• >Home
• >Social care and health
• >Social care
• >Adoption and fostering
• Adoption

• Home
• Social care and health
• Social care
• Adoption and fostering

• Adoption

Adoption

There are approximately 5,000 children waiting for adoption nationwide. In Coventry we currently have a number of children waiting, ranging in age from 18 months to 11 years, single children or groups of brothers and sisters.

Adoption Information Evenings

To find out more about adopting with Coventry, why not come along to an Adoption Information Evening. These are being held at a central Coventry location from 7 - 9pm on:

Members of the Recruitment Team and an experienced Coventry adopter will be at the event to answer your questions.  For more information, and to book your place, please call the Recruitment team on 024 7678 5577.

What is adoption?

Adoption is a way of providing a new permanent family for a child who cannot be brought up in their birth family. As an adoption agency, the council is legally allowed to arrange adoptions. This is done by a social worker gaining an understanding of the child's needs and seeking an adoptive family best able to meet them.

However, we cannot make such an arrangement legally binding. Only a court can do this, by the making of an Adoption Order. This ends the child's legal relationships with the birth family and gives the child new legal parents. The child becomes a full member of the adoptive family, the same as being born to the adopters.

Adoption means the permanent transfer of parental responsibility. This is such an important thing to happen in a child's life, that the law requires Adoption Agencies and courts to make sure that they put the child's long-term welfare first when they make decisions about adoption.

What kind of children need adoption?

Adoption has changed markedly over the past 30 years. In 1970, 20,000 children were placed for adoption. The majority of these were babies. Thirty years later as society's views and attitudes have changed this figure has decreased greatly.  During the year ending 31st March 2005 3,800 children were adopted from care (source: BAAF). Over the last few years, however, this figure has grown due to greater acknowledgement of the role adoption can play in making permanent plans for children.

Every child has particular needs and this means that adoption agencies want to have a choice of adopters to match those needs. In each case adoption is about meeting the needs of children, not meeting the needs of adults who wish to adopt. We try to look for a family of the same or similar racial origin, language, culture and religion.

If you are looking for a particular child to fit into your family and Coventry do not have such a child waiting; we will pass your details onto other adoption agencies. This increases your chances of a placement.

Many of our children need new families who live outside Coventry (but within an hour's drive of the city).  You may wait longer for a child if you live in Coventry but we will also try and match you with children from other areas.

You are also likely to wait longer if you want to adopt one white single child aged 0-3 years.  This is because there are fewer of these children waiting and a number of adopters already approved for that category.

Please think about other children who are waiting for a new family:

• groups of brothers and sisters who want to stay together
• children with learning difficulties or specific medical conditions
• school age children

At the moment we particularly need adoptive families for African and Middle Eastern children and for children of Muslim faith.

Adoption by foster carers

Sometimes a child has been looked after by foster carers for a long time and they would like to adopt. In this case, the same thorough enquiries have to be made as are made with any other adopters. It is still very important to be sure that it would be best for the child to be adopted by that family, before adoption can be recommended and an adoption application made to the court.

Applying to adopt a child

An Adoption Order cannot be made unless birth parents agree to the adoption or the court makes a Placement Order. Until the making of an Adoption Order, parents or guardians retain parental responsibility, shared with us as the adoption agency and prospective adopters (from placement). The adoption agency will determine the extent to which prospective adopters and parents can exercise parental responsibility.

Why apply to Coventry?

• We are an experienced adoption agency who have been placing children and approving adopters for over twenty years.
• We have a dedicated team of specialist workers who can respond to your queries and support you through the process
• We have children waiting for adoption now. As we and the children's social workers work for the same department, if the match between child and adopters is good, we can usually move things forward quite quickly.
• The amount of time children are waiting for adoption is being reduced
• The length of time from your first enquiry to approval is shortened. We aim to offer you a first visit within two weeks of receiving your Adoption enquiry form.
• We run preparation groups regularly throughout the year, so you would not have to wait months for an invitation
• We may provide financial support to families seeking to adopt. A sum of money may be available to purchase essential equipment. (Ongoing allowances may be available depending on the needs of the child and your financial circumstances.)

Statement of Purpose

For more information about the aims, values and principles of Coventry Adoption Service you can request a copy of our Statement of Purpose.

Contact details