# UK adoption questions



## LouOscar01

Hello,

Is there anyone who can shed any light on adopting in the UK?

Has anyone ever managed to adopt a baby?

What happens to newborns put into care? Are they fostered before being adopted out?

Could I foster a newborn and then adopt it later on?

How long does the adoption process take?

If infertile, at what point in your infertility journey did you begin the process of adoption?

Has anyone adopted but continued to TTC?

Has anyone adopted because of infertility but then gone on to conceive?

Thanks in advance :) xx


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## CareBear

I used to work in adoption so will try to answer your questions

It's not very likely you will adopt a newborn baby but it may be possible to adopt a six month to a year old baby depending on when court proceedings for the child finish and how quickly they are matched to adoptive parents.

Yes, any child in care will be fostered before adopted.

Yes it is possible to be a "foster to adopt" carer but during proceedings in respect of a child, councils have to parallel plan so you will have to be prepared for the possibility that the child may return to parents or a family member, therefore the local authority for my area would only place a child in a foster to adopt placement when it is known from the beginning that it is highly unlikely the child will remain in its birth family.

The laws have slightly changed in respect of approving people for adoption and I think it is now about 6 months to be approved. The BAAF website will be able to give you more information on the process or your local authority website.

If you have had infertility treatment it is generally expected that a year goes past before embarking on adoption but again this can vary so the agency or local authority you choose to go with would be able to give more information.

Anyone going down the adoption route would be expected to stop ttcing so you are fully committed to the adoption process. If you were to continue and fall pregnant the process would be stopped immediately.

I can't answer your last question as I'm lttcing but am unlikely to go down the adoption route myself. Someone else may be able to help.

Hope that helps with questions a little bit.


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## LouOscar01

Thanks care bear. If only things were easy!!! Good luck with your ttc x


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## pinkneon

LouOscar01 said:


> Hello,
> 
> Is there anyone who can shed any light on adopting in the UK?
> 
> Has anyone ever managed to adopt a baby?
> 
> What happens to newborns put into care? Are they fostered before being adopted out?
> 
> Could I foster a newborn and then adopt it later on?
> 
> How long does the adoption process take?
> 
> If infertile, at what point in your infertility journey did you begin the process of adoption?
> 
> Has anyone adopted but continued to TTC?
> 
> Has anyone adopted because of infertility but then gone on to conceive?
> 
> Thanks in advance :) xx

Hi, I am a Birth Mother, and was also adopted myself. Also, some friends of mine have recently adopted so I thought I'd answer to see if anything I say can help ... 

To foster any child, whether a baby or not, you have to be approved to foster. There are some people who only foster babies, usually known as "baby carers". These foster carers are usually short term placements (up to 1 year) until the baby either goes home, to another relative or is adopted. To adopt a fostered baby can be difficult, because firstly you have to then be approved by the local authority and the matching panel, but also because _most _babies in Care will have had contact with their Birth Parents and therefore will know who you are, and usually babies and children are adopted into another area from their Birth Parents, so the Birth Parents can't find them. However, babies that are placed into Care right from Birth, who definitely aren't going home usually go to Foster to Adopt placements. This is because of the baby making attachments to the Carer, and not then having to make new attachments to new parents. I think Foster to Adopt placements are assessed differently by social services, as once you've adopted the baby, you aren't allowed to foster again for another year or two, in order for you to get used to having the baby there.
The length of the adoption process is different for all cases, however babies are usually adopted quicker because of the importance of them making attachments to the Adoptive Parents. (Older children will have usually been in are a while, and if they've had difficult lives or have siblings it can be harder for a placement for them to be found - though not impossible! My siblings and I were adopted aged 2,3,4 and 6 and were in Care from babies). If the baby is having contact with their Birth Parents whilst they are in Care, the court proceedings can take up to a year, as the parents have to be fully assessed. For babies who are put into Care immediately after being born, who definitely aren't going home, the court proceedings are a lot shorter, as Adoptive Parents are usually found before the child is born. A baby has to live with you for at least 6 months before you can adopt them.
CareBear is right in saying that during the process you have to stop ttc and if you do conceive then the process is stopped, and you aren't allowed to adopt for another year.
Obviously to be an Adoptive Parent, you have to be assessed and approved by Social Services. This process takes a while (I'm not sure how long exactly) as you have to be assessed, as well as members of your family. You have to be able to prove that you can financially care for a child, and have a good support network. You also have to have medicals, and if you've ever had certain illnesses (such as cancer) then you have to have been well from it for a set length of time.

I hope any of this has helped you :thumbup:

Good luck!


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