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Social care and health:
Adoption
Placing your baby or child for adoption
Adoption Service, Family Placement Unit - June 2007
family.placement@kirklees.gov.uk
I'm considering placing my child for adoption. Is there anyone I can speak to about it?
Yes. Placing your child for adoption is an important decision to make. You may
find it helpful to speak to a number of different people, for example your family
and friends, the adoption social worker at your council or adoption agency. Or
you might want to consult someone like your doctor or religious leader/advisor
or someone from your place of worship. You can take legal advice from a solicitor
if you have questions about the way adoption works, what it means and how you
should deal with it. You may be entitled to publicly funded legal help.
The agency must carefully assess and discuss with you the various ways in which
your child's future care may be provided for. You will be given the opportunity
to express your views and to discuss your anxieties. The adoption agency must
provide you and your child (depending on his age and understanding) with counselling.
The purpose of which is to ensure that you are aware of your rights and responsibilities,
that alternatives to adoption are realistically explored, and that the nature
and implications of adoption are fully discussed.
Source: Department of Health
I wish to place my baby for adoption what is the procedure?
Before the birth of the baby and parents of babies up to the age of 3 months.
A parent who is considering placing their baby for adoption must be offered
counselling and must be given time after the baby is born to reflect on their
decision. Many are sad about not being able to raise or have a relationship with
their child. Some have said that they eventually adjusted to the loss of the child,
but that the pain and grief lasted a very long time. Others have said that life
was never the same after placing the child.
Independent support by After Adoption
The parent must be offered independent support, which can by provided by After Adoption, Yorkshire.
For further information write to:-
After Adoption
31 Moor Road
Headingley
LEEDS LS6 4BJ
Telephone: 0113 2302100 or
Email: aay@dialstart.net
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The baby will need to be accommodated and placed in foster care prior to an
adoption being arranged.
The Adoption Memorandum must be signed by the birth parent, to show that they
have been counselled and understand the permanent nature of the adoption. A new
mother cannot be asked to sign this memorandum before the baby is 6 weeks old.
Does the baby's father need to be contacted?
When information for adoption is being prepared, efforts will be made to contact
the child's father if at all possible, or alternative ways of gaining information
about him have been explored.
What questions will the adoption social worker ask me?
Before the adoption can be arranged the social worker will ask for a lot of personal
information about you, your family and your child. The information you give will
help build the fullest possible picture of your child and his family background
and will help make the best decision about his future. You can help the adoption
agency with this by telling them as much as you can about yourself and your family.
It is also important for birth parents to provide information on the family's
health history so that the agency can be aware of any hereditary conditions which
the child might be predisposed too.
It will also be helpful for your child's new parents to know something about his
background, and over the years your child himself will want to know about his
origins. Information about the family's health can be very important too, especially
when the child grows up.
Source: Department of Health
I don't want my child to be adopted. What can I do?
It is most important for you to have legal advice as soon as possible. Consult
a solicitor straight away - you can find one through the Community Legal Service
Directory - you can telephone 0845 608 1122 (Minicom:
0845 609 6677). You may be able to get publicly funded legal advice
and representation in court (this used to be known as legal aid). A solicitor
will be able to advise you about this.
One of two things must happen before a court can take away your rights as a parent,
so that your child can be adopted: either you must agree to or the court must
decide to go ahead without your agreement. But the court can only do so if one
of the circumstances set out in the law applies in your case, and the court will
need to have satisfactory evidence of this. The court will send you a copy of
the statement of evidence they are given, and you should discuss it with your
solicitor as soon as you can.
The court will also ask a social worker independent of the agency (known as a
guardian ad litem) to visit you. Their job is to safeguard your child's interests
on behalf of the court, so they will want you to tell them why you do not think
it is a good idea for your child to be adopted. They will report your views to
the court, because it is very important for them to know how you feel about your
child's future. You will also have an opportunity to go to the court yourself
if you want to, to explain why you are not willing to agree to your child's adoption.
An adoption order cannot be made unless the court is sure it would be in your
child's best interests for him to be adopted, and they will have to take account
of your views in deciding this.
If you are objecting to this agency's application for a freeing order, you are
not allowed to take the child away from where he is living at the moment, unless
the court says you may.
Can an adoption order be revoked?
An adoption order cannot be revoked except when one of the child's birth parents
adopts him and then later marries the child's other birth parent. Also in exceptional
cases the High Court has the power to set aside an adoption order on appeal where
a mistake or failure of natural justice due to procedural irregularity is alleged.
Source: Department of Health - Adoption Act 1976
Can I keep in contact with my child after he has been adopted?
In the past there was a lot of secrecy surrounding adoptions. That has changed
and today it is considered better for the child to grow up in the knowledge of
his origins with adopters who will encourage this. There may be direct or indirect
contact with you and your family but that depends on what is in the child's interests.
The majority of adopted children have clear memories of their birth families and
relatives and for many children, relationships with members of their family, previous
carers and others are valued. Consequently contact may help the adoption to be
successful.
If it is decided that indirect contact would be best for the child, you may be
asked to write to the adoptee once or twice per year to give them information
to pass onto the child about what is going on in your life at present. The adopters
will also be asked to write to you once or twice per year to let you know how
the child is getting on. Photographs may also be exchanged in some circumstances.
I know my child will be given a new surname after he has been adopted. How will he know his original surname?
Adopters often change the child's first name as well as his surname, though
this is discouraged in older children, and they get an adoption certificate from
the Registrar General which shows the child's new name only and shows the adopters
as his parents. This certificate takes the place of a birth certificate. But when
your child reaches 18, he will be legally entitled, if he wants to, to get a copy
of his original birth certificate. This will show his original name, and will
also tell him the name of his birth mother, and the address she was living at
when his birth was registered. But don't forget that many children are not babies
when they are adopted and may be old enough to remember their original surname.
Will my child be able to find me after he has been adopted?
That is up to him. When he is 18 he can apply for his birth certificate. Once
he knows your name he can leave a letter with the agency which arranged the adoption.
He can also apply for entry on to the Adoption Contact Register as can you. If
you are both on the Register, your child will be notified but it is for him to
decide whether to contact you.
Source: Department of Health
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