Fostering For Adoption should be available in the general information made available to prospective adopters and then in more detail if they engage more fully in the preparation and assessment process. This information should outline:

• What the objectives of Fostering For Adoption are;
• In what circumstances it might apply;
• What the process is for becoming a dually approved carer;
• What the benefits and risks might be.

The Adoption Team Manager will allocate a social worker to provide an ROI Form, this will usually be provided at, or after, an information sharing visit.

Once a potential adopter has received information about adoption they will either decide that adoption is not right for them at that point in time or will wish to move to the next stage of the process. Should they wish to move to the next stage, they will need to formally register their interest to enter Stage One of the approval process - The Pre-Assessment Stage (see Section 3, Stage One - The Pre-Assessment Process). From this point they are referred to as 'prospective adopters'. Prospective adopters will register their interest via a form which will include as a minimum:

• Name and address of the potential adopters;
• Authority to commence Stage One checks;
• Confirmation that the potential adopters have not registered their interest with another agency;
• A reminder that the potential adopters should be contactable in the week following their registration of interest, and a request for times for contact during that period;
• Questions to ensure the potential adopters meet the eligibility criteria (see Section 17, Criteria for Prospective Adoptive Parents).

A decision should be reached within five working days from receipt of a registration of interest whether or not to accept this, unless there are exceptional circumstances which mean that longer is needed. To help the agency make this decision, it will be usual practice to arrange a visit, have a meeting or a pre-planned telephone call (whichever is considered most appropriate in each individual case) with the prospective adopter. There may be circumstances where it would not be appropriate for the agency to accept a registration of interest, such as where there is lack of capacity to take on more prospective adopters. In cases like this, the agency should redirect the prospective adopter to First4 Adoption or another agency which is currently recruiting.

The agency must not refuse to accept registrations of interest on the grounds of, for example, a prospective adopter’s ethnicity, age, health, sexual orientation, religious beliefs or because they do not share the same ethnicity, culture or religious beliefs with the children waiting for an adoptive family. Prospective adopters may only be excluded if they do not meet the eligibility criteria.

Where the agency declines a registration of interest it should provide the prospective adopter with a clear written explanation of the reasons why.

Where the agency accepts a registration of interest it must set up a prospective adopter’s case record in respect of the prospective adopter - see Section 14, Prospective Adopter’s Case Record.

The Local Authority has a duty to provide information on adoption support services to anyone informing the authority that (s)he wishes to adopt a child. See Adoption Support Procedure

Effective preparation, assessment and support of prospective adopters enables them to consider a wide range of children, to manage the tasks of adoption and to help children to recover from the impact of their early life experience of loss and trauma.

The requirements are modified for applicants who are approved foster carers or previous adopters. (This does not apply to Connected Persons or to prospective adopters given temporary approval as foster carers, under the Care Planning, Placement and Case Review (England) Regulations 2010 (as amended).

There is no requirement to carry out additional police checks or to gather the specified information in relation to the prospective adopter and their household, unless it is considered to be necessary. The need for such checks and references should be assessed in each individual case. This may depend on the time since approval and, in the case of foster carers, the time since a child was placed with them. The Agency will always request a new DBS.

There is no requirement to provide counselling, information and preparation for adoption. The preliminary Pre-Assessment Decision stage is not necessary, and the assessment process progresses straight to preparation of the Prospective Adopter’s Report.

Any necessary additional training should be provided, such as where the prospective adopters are seeking to adopt a child with needs which are very different to those of the child they have fostered/adopted.

The decision as to whether the prospective adopter is suitable to adopt a child must be made within four months of the date on which the prospective adopter is accepted onto Stage Two. This includes the time taken to access information from adoption agencies and fostering services which have 15 working days to provide such information.

The assessment must be carried out by a qualified social worker with suitable experience or supervised/overseen by an appropriately qualified person.

The assessment will comprise a series of interviews, the majority of which will take place in the applicants' home. Applicants should be interviewed at least once both individually and with their partner, and all other members of the household will also be interviewed, including the children.

