Recruitment and Assessment of Adopters Stage 1 Procedure
Scope of this chapter
NOTE: There is a shortened process for prospective adopters who have already been approved as foster carers/adopters. See Recruitment and Assessment of Addition stage 2, section 3.
Relevant Regulations
Initial enquiries will be responded to by duty workers who will offer advice and respond to any queries the enquirer may have. Enquirers should also be advised to access the One Adoption, You Can Adopt and First4Adoption websites. Enquirers will be advised of the need to view the Information Video or attend one of the monthly adoption information sessions in order to move forward in the adoption process; be given an overview of the content covered during the Information Sessions/Video and advised of the details of upcoming events.
Initial enquiries received via the One Adoption website will be responded to by the Duty Social Worker on duty. If a telephone number is provided, the enquiry will be responded to as described above. Where only an email address is provided, the Duty Social Worker will respond acknowledging the enquiry and asking enquirers to contact OASY for further discussion.
Details of all enquiries, either by telephone or email will be entered into the electronic duty record. People contacting the agency who are considering adoption should feel valued and welcomed.
Enquirers will be provided with details of both the monthly information events and the information video, which is on the website. They will be asked to view this before the initial visit.
Although adopters can make contact with as many agencies as they like, they can only make a single formal application to adopt.
A register and record of those attending information sessions will be kept as far as possible, however some enquirers may decide not to leave details.
Adoption agencies all have their own immediate needs and priorities, and being unable to proceed with one agency does not necessarily mean they are unsuitable to be an adopter. It is therefore important that You Can Adopt information is given as follow up.
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.
Where an enquiry is about inter-country adoption, it should be established whether the potential adopter has considered adopting a Child Looked After. 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 Child Looked After in England, they should not be advised to apply to adopt a child from overseas. Applicants can be signposted to the Intercountry Adoption Centre and Yorkshire Adoption Agency who carry out Inter-Country Adoption Assessments on behalf of One Adoption South Yorkshire.
There is an option for a shortened process for prospective adopters who have already been approved as foster carers/adopters.
After viewing the information video, or attending an information event, an initial home visit (IHV) will take place. The purpose of this visit is to ensure that the enquirer has the information that they need to enable a decision as to whether or not they wish to submit a Registration of Interest (ROI).
If enquirers wish to be considered for adoption and want to proceed to Stage One of the approval - the Pre Assessment Stage they should complete the ROI form on the CHARMS portal where possible. 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;
- 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 Recruitment and Assessment of Adopters - Enquiry to Registration of Interest Procedure).
A decision should be reached within 5 working days from receipt of a registration of interest whether to accept this, unless there are exceptional circumstances which mean that longer is needed. To help the agency make this decision, it may be necessary 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.
Where the agency declines a registration of interest it should provide the prospective adopter with a clear written explanation of the reasons why, and offer them the choice of going directly to another agency or to You Can Adopt for signposting to another agency.
Where the agency accepts a registration of interest it must set up a prospective adopter's case record in respect of the prospective adopter on the CHARMS system in OASY.
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 a firmer decision on whether 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 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 will be agreed between the applicant, social worker and team manager with the aim to complete within two months
- 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 nondisclosure.
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. A 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.
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.
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:
- The length of time the referee has known the applicant, in what circumstances, how they met and how regularly they are in contact
- 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
- The applicants' general physical and emotional wellbeing
- How the applicants relate to children, with examples, and what experience the applicants have of caring for children
- 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
- 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
- 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. Where there were any children of the relationship or where children were cared for jointly, the social worker will arrange to interview them face-to-face wherever practicable. Where former partners have not jointly parented or cared for a child with the prospective adopter, they should generally not be approached unless there is a specific reason for doing so. 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.
All prospective adopters will need some form of adoption preparation. The agency will need to decide its form and substance, arranging preparation that takes into account the prospective adopter’s circumstances. Preparation should be designed to help prospective adopters make an informed decision about pursuing adoption based on an understanding of the qualities they have to offer a child. The agency should build on these strengths when working with the prospective adopter. Adoption preparation may be provided by the agency itself or with another agency or adoption support agency.
The Aims of Stage One training are:
- To give participants an opportunity to consider the changes an adopted child may bring to their lives;
- To introduce participants to the identities and experiences of children with an adoption plan and the range of children who are in need of adoption;
- To give information about the skills needed to be an adoptive parent;
- Give participants information on which they can make a considered decision about whether adoption is right for them;
- To provide prospective adopters with an opportunity to ask questions about the process involved in the adoption journey;
- To introduce prospective adopters to the concept of Early Permanence though specific training aimed at enabling them to better decide if this is a path down which they would like to go.
The adoption agency should 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 is that the prospective adopter is not suitable to adopt a child, the prospective adopter must be provided with a clear written explanation of the reasons why they will not be able to proceed to Stage Two. The pre-assessment decision may be made notwithstanding that not all of the required pre-assessment information has been gathered. Prospective adopters who wish to complain about this decision may make a complaint using the agency’s local complaints procedure. They will also be able to raise general concerns about the process with the National Gateway for Adoption. The Independent Review Mechanism is not available for decisions made during Stage One.
Where the Pre-Assessment Decision is that the prospective adopter might be suitable to adopt a child, the prospective adopter must be advised of the decision in writing and that they have six months in which to notify the agency if they wish to proceed to Stage Two – the Assessment Stage. A Form for applicants to use when notifying the Agency that and when they want to start stage 2 should be enclosed with the letter.
