If you are a couple you must have lived together for at least two years at the time of enquiry.
You must have good physical, mental and emotional health. Everyone has a medical examination and health issues will need to be explored. You will need to demonstrate that any health issues will not prevent you from caring for a child on a day-to-day basis.
A criminal record will not necessarily prevent you from adopting. However, this will need to be fully explored. Any conviction against a child will prevent the application proceeding.
You have to be over 21 but there is no upper age limit for applicants to adopt older children. You must reside permanently in the UK and have adequate space for a child to live in your home. As the children come from a wide range of backgrounds, we look for a variety of people to meet their needs. The main qualifications are a love and understanding of children, plenty of patience, flexibility and the ability to keep going through good and bad times.
You can be:
- Male, female, single, married, in a civil partnership, a heterosexual couple living together or a same-sex couple living together
- Of any religious faith or none
- Of any cultural background
- Home-owners or renting
- Employed, self employed or on benefits
Children who need adopting will have emotional problems and may appear to be much younger than their actual age. They will require more attention than other children. Because of this, there should be at least a two year age gap between a child placed for adoption and any other children in your family.
To be considered, you must be able to:
- Cope with difficult behaviour
- Cope with uncertainty about how the child may develop
- Help the child come to terms with their troubled past
- Provide an annual letter and if appropriate a photo for their birth family, and accept information in return
If you have had fertility treatment it should be at least six months since investigation or treatment.
Kirklees policy is that applications for a child or children under five will not be considered if applicants, or any member of their household, smoke. You must have been a non-smoker for at least six months before we will accept your enquiry.
Everyone must go through the same checking process - before a full assessment we need to ensure prospective adopters have a lifestyle, work-life balance, time and emotional support to meet the needs before adopting.
