Recruitment and Assessment of Adopters Stage 1 Procedure

Stage One begins when the Agency accepts the registration of interest in adoption and should normally take no more than two months to complete. It is during this stage that the prospective adopter will be exploring the extent of their interest in and capacity for adoption, prior to them making a firmer decision on whether to request to proceed to Stage Two - The Assessment Process.

Stage One will focus on initial training and preparation, and on ascertaining, through prescribed checks and references, whether there is any absolute reason why the prospective adopter should not proceed further. The expectation is that the prospective adopter will be closely involved in the Stage One process and agencies are expected to take into account fully the prospective adopter’s wishes on how they wish to work through Stage One. All prescribed statutory checks and references must be carried out during Stage One in parallel with initial training and preparation.

The Agency will explain in detail the Stage One process and what will be required of the prospective adopter and will draw up the Prospective Adopter Stage One Plan which will set out the responsibilities and expectations of both the prospective adopter and the Agency during Stage One.

This Plan must include:

• Information about the counselling, information and preparation for adoption to be provided;
• The procedure for carrying out police checks;
• Details of any training that the prospective adopter has agreed to undertake;
• Information about the role of the prospective adopter in the stage one process;
• Any applicable timescales;
• Information about the process for making representations (including a complaint); and
• Any other information that the agency considers relevant.

Whilst the importance of openness must be stressed to the prospective adopter, it should not be assumed that a failure to disclose information automatically implies that the prospective adopter is unsuitable. It will be necessary to discuss the matter and the reasons for non-disclosure.

Prospective adopters should be encouraged to use any other materials that offer them the opportunity to explore and reach an informed view about aspects of parenting and their parenting capacity and help them to identify their own training needs. At least one visit, meeting or pre-planned telephone call with the prospective adopter (whatever works best for them and best meets their preferences) should be undertaken to ensure that they have the opportunity to ask for more information or training based on their particular needs.

Stage One ends with the Pre-Assessment Decision.

The following information must be gathered during Stage One:

Information about the prospective adopter:

• Name, sex, date and place of birth and address including the local authority area;
• If the prospective adopter is married or has formed a civil partnership and is applying alone for an assessment of their suitability to adopt, the reasons for this;
• Details of any previous family court proceedings in which the prospective adopter has been involved;
• Names and addresses of three referees who will give personal references on the prospective adopter, not more than one of whom may be a relative;
• Name and address of the prospective adopter’s registered medical practitioner;
• If the prospective adopter;
• Is married, the date and place of the marriage;
• Has formed a civil partnership, the date and place of registration of that partnership; or
• Has a partner, details of that relationship;
• Details of any previous marriage, civil partnership or relationship;
• Whether the prospective adopter is domiciled or habitually resident in a part of the British Islands and if habitually resident for how long they have been habitually resident;
• Where the prospective adopter lives in another local authority area, it should be ascertained whether that local authority has any information about the prospective adopter which may be relevant to the assessment of the prospective adopter’s suitability to adopt and, if so, a written report should be obtained from that authority setting out that information;
• The adoption agency may ask the prospective adopter to provide any further information the agency may reasonably require.

Information about the home etc. of the prospective adopter:

• Details of other members of the prospective adopter’s household (including any children of the prospective adopter whether or not resident in the household).

Criminal record checks with the Disclosure and Barring Service must be carried out on the prospective adopter and any adult members of their household aged 16 years and over.

Prior to Stage One, prospective adopters should be given an explanation of the statutory duty on the agency to conduct checks into their background and into the background of any other adult members of their household. It should be made clear that the prospective adopters will not be able to proceed to Stage Two where criminal record checks identify them or an adult member of their household as having been convicted of a specified offence or police caution in respect of a specified offence.

A ‘specified offence’ means:

• An offence against a child/ any offence involving bodily injury to a child, other than an offence of common assault or battery;
• An offence relating to indecent images of children under the age of 16;
• Sexual offences of rape; assault by penetration; causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent; sexual activity/causing or inciting sexual activity/inducement, threat or deception to procure sexual activity with a person with a mental disorder impeding choice.