The areas covered in interviews will follow the subject areas:

• Individual profiles of all applicants with an appraisal of any other household members, including racial origin and religious persuasion;
• Information about the home, the local community and the neighbourhood;
• Details of education and employment - past and present;
• Income and expenditure;
• Details of past and present relationships;
• Motivation to adopt/childlessness;
• Parenting capacity, experience of being parented and experience with children;
• Support network, including wider family network;
• Expectations of the placement, including understanding of issues from the preparation course;
• Attitudes to birth families and approach to openness in adoption.

As part of the assessment:

• A family tree and Chronology of key events in the applicant's life must be compiled, showing his or her educational, employment, marital and/or relationship history and addresses for the previous 10 years; any gaps and/or unusual patterns should be explored completed by applicants in Stage One;
• All information provided by the applicant must be independently verified where possible, by checking it against other sources such as referees;
• Where an applicant has been divorced or separated, factors contributing to the breakdown of the relationship must be verified wherever possible. This applies equally to significant relationships between couples who are not married;
• The adequacy and safety of the prospective adoptive home and transport will be assessed.

The time taken to complete the assessment and present the report to the Adoption Panel in Stage Two will generally be no more than four months from the start of Stage Two unless the need for additional work with the prospective adopters is identified or recommended by the Adoption Panel. Where the timescale is not met, the Adoption Panel should record the reason.

If the assessment is of foster carers wishing to adopt a child in their care, the assessment should be completed by the social worker and the draft Prospective Adopter's Report submitted to the adoption panel within four months of their acceptance onto Stage Two (see Section 6, Fast-Track Procedure for Approved Foster Carers and Previous Adopters Who Wish to Adopt).

The assessment will consider the likely need for adoption support services of the prospective adopters and any member of their family - see Adoption Support Services Procedure. As part of this, the family's finances and the criteria for financial support should also be discussed.

Where the prospective adopters live in another Local Authority area, the social worker should ascertain the extent of any support services identified as necessary in their local area.

If, during the course of the assessment, any issues emerge which cast doubt upon the likelihood of the applicants being approved, such issues should be discussed openly with the applicant at the time, and the advice of the Adoption Managers sought.

The department's adoption health and safety checklist (including the pet questionnaire) should also be considered as part of the assessment.

The information gathered during Stage One (the pre-assessment stage) and Stage Two (the assessment stage), including the checks and personal references, will form the basis of the Prospective Adopter's Report together with any other relevant information.

The social worker who assesses the prospective adopter should draft the Prospective Adopter’s Report highlighting any issues of concern and submit it to their Team Manager. Where there are any issues of significant concern or where clarification is needed, the manager may arrange for a second person to visit the prospective adopter to discuss these but must remain mindful of the timeframe for Stage Two. The second person could be a Team Manager or another adoption social worker. A visit by another person provides a second opinion where necessary before the report to the panel is finalised in cases where clarification is needed but should not be routinely carried out. The author of the report and the countersigning officer should both sign and date the report, and confirm that they are suitably qualified to prepare the report. 

Where information received during the assessment leads the agency to consider that the prospective adopter is unlikely to be considered suitable to adopt a child, a ‘brief Prospective Adopter’s Report’ may be prepared regardless of whether or not all the required assessment information has been obtained. A decision not to complete the full assessment is a serious step to take and advice should first be sought from the Adoption Agency Team Manager . Depending on the nature of the information, advice may also need to be sought from the agency’s medical adviser or legal adviser, or both. The concerns should be explained to the prospective adopter and they should be offered counselling, involving other professionals as appropriate. As a result of the counselling and advice, the prospective adopter may decide to withdraw their application. If they decide not to withdraw their application, the brief prospective adopter’s report should be prepared.

The report will also include a summary by the Medical Adviser of the health report obtained on the applicant/s.

The Report will include the agency’s assessment of the prospective adopter’s suitability to adopt.

