Adoptions with a Foreign Element

Applications for overseas adoption can only be accepted from residents of the One Adoption South Yorkshire area via Yorkshire Adoption Agency. If the intention is that the child will be adopted by the making of an Adoption Order in England and Wales, then the applicants must be habitually resident in England or Wales at the time of the adoption

Applicants will be expected to identify one country from which they wish to adopt and should have a connection to the named country, a good understanding of that country's culture and be able to demonstrate such understanding. Each country will have their own criteria that applicants will need to become familiar with. Applicants will be expected to bring any adopted child up in the knowledge that they are adopted and to preserve and promote the child's cultural and ethnic origin.

There is a charge for the assessment process for applicants which is set by Yorkshire Adoption Agency. There will also be additional costs such as flights, accommodation, medicals, notarising etc.

The usual objective for the prospective adopter is to be approved as an adopter and to achieve a lawful adoption of a child from overseas which is then registered by The Registrar General on the Adopted Children’s Register in England and Wales

A person who breaches the statutory restrictions contained in the Adoptions with a Foreign Element Regulations 2005 relating to bringing a child into the UK for adoption is liable to criminal prosecution.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Handling cases that have not been through the proper procedures:

A local authority has a duty to notify the Police and provide them with such information as they may require if they are made aware that a person has:

• Made an application to adopt a child who was brought into the UK in contravention of the provisions on intercountry adoption in the Act; or
• Brought, or has caused someone else to bring, a child into the UK without
  complying with the conditions or requirements included in the FER; or
• Brought a child into the UK with the immigration status of a visitor but with the actual intention of adopting the child; or
• Removed a child from the UK for the purposes of adoption in a country outside the British Islands without complying with section 85 of the Act Adoption and Children Act 2002 Guidance: Annex C 5 11 The Police will investigate the case and, where relevant, refer it to the Crown Prosecution Service for it to determine whether or not to prosecute the alleged offender.

Inter country adoption enquires may come via the One Adoption South Yorkshire telephone lines. Applicants should contact the relevant team for the area in which they live and speak to the Duty Officer.

If the prospective adopter lives in one of the One Adoption South Yorkshire areas of Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham or Sheffield, they should be provided with the phone number for Yorkshire Adoption Agency. YAA manage all enquiries and assessments regarding overseas adoption on behalf of One Adoption South Yorkshire.

Yorkshire Adoption Agency 01302 638337

One Adoption South Yorkshire will have no further contact with the enquirer as the arrangements described above will ensure that the request for information, Initial Home Visit, Application, Preparation Training, Checks, Stage Two Assessment, Panel and Approval will be undertaken by Yorkshire Adoption Agency.

Once the prospective adopter has been approved by the Agency Decision Maker at Yorkshire Adoption Agency AND the paperwork has been sent to the Department of Education, YAA will inform One Adoption South Yorkshire (OASY). A copy of the Prospective Adopter's Report (PAR) will be provided to OASY where upon an adopter file will be created on Mosaic. Where the family are intending to adopt from India, OASY will be informed at the time of the ADM. It takes some years for a child to be identified in India.

YAA sends the PAR and other relevant documents depending on the country, to the Department for Education for processing. The DFE will issue a Certificate of Eligibility prior to the DFE sending the PAR to the country from which the prospective adoptive family are hoping to adopt.

Once the papers are with the chosen country, and dependent on which country that is, the prospective adopter will be placed on a waiting list. e.g., there is no waiting list for Pakistan and many prospective adopters choose to travel as soon as they can to Pakistan.

The length of the wait to be matched will depend upon each country and the individual children waiting in country.

As already indicated, matching is different dependent on the country. For example, when adopting from India, YAA are provided with profiles of two children to share with the prospective adopters. They have a very short period of time to consider which child they may wish to adopt. Where they decide they are not the right family for either child, they would then go to the bottom of any list. Should they choose a child, they are then invited to travel to India.

If the prospective adopters wish to pursue the link, in some countries it is then necessary for the family to be away from the UK in the child’s country for some months. For instance, in Pakistan approved adopters regularly visit the orphanage to ensure that they are known.

It is the responsibility of the Prospective Adopters to inform OASY when they are returning to South Yorkshire with their child. They should also inform YAA who will also ensure OASY and the relevant LA are informed.

Some countries require a letter of undertaking from the local authority stating that they will supervise the placement and take responsibility for the child. Yorkshire Adoption Agency will inform One Adoption South Yorkshire if this is required.

The Adoption (Recognition of Overseas Adoptions) Order 2013 enables overseas Adoption Orders made in countries listed in the Order to be recognised automatically in the UK without there being any need for a UK court to make any adoption or other order. The list can be found using the attached link.

Alternatively, where an overseas adoption order has been made under The Hague Convention of 29 May 1993 on Protection of Children and Co-operation in respect of Intercountry Adoption in one of the approximately 80 countries or Croatia, Serbia and Haiti, this too will be recognised automatically in the UK without there being any need for a UK court to make any adoption or other order. These countries are known as ‘Designated Countries’.