Where the prospective adopter’s full history cannot be ascertained by conducting a criminal record check and other background checks (for example, where they have lived abroad for an extended period), a decision should be taken as to whether to carry out any other checks or take up additional references. The agency should ensure it has sufficient information to justify continuing with Stage One but not delay the approval process. If it decides not to proceed, it should provide the prospective adopter with a clear written explanation of the reasons why.

The agency may not consider a prospective adopter suitable to adopt a child if they or any adult member of their household has been convicted of a specified offence committed at 18 or over, or has received a police caution in respect of a specified offence which they admitted at the time the caution was given. In such circumstances the agency must notify the prospective adopter in writing, with reasons, without delay.

Information 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 it is decided that the prospective adopter is suitable to adopt a child unless it is required for an adoption with a foreign element. 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 the criminal record checks disclose previous convictions or cautions for non-specified offences, the agency may consider that the prospective adopter is not suitable to adopt. In such circumstances, the agency must exercise its discretion and decide whether to continue with Stage One. If it decides not to proceed, it must notify the prospective adopter in writing, with reasons, without delay.

In circumstances where the application is a joint application, the agency may only inform the prospective adopter who is the convicted or cautioned individual of the specific reason for terminating Stage One. The social worker should explain to that person that the agency will not inform the other person of the specific conviction or caution but will inform them that because of information obtained from the checks the joint application cannot proceed.

Likewise, where the checks reveal information about an adult member of the household that indicates that the agency must terminate Stage One, the agency is restricted from disclosing information about that conviction or caution which prevents the application from proceeding. It may inform that individual and suggest that they inform the prospective adopter, but it may not do so itself. In such a case, the agency should counsel the prospective adopter that its checks indicate that the agency must not continue with Stage One and that its checks indicate that the agency should not proceed with the application.

In some circumstances the Agency may decide to complete a Police National Computer (PNC) check.

If a conviction is identified following a DBS check, in some situations, depending upon the nature of the offence, the Agency will complete a Criminal Offences Report for submission to the Head of Service who will determine whether or not the offence is sufficiently concerning to preclude them from being invited into Stage Two.

The applicants will also be asked to arrange for an adoption medical examination and report from their GP (if this has not been done at an earlier stage), unless the Medical Adviser does not consider such a medical examination is necessary, for example where the applicant is a foster carer and a health report is already available.

The social worker will provide the applicants with the relevant CoramBAAF medical forms for completion by the GP.

The completed Medical Form should then be sent to the Medical Adviser, together with a covering letter providing a pen picture of the family, their life-style and the sort of child they are considering.

The agency’s medical adviser will need to provide a summary of the prospective adopter’s state of health as part of the prospective adopter’s report. The adviser will need to form a view as to the adequacy of the medical reports received and to advise whether additional specialist opinion should be obtained. The prospective adopter’s current GP may not have a full health history of the prospective adopter, particularly if they have received private medical care outside the NHS. Prospective adopters should be helped to understand the importance of making their full health history available to the agency’s medical adviser.

Agencies have a duty to satisfy themselves that prospective adopters have a reasonable expectation of continuing to enjoy good health. The medical adviser should explain and interpret health information from the prospective adopter, their GP, and consultants to facilitate adoption panel discussion. The opinion of the agency’s medical adviser needs to be given sufficient weight by adoption panels and the Agency Decision Maker.

Mild chronic conditions are unlikely to preclude people from adopting provided that the condition does not place the child at risk through an inability of the individual to protect the child from commonplace hazards or limit them in providing children with a range of beneficial experiences and opportunities. The possibility of providing support in appropriate cases to assist in overcoming any possible negative consequences arising from disability or restricted mobility should be borne in mind. More severe health conditions may raise a question about the suitability of the prospective adopter, but each case will have to be considered on its own facts and with appropriate advice.