Reports should address anti-discriminatory practice issues. It should contain a summary of the assessed strengths and weaknesses of the applicants, together with an opinion of the type of placement likely to be provided successfully. Potential risk factors should be highlighted.

When the Prospective Adopter's Report is finalised, a copy should be sent to the applicants and they must be notified that the application is to be referred to the Adoption Panel. The applicants should be invited to send any observations in writing within 5 working days, beginning with the date on which the notification was sent. (This timescale may be extended in exceptional circumstances) At the end of the 5 working days (or, where that timescale is extended by the adoption agency, as soon as possible after the prospective adopter’s observations are received) the following must be sent to the Adoption Panel:

• The Prospective Adopter’s Report and the prospective adopter’s observations thereon;
• The medical report on the prospective adopter;
• References;
• Where applicable, relevant information received from the prospective adopter’s home Local Authority; and
• Any other relevant information obtained by the agency;
• The agency checklist completed by team manager (Link).

The date of the Adoption Panel meeting will be communicated to the applicants as soon as possible, together with an invitation to attend the Panel during consideration of the report.

The applicants should also be advised of their right to attend the meeting of the Adoption Panel, which considers their application. They should be provided with written information about the Panel process, its membership, who will attend and their respective roles. If the applicants know a particular Panel member, the applicants may request that the Panel member stand down. (Panel members are in any event expected to declare an interest in these circumstances - see Adoption Panel Procedure).

The assessing social worker will attend the Panel meeting (and his or her manager where appropriate), together with the applicants if they so wish. The decision to attend rests with the applicants and a wish not to attend will not prejudice consideration of their application.

Applicants who decide they wish to attend should be fully prepared as to the procedure prior to their attendance (see Section 9, Prospective Adopter's Report).

The Panel will consider the Prospective Adopter's Report together with all the supporting documentation (see Section 9, Prospective Adopter's Report) and any additional information presented verbally, and make a recommendation to the Agency Decision Maker regarding the suitability of the applicant to adopt a child. The Panel may request the agency to obtain any other relevant information which it considers necessary, and may obtain legal advice as it considers necessary in relation to the case.

Where, during the Stage Two Assessment stage, the agency was of the opinion that the prospective adopter is unlikely to be suitable to adopt, and prepared a brief Prospective Adopter’s Report without having obtained all the assessment information, then the Adoption Panel must either request the preparation of a full Prospective Adopter’s Report having obtained all the assessment information, or recommend that the prospective adopter is not suitable to adopt.

The recommendation will be recorded in writing and, where approval is recommended, the record will include any advice given about the number of children the prospective adopter may be suitable to adopt, their age range, sex, likely needs and background.

Reasons for the recommendations and any advice as set out above will also be recorded in the Panel's minutes.

The adoption worker undertaking the assessment will advise the applicant of the Panel recommendation within 24 hours of the Panel meeting. This will be verbally, by telephone or, where appropriate, a home visit.

The decision as to whether the prospective adopter is suitable to adopt a child must be made within four months of the date on which the agency received the prospective adopter’s notification that they wished to proceed with the assessment process.

The decision may be delayed:

• Where there are exceptional circumstances which mean that the decision cannot be made within that time; or
• Upon the request of the prospective adopter.

If the decision is delayed, the reasons must be recorded on the prospective adopter’s case record, along with supporting evidence.

The Agency Decision Maker will make a decision as to the suitability of the applicant, and express a view on any Panel advice given, based on the reports presented to the Adoption Panel and the minutes detailing the Panel's recommendation and advice.

Where the Agency Decision Maker is minded to disagree with the Panel recommendation, he/she must first discuss the case with another senior officer with relevant experience, who must not be a Panel member, before arriving at a final decision. This discussion must be recorded and placed on the child's and the prospective adopter's Adoption Case Record.

The decision must be made 7 working days after the date of the Adoption Panel meeting and must be recorded, together with reasons.

The Panel Administrator will arrange for the applicants to be sent oral notification of the decision within 2 working days and written notice of the decision, signed by the Agency Decision Maker, within 5 working days of the decision. See Appendix A: Standard Decision Letter - Not Suitable to Adopt.

