Moving a Child to Adoption

Where a child cannot live with their parents, it is important that alternatives are considered that will offer the child legal and emotional permanence.  In most cases, a range of options for the child’s permanence will have been considered by the care team and adoption outlined as the primary or parallel plan when other options have been discounted. The Family Court ultimately decides whether adoption can be pursued for a child.

Moving children on to adoption is one of the hardest and most important tasks you might perform as a Foster Carer. It is hard because a child with an adoption plan will probably have been with you for many months. You and your family will have formed a strong attachment to that child. Together you will have been through a range of options and emotions. Often you will have wondered what the future may hold. You may have found that a Court deciding the child’s fate is uncomfortable. You may know that child better than anyone else has ever known them. This knowledge will be crucial to helping the child move on to a new life. 

If you are likely to be caring for children where adoption could be the plan you should undertake the relevant training and should talk to your Supervising Social Worker about other support that may be helpful, including talking with other foster carers.

Adopt South East are the Regional Adoption Agency that leads on adoption practice in Surrey, in conjunction with neighbouring Local Authorities. They also have a range of resources on good practice and can provide advice and guidance to foster carers through the adoption process.

• Opportunities for the foster carers and adopters to build a positive relationship should be promoted at an early stage in the moving process;
• The child and the adopters should be given opportunities to become familiar with each other through play and observation prior to adopters undertaking caregiving tasks;
• All plans and timescales should focus on the needs of the child;
• The child’s feelings about the mover should be held in mind, and responded to sensitively;
• Some continuity of foster family relationships and environment will support the child in managing the loss of the foster family and building trust in the adoptive family;
• Allow flexibility in the planning, in consultation with the child, the families and the social worker, to allow for emerging circumstances and needs.

The foster carers’ role is crucial but demanding. Your home will have to become an open house to prospective adopters and their social worker. You will have to take a back seat while watching the child transfer their attachments to a new parent/parents. You will have to perform a balancing act between giving advice and information – and at times not intervening.

You should be kept informed during permanence planning about the plan for the child and may be asked to contribute to the Child Permanence Report. This report is essential to:

• Helping key decision makers and the Family Court decide whether adoption should be the plan for the child;
• Giving prospective adopters essential information about the child, their history and why adoption has been considered;
• Providing a record for the child to look back on when they are an adult about how and why decisions for adoption were made.

When prospective adopters have been linked with a child, you should be advised when a child’s case is due to go to the Adoption Panel for a match. It is important that you discuss as early as possible the likely timetables with your Supervising Social Worker and make them aware of any holiday plans, etc. The child’s needs will dictate the pace of the move to adopters, so all concerned might have to be flexible.

Discuss with the child’s Social Worker the preparation work that they will be doing with the child to help them move on. Their time to do this work will be limited, so find out how you can help. You can reinforce their work with bedtime stories or in other ways. Foster Carers should be involved as much as possible. The people involved in Panels have many things to take into account – your knowledge is essential to them in their decision making. If you cannot attend a meeting, put your views in writing.

You should write down as much about the child as you can. A record of their daily routine, their likes and dislikes and anything else you can think of will be invaluable for answering the vital question: “What is this child like to live with?”.

Before the Panel date you will be asked to meet or speak with the prospective adopters without the child being there. The adopter’s Social Worker should give you some basic information in advance and facilitate the meeting. The next step is for the adopters to see the child informally before the Panel. Agreeing a match cannot be just a paper exercise. No matter how much information is provided, gut reaction is important.

When the match has been agreed a planning meeting will be set up. A timetable for moving the child on will be agreed and this should be adhered to. This needs to be a very open and honest meeting for all concerned and any constraints to the timetable identified. Your Supervising Social Worker will support you at this meeting. You will be given the adopter’s Life Story Book. You need to go through this book with the child for a short time every day until they move to their new home.

Initially, introductions need to take place on the child’s territory – your home. Later the child will be able to go with the adopters for visits to their home. It is vital that you are there on at least the first visit. This makes the child feel safe in a new and possibly scary situation and by visiting with them, you are giving them permission to move on.

Finally, you will need to withdraw. It is considered good practice probably best to have intermittent contact over a period of months, face to face and by telephone but this will be for the purposes of meeting the child’s needs and will need to be continually monitored. Birthday or Christmas cards exchanged in the future can be important to the child. It can be most helpful to leave some of the contact for the child and their adoptive parents to initiate.

See also: Support and Supervision Procedure, When a Child leaves your care.