Such a Convention or Overseas Adoption will be registered in the Adopted Children Register by the Registrar General for England and Wales if the adoptive parent(s) were habitually resident in England or Wales at the time of the adoption.

An Adoption Order recognised in either of these ways will not necessarily confer UK citizenship upon the child in respect of whom the order was made; this will need to be pursued by the Adopter(s).

When the Annex A report is being prepared, the medical adviser is required to write a summary in respect of both the child’s and each prospective adopter’s health history, current state of health and any anticipated need for health care, with the date of the most recent medical examination. This will be based on information already gathered (health reports on the child from the country of origin, assessments of the prospective adopters already undertaken) and any additional health information provided about the child and the prospective adopter. If the health information regarding the child is not robust and recent, supplementary information from the child’s GP may be obtained. There is no particular format for this although Coram-BAAF’s form IHA-C may be used for this purpose. Prospective adopters are expected to pay for reports in intercountry adoption cases. The medical adviser will also need to consider whether any developments in respect of the prospective adopters’ health since approval justify further investigation.

Sometimes adopters’ medical reports are no longer in date when it comes to the time of making an application to court.

For all medical requirements, the process is as follows:

Provide CoramBAAF Forms to Applicant/s

Applicant contacts own GP and arranges own medical (if latter out of date) and that of child using the CoramBAAF Forms

GP charges the cost of these medicals to the Applicant

All forms (incl. any received from country of origin) are returned to the allocated social worker for filing and forward to the Looked After Child Administrator of the local area adoption Medical Advisor (MA)

Medical Advisor may also charge the applicants for the cost of time in writing Medical Advisor Reports

Medical Advice to be contained within and consider as part of the writing of the Annex A and recommendations.

On rare occasions, it could be in the best interests of a child within the One Adoption South Yorkshire area to be adopted by someone residing in another country. In such cases, One Adoption SY will need to identify an adoption agency in that country to undertake an assessment. The matching panel would be in the UK. Immigration issues would have to be considered and Legal advice should always be sought.

Families who have adopted from abroad are eligible for assessment for adoption support as set out in the Adoption Support Procedure.

Part 2 of the Adoption Support Services Regulations, Reg 4 sets out Adoption Support for Families with an International Element.

All are eligible for counselling advice and support under the ASR Reg 4(2)

ASR 4(6) extends the right to therapeutic adoption support (and therefore application to the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund) to an agency adoptive child, a child to whom s83 of the A&CA2002 applies and to a child adopted under a Convention adoption. S83 applies where a child has been adopted under an external adoption, meaning a foreign adoption that is recognised by the UK – those on the designated list of countries whose adoptions are automatically recognised and brought into the UK within 6 months of the adoption. It is important here to note the difference between a Convention adoption - an intercountry adoption carried out in accordance with the Hague Convention, and a domestic adoption in a Hague Convention country. An inter-country adoption, compared to a domestic adoption in a foreign country, is one where a person habitually resident in the UK adopts a child habitually resident outside the UK. This requires the involvement of UK and foreign agencies.

ASR 4(7) extends services to ensure continuation of a relationship and services to assist in cases of disruption to children mentioned in ASR(4)(6) – as above.

There is no eligibility for assessment for financial support or other services under ASR 4.

Children adopted overseas from a country that is not automatically recognised in the UK will be eligible for support from the ASF when they meet one of the following criteria:

• A secondary adoption order has been granted in the UK; or
• A UK adoption order is being sought and the adoption is going through the intercountry adoption process. However, you will need to confirm that a Certificate of Eligibility has been issued by the Department for Education.

Where the cases have not gone through the formal intercountry adoption process, the details be emailed to asf@mottmac.com; and their eligibility will be reviewed by DfE on a case-by-case basis.

If, after the child is placed, the prospective adopters decide not to proceed with the adoption or an Adoption Order is refused or a Convention Adoption Order is annulled, the child's social worker must regard the child as a Child in Need and arrange for an assessment of their needs. In accordance with Working Together to Safeguard Children this assessment must take place within 7 days. The assessment must include whether it remains in the child's interests to be placed in the UK and whether it is in their interests be placed with an alternative adoptive family.

The child's social worker must notify the Department for Education (DfE) of the outcome.

Where it is decided that it would not be in the child's best interests to remain in the UK, the child's social worker must notify the DfE. The DfE will notify the relevant overseas authority, which will make arrangements for the return of the child.

Where it is determined that it would be in the child's best interests to remain in the UK, the child's social worker must take the necessary steps to identify a suitable alternative placement in accordance with the Placement for Adoption Procedure and amend the child's immigration status.

Once an adoptive family has been identified, the child's social worker will notify the DfE. The DfE will advise the child's country of origin of the change.

The requirements for reviewing the approval of approved inter country adopters with no placement is the same as for agency adopters i.e., every 12 months, by Yorkshire Adoption Agency.

In relation to adopters from a Convention Country this requirement to review continues until the prospective adopters have received notification in writing from the central authority that an agreement under Article 17 has been made so the adoption may proceed or, in relation to a non-convention country, the prospective adopters have visited the child in their country and confirmed in writing that they wish to proceed with the adoption.