Where the decision differs from the recommendation of the Adoption Panel, a copy of the Panel recommendation will be sent to the applicant/s with the written notification of the decision.

All successful applicants will be allocated an adoption social worker whose task is to support the adopters through the period of waiting for a placement, identify any further training needs, arrange updated medical examinations as requested by the Medical Adviser, consider any potential matches and discuss any such matches with the approved adopters before a match is presented to the Adoption Panel. The adoption Social worker will remain in contact with the applicants during this time.

Approved adopters will be asked to be available for children from the local authority area in need of an adoptive placement, after which they will be informed of and referred to the Regional Consortium/other adoption agencies with children waiting for placements, with their consent.

They will also be informed of local support groups and training opportunities be advised of their responsibility to maintain links with the adoption link worker and keep him or her informed of any significant changes in their situation.

Approved prospective adopters should be encouraged to identify children they might be suitable to adopt. This can be through use of Adoption Link Maker.

If a decision is made to refuse an application, the applicant will be advised that if he or she wishes to challenge the decision, representations should be submitted within 40 working days either directly to the agency or they may request a referral to the Independent Review Mechanism. N.B. Applicants can decide which representation procedure to choose - they cannot choose both. The prospective adopter will also be able to raise general concerns about the process with First4 Adoption.

After the 40 working day period has expired, the Agency Decision Maker must proceed to make a decision on the suitability of the prospective adopter to adopt.

Where the agency receives representations from the prospective adopter within 40 working days, the Agency Decision Maker, refer the case to the adoption panel for further consideration. Where the case is referred to the panel, the panel must consider the case again and make a fresh recommendation as to the suitability of the prospective adopter to adopt a child. The prospective adopter must be invited to attend the panel meeting to answer any questions the adoption panel may have.

The Panel Administrator will advise the applicant 7 days prior to the date of the Panel meeting when they can attend or their written representations will be considered.

In these circumstances, applicants who wish to attend the meeting of the Adoption Panel can arrange for a friend or supporter to accompany them.

After considering the representations, the Panel will make further recommendations either confirming or amending their previous views, which the Agency Decision Maker will consider before a final decision is made.

Written notice of the final decision, together with reasons, must be sent to the applicant as soon as possible after the decision and, in any event within 7 working days of the Panel meeting. A copy of the Adoption Panel’s further recommendation must also be sent, if different from the decision.

Where the decision is still to refuse the application, a copy of the report to the Panel, the Panel's recommendation and the decision, with reasons, must be retained on the applicant's Adoption Case Record.

Alternatively, if the applicant decides to refer the matter to an Independent Review, the relevant Panel reports, any new information obtained since the Panel meeting, a record of the decision made and reasons, a copy of the written notification of the decision and a copy of the Panel minute, if different, will be sent to the Independent Review within 10 working days of their written request. (See also: Prepare for a Review Panel: Adopters and Foster Carers).

See IRM England; the applicant and a representative of the adoption agency will be invited to attend the Independent Review.

After considering the representations, the Independent Review may make a recommendation, which the Agency Decision Maker will consider before a final decision is made.

Written notice of the final decision, together with reasons, must be sent to the applicant as soon as possible after the decision and, in any event within 7 working days of the receipt of the Independent Review recommendation.

A copy of the report to the Panel, the Panel's recommendation and the decision to refuse an application must be retained on the applicant's Adoption Case Record.

In respect of a case referred to the independent review panel, the Secretary of State must also be given written notification of the decision.