If the prospective adopters provide notification of their wish to proceed outside this six months time limit, they will need to restart Stage One. They should be contacted within five working days of their notification and offered a re-entry interview. The Stage One Plan should take into account activities undertaken previously.
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.
Preparation is designed to help prospective adopters make an informed decision about pursuing adoption based on an understanding of the qualities they have to offer a child. The agency should build on these strengths when working with the prospective adopter. Adoption preparation may be provided by the agency itself or with another agency or adoption support agency.
Prospective applicants will be invited to attend the one day preparation training as soon as possible and dates should be provided at the initial visit and confirmed in the Stage One Agreement. It should be explained that the process will be delayed if applicants are unable to attend initial preparation, and a clear indication of availability should be requested. In addition they should also be encouraged to access the First4Adoption e-learning components.
Where for operational reasons we are unable to offer, or prospective adopters are unavailable to attend the one day preparation training within Stage One, they may only exceptionally attend and complete this in Stage Two.
The Allocated Social Worker will remain the link person with the prospective adopters throughout the Stage One process and should provide contact details at the initial home visit for this purpose. At the end of Stage One the responsible worker will gather and review the information and make a clear recommendation to the team manager about how to proceed. The responsible worker will need to monitor the tight Stage One, 2-month time framework, and alert managers as soon as possible to actual and potential delays which should be clearly documented.
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 8weeks 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 is that the prospective adopter is not suitable to adopt a child, the prospective adopter must be provided with a clear written explanation of the reasons why they will not be able to proceed to Stage Two.
Where the Pre-Assessment Decision is that the prospective adopter might be suitable to adopt a child, the prospective adopter must be advised of the decision and that they have 6 months in which to notify the agency if they wish to proceed to Stage Two - the Assessment Stage.
If the prospective adopters provide notification of their wish to proceed outside this 6 months time limit, they will need to restart Stage One. They should be contacted within 5 working days of their notification and offered a re-entry interview. The Stage One Plan should take into account activities undertaken previously.
Based on the information gathered during this period and the recommendation of the Allocated Social Worker, the agency will make a decision on whether to proceed to the assessment (Stage Two) stage and invite an application. This decision will be made by the Adoption Team Manager and confirmed in writing. If proceeding, the letter will confirm that additional checks including school, nursery, ex-partner, employers and adult children may be undertaken, and formal referees will also be visited or video called.
Stage One ends with the Pre-Assessment Decision.
If the agency decides that prospective adopters are unsuitable, then they must provide a clear explanation in writing, of the reasons why they are not proceeding, and provide details of the national advice line. A complaint using the local complaints procedure can be submitted if enquirers are dissatisfied and the complaints leaflet should be enclosed with the letter. The Independent Review Mechanism is not available for decisions made during Stage One.
The agency would generally recommend an age gap of 2 years between an existing child within the family and a child being placed for adoption and that 12 months have passed since the first adoption order was granted unless the child is a sibling of an existing adopted child. Although this is general guidance there are exceptional circumstances which will change the recommendations.
Information from any previous assessment may inform the current application. However, any application from experienced adopters should be considered a new application and checks, medicals, references and the assessment should reflect this. A new PAR should be completed which details the changes in the family and household since the previous adoption.
The type of adoption preparation can be flexible, depending on the needs of the adopters.
Sharing information about a person that is held in their existing foster carer or adopter records is permitted for the purposes of informing a new assessment of a person's suitability to foster or adopt. For instance, if previous partners have been interviewed in the past to verify facts, and the current assessing social worker is satisfied with the records in respect of these interviews, it should not be necessary to repeat the interviews if no further information is required. The assessing social worker should, however, satisfy themselves as to the quality and continuing relevance of the information before using it to inform the current assessment.
Information that should be shared, upon request, in order to inform a new assessment of a person's suitability to foster or adopt includes:
- The report of the original assessment of the person's suitability to foster or adopt (if it is considered by the body requesting the information to be recent enough to be relevant);
- A copy of the report of the last review of the individual's continuing suitability to foster or adopt and any other review report considered useful to understanding the person's current suitability to foster or adopt;
- Details of any concerns about standards of practice and what if anything is being done/has been done to address them;
- Details of allegations made against the foster carer/adopter or their household members; and
- Any other information considered to be relevant to the assessment of the person's suitability to foster/adopt.
Information should only be shared with the informed, explicit written consent of all parties referred to in the information, including young people where they have sufficient understanding to consent to the sharing of their information (if they do not have sufficient understanding, the consent of a person with Parental Responsibility would need to be obtained). This means that the person giving consent needs to understand why their information is to be shared, what will be shared, who will see their information, the purpose to which it will be put and the implications of sharing that information.
If consent is refused, the current fostering service or adoption agency should consider whether there is any information in the records that is a cause for concern. Any information about an applicant's conduct or suitability to foster/adopt that has caused concern should be shared even if the individual has refused consent. If there are no such concerns, and the individual has refused consent, information should not be shared. This may require documents to be redacted to remove information relating to individuals who have refused consent.
Requests for access to information should be accompanied by the written consent of the applicant to the sharing of their information.
The receiving service should acknowledge the request within 2 working days, seek consent from all others referred to in the information within 5 working days and the information, redacted where necessary, should be provided within 15 working days.
Last Updated: July 29, 2024
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