To find out if Ofsted hold information on the applicant this form should be completed: Fostering and adoption: seeking information from Ofsted. You will need a separate form for each individual and may require their consent. Once the form is received, Ofsted will tell you if the individual is known to them and may provide information that we believe is proportionate and necessary to share.

Applicants will be asked to provide the names of at least three personal referees, who are adults (not more than one of whom should be related to them), have known the applicant for at least two years who will give personal references on the prospective adopter and one of whom should be a family member. A written report must be prepared of the interviews held with each of the referees.

Referees should be people who know the applicants well in a personal capacity, and it is desirable that the referees have direct experience of caring for children, either in a personal or professional capacity.

Where there is a joint application, referees should know both applicants, or additional referees will be required.

A written reference may also be obtained from each applicant's last/current employer. Further references from previous employers may need to be considered where they work or have worked with children or vulnerable adults.

Where the prospective applicant has made a previous application to foster or adopt, the relevant agency must be asked to confirm in writing the outcome of the application and provide a written reference.

The allocated adoption social worker will arrange for requests for written references to be sent. The referees should be asked to comment on the following:

1. The length of time the referee has known the applicant, in what circumstances, how they met and how regularly they are in contact;
2. Where there is a joint application, the couple's relationship including its stability and quality, the couple's strengths and ways of coping with stress and how mutually supportive the couple is;
3. The applicants' general physical and emotional wellbeing;
4. How the applicants relate to children, with examples, and what experience the applicants have of caring for children;
5. How the applicants have adjusted to childlessness if this is the case, how they have prepared to become adoptive parents, how much they have shared with the referees and how open they are in talking about the issues surrounding adoption;
6. If the applicants have children of their own, how the referee thinks a child from a different ethnic background will impact on the other children in the family;
7. Any reservations the referee has and whether the referee wholeheartedly supports the application.

The referee will be asked to sign a disclaimer indicating whether they understand that the information may need to be shared with the applicant. This information will only be shared if safeguarding concerns make it necessary.

Issues for discussion include the following:

• The applicant’s personality;
• The stability of the couple's relationship (if a joint application);
• The referee's impression of the applicant's general physical and emotional well being;
• The referee's opinion on the applicant's ability to relate to children, and the basis of the opinion;
• The referee's opinion on whether adoption is appropriate for the applicant;
• Any reservations the referee may have to express about any aspect of the application;
• Whether the referee wholeheartedly supports the application;
• What support the referee is able to offer the prospective adopters;
• Whether the referee has any reason to believe the applicant would harm the children in their care.
  
  The assessing social worker may also contact the previous partners of the applicants and seek references from them where it is considered necessary.
  
  The assessing social worker may also contact the previous partners of the applicants and seek references from them where it is considered necessary. If the applicant has been married or in a relationship for more than one year and / or lived together for any period in their adult life, the ex-partner should be contacted whether they had children or not. The social worker will arrange to interview the former partner face-to-face, wherever possible.

Children of the applicant(s) living away from home may also be contacted, and references sought from them where considered appropriate.

Where applicable, the agency must ascertain whether the local authority in whose area the prospective adopter has their home has any information about them that may be relevant to the assessment. If so, the agency must obtain from that authority a written report setting out the information. Local authorities asked for this information should comply promptly with these requests and provide this information within 15 working days wherever possible. In requesting information from a local authority, the agency should seek to ascertain whether records held by social services and education departments hold relevant information about the prospective adopter.

There is no reason in principle why information held by one part of the local authority should not be shared with another. Protocols operated by children’s services may, however, restrict access to cases where there is concern for the safety of a child. This means that an adoption check may not automatically involve a check to see whether a child of the family has been the subject of a Child Protection Plan unless such a check is specifically requested. The prospective adopter may have lived for only a short period in the area of their local authority. In such cases, the agency should obtain information from the prospective adopter’s former local authorities.

Other checks which will be carried out in Stage One are the following:

• Education in respect of any children within the household;
• Health Visitor/School Nurse in respect of any children within the household;
• Confirmation of security of tenancy;
• Any volunteering if it involved working with children.