• Where a potential applicant requests more detailed information about adoption, this information should be provided within ten working days;
• Where a potential adopter formally submits a registration of interest (ROI) in adopting a child, a decision should be reached within five working days from receipt of the registration of interest whether or not to accept this, unless there are exceptional circumstances which mean that longer is needed;
• The adoption agency must gather Stage One information and make a pre-assessment decision as to whether the prospective adopter may be, or is not, suitable to adopt a child, within a period of eight weeks from the date on which the prospective adopter registered their interest in adopting a child (unless there are good reasons to extend that time period). If the time period is extended, the reasons must be recorded on the prospective adopter’s case record, along with supporting evidence;
• Where the pre-assessment decision (Stage One) is that the prospective adopter might be suitable to adopt a child, the prospective adopter has six months in which to notify the agency if they wish to proceed to Stage Two - the Assessment Stage;
• The decision as to whether the prospective adopter is suitable to adopt a child must be made within four months of the date on which the agency received the prospective adopter’s notification that they wish to proceed with the assessment process;
• Under the fast-track procedure for approved foster carers and previous adopters who wish to adopt, the decision as to whether the prospective adopter is suitable to adopt a child must be made within four months of the date on which the prospective adopter is accepted onto Stage Two.

A prospective adopter’s case record must be set up as soon as the registration of interest is accepted. It must contain:

• The Prospective Adopter Stage One Plan;
• The information and reports obtained by the agency;
• The prospective adopter assessment plan;
• The prospective adopter’s report and the prospective adopter’s observations on that report;
• The written record of the proceedings of the adoption panel, its recommendation, the reasons for the recommendation and any advice given by the panel to the agency;
• The record of the agency’s decision;
• The recommendation of any independent review panel;
• Where applicable, the prospective adopter’s review report and the prospective adopter’s observations on that report;
• The prospective adopter matching plan; and
• Any other documents or information obtained by the agency which it considers should be included in the case record.

Information which has been obtained from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) should be retained on the Prospective Adopter’s Case Record for a limited time only. This information should be destroyed when the decision has been made as to whether the prospective adopter is suitable to adopt a child. It should be noted on the Prospective Adopter’s Case Record that the DBS information has been destroyed and that this information had led the agency to form a particular view, without citing the information itself.

Where a prospective adopter has been approved as suitable to adopt a child, a Prospective Adopter Matching Plan, must be prepared, in consultation with the prospective adopter, which includes:

• Information about the duties of the adoption agency in respect of placements and reviews;
• Information about the role of the prospective adopter in identifying a child for whom they would be an appropriate adopter;
• Information about the process for making a representation (including a complaint); and
• Any other matters that the agency consider relevant.

The Adoption Team Managers will review the adopters' approval at least annually by means of a report from the adoption social worker, together with any comments on the report from the prospective adopters. Where the review identifies the need for a change of approval, the adoption social worker must prepare a Prospective Adopter's Review Report for this purpose. The prospective adopter should be given a copy and given 10 working days to comment before arrangements are made for the report to be presented to the Panel.

The procedure set out in Section 9, The Panel Recommendation and Section 10, After the Panel Recommendation above should then be followed.

If the approval is still considered suitable, the prospective adopters review will need to be put on the Adoption Case Record.

If the prospective adopters are considered no longer suitable, the same procedure should be followed as set out in Section 12, Representations / Independent Review Procedure.

An individual or couple cannot apply for an assessment of their suitability to adopt unless they meet, or would meet, the eligibility criteria to apply for an Adoption Order. The criteria are that:

• The prospective adopter(s) is at least 21 years old;
• At least one of the couple or the single prospective adopter is domiciled in a part of the British Islands or both of the couple or the single prospective adopter have been habitually resident in a part of the British Islands for a period of not less than one year ending with the date of the application for an adoption order; and
• Neither prospective adopter(s) nor an adult member of their household has been convicted or cautioned in respect of a specified offence.

In general, there is an expectation that applicants should provide accurate information and allow the agency to confirm this wherever possible by reference to third parties (including former partners), statutory agencies, health professionals etc. Applicants should be aware that refusal to consent to such confirmatory checks will result in the agency being unable to proceed with their application, unless there are exceptional circumstances.

The following specific criteria must be satisfied to enable the agency to consider an adoption application:

Residence and location of applicants

Applicants must be resident in the UK and expect to remain in the UK for the foreseeable future.

Applications will be considered from within Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Derby. We may also consider applications from neighbouring authorities depending on the needs of children waiting.

In exceptional cases, applications may be considered from further afield, but only where applicants are looking to adopt children for whom fewer families come forward (e.g. older children aged 5 years and above, Black and Minority Ethnic children, large groups of brothers and sisters, children with physical or learning disabilities etc)

Applications to adopt specific children looked after by Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Derby and waiting for Adoption will also be considered, wherever the applicant lives, and assuming the applicants are not already approved by another adoption agency.

Age

By law, applicants must be over 21 years of age to adopt. There is no upper age limit.

Marital status

Applicants may be single, divorced, married or in a civil partnership, or living together.

Length of relationship

Couples who apply to adopt should be able to demonstrate that their relationship is stable and permanent. The length of their exclusive relationship with each other may be one indicator of this, but the quality and strength of the relationship will also be significant. Although there is no hard and fast rule about the length of a couple's relationship, it is unlikely that an application would be accepted within the first two years of the couple permanently living together.

Applicants with children

There should usually be a 2 year age gap between the youngest child of a family and any child to be placed. First time applications will not normally be taken from families with children under 7 years of age.

Second or subsequent applications

If adoptive parents wish to make a further application for an unrelated child, the normal expectation would be that at least 12 months has passed since the first child was placed and the child is over 5 years old. It will be necessary to have a discussion with the agency about the timing of a second application in terms of the impact on the child who has been placed.

Diversity

Applications are welcomed from a wide cross section of society. People with disabilities will receive the same consideration as other applicants in terms of their capacity to parent an adopted child. Applications from Black, Asian and inter-racial families are actively encouraged. Applications are welcomed from single people, as well as gay and lesbian couples.

The agency will consider applications from people of all religious faiths, or none.

In all cases, the deciding factors in accepting an application will be:

• The qualities and skills which people bring to the task of adopting a child from care;
• The potential for promoting the welfare of the child throughout childhood and beyond.

All applicants are expected to recognise the diversity of modern society and to be able to promote values and attitudes which are not prejudicial or discriminatory.

The ability of a potential adopter to meet the needs of a child related to their religion, language and other characteristics associated with their and the potential adopter’s “ethnicity” can be a relevant consideration in determining the appropriate match for a child. In some rare cases, it may be an important consideration. A prospective adopter should be considered able to parent a child with whom they do not share the same ethnicity, provided they can meet the child’s most important identified needs throughout the child’s childhood. The agency must provide them with flexible and creative support. This applies equally whether a child is placed with a black or minority ethnic family, a white family, or a family which includes members of different ethnic origins. Only in very exceptional circumstances should matching a child with prospective adopters be delayed solely on the grounds that the available prospective adopters cannot meet all the child’s needs arising from their racial or cultural background. A prospective adopter can be matched with a child with whom they do not share the same ethnicity, if they can respect, reflect or actively develop a child’s racial identity from the point they are matched and as they develop throughout their childhood. The prospective adopter needs to demonstrate that they fully understand that having a child from a different ethnic group will present a number of challenges, not least that there may be visible differences that can affect a child’s self-esteem and increase their possible feelings of difference. For example, the child may have to deal with questions from their peers about why they are ‘different’ to their family.

Infertility

Applicants are expected to have completed any on-going investigations, treatment or counselling for infertility before making an adoption application. If applicants were to decide to resume treatment once their application is underway, the application would be placed "on hold" and only resumed if and when agreement is reached between the applicants, their social worker and the Adoption Team Manager.

This is because experience suggests that people need time to address their loss before they can fully embrace the positive benefits of adoption.

Any other reasons for not having birth children will be fully explored during the application.

Pregnancy

If applicants become pregnant during the assessment process, it is likely that the agency will wish to withdraw their application for the time being. Applicants may choose to apply again in the future and, if so, the agency will give due consideration to taking up a new application at this stage.

If pregnancy occurs after the adopters have been approved by the Adoption Panel, it is likely that the agency will seek to withdraw their approval. It would not be considered appropriate to proceed to the placement of a child for some time following the birth of the expected birth child (see Applicants with children above). Prospective adopters whose approval has been withdrawn may choose to apply again in the future and, if so, the agency will give due consideration to taking up a new application at this stage.

Health

The agency will need to be satisfied that each applicant's state of physical and mental health is such that there is every possibility that he/she will be able to care for an adopted child throughout childhood and beyond. The Medical Adviser will be expected to make whatever enquiries are considered appropriate in order to obtain information about the health of applicants, and any health risks, including those associated with lifestyle.

The views of the Medical Adviser will be given careful consideration in each case.

Smoking and Vaping

Smoking not only affects the health of applicants, but also the health and well-being of any child placed with them. Applicants who smoke should understand that this will restrict the age and type of child who may be placed with them.

The agency has a smoking policy which is available on request. Research evidence has concluded that children, particularly those aged under 5 years, are more likely to suffer health problems if they live in a household where people smoke. It is therefore unlikely that a child aged under 5 years will be placed with applicants who smoke, or live in a household where there are other family members or regular visitors to the home who smoke.

Smoking may also prevent the placement of children of any age with certain health histories or medical issues such as a respiratory condition (e.g. asthma), heart condition or inner ear problems (e.g. glue ear).

The views of the Medical Adviser will be given careful consideration in each case.

Pets

Pets are often an important part of family life and many children gain a great deal from the experience of having pets. However, some pets may pose dangers to children and we will always assess the risk of this as part of our discussions with prospective adopters.

We will not accept applications from prospective adopters who possess any animal listed as dangerous or banned in legislation. In all other cases the social worker will carry out an assessment of risk in relation to the health and safety of any child that might be placed. If the animal is a dog, the Dog Ownership Questionnaire will be completed.

Prospective adopters should also be aware that some children, because of their past experiences or for medical reasons, may not be suitably placed in a household with pets.

Accommodation

The assessment of the accommodation will take into account the safety of the child likely to be placed and whether there is sufficient space for all the family, recognising that many adoptive children need a bedroom of their own.

A health and safety check will be carried out by the assessing social worker with the applicants to identify any potential risks from activities, accommodation, environment, hobbies and garden.

Work commitments

As a basic requirement, the prospective adoptive parent, or one of the prospective adopters if a couple, is expected to take a period of time off work (equivalent to the 9 months paid Statutory Adoption Leave) immediately after the placement of a child, to allow relationships to develop. Each case will be different, depending on the age and needs of the child placed, and the adopters' circumstances. This will be discussed with the applicants at an early stage of the assessment process.

Openness and Contact

There is an expectation that all prospective adopters will support the need for openness and share information about the child's background and history with their adopted children in an age-appropriate way.

Prospective adopters are expected to have a "one-off" meeting with birth parents, if this is deemed appropriate by the Agency. They may also be asked to facilitate some form of on-going contact with the birth family, if this is considered to be in the child's best interest. This requirement is essential for any applicant seeking to adopt a child who has siblings living elsewhere. Support for all contact arrangements is available to adopters through the Agency.

Offences

Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks are carried out on applicants and any other adult member of their household (i.e. aged 18 and above).

Applications will not be accepted if applicants or any adult member of the household has been cautioned for, or convicted of, certain specified offences, which relate to abuse or violence towards children. For the purposes of adoption no offences are considered "spent". Offences other than specified offences will be considered in the context of the total application.

Employees of The Agency Children's Social Care Department

Nottinghamshire Derbyshire, Nottingham and Derby will not accept applications from enquirers who are employees of Children's Social Care if they are directly involved in child care social work as this may compromise their own confidentiality, or that of any placement. The agency needs to take an objective and unbiased approach to any application that it accepts. Any such enquirers will be given information on other adoption agencies and advised to contact an agency in the area.

Click here to view Appendix A: Standard Decision Letter - Not Suitable to Adopt.