Adoption information

Making that first contact to the adoption service can seem very daunting. We want to try to make the process as clear as possible and to reassure you that we are here to help.

We are always looking for new potential adoptive parents and all sorts of people can adopt. You must be over 21 years of age, of good health and can come from all walks of life. You could be:

single
married
in a civil partnership
unemployed or working
any nationality or race

There are many children of all ages from babies to teenagers who are searching for adoptive parents and we can make adoptive placements on behalf of other Local Authorities across the country.

Our adoption team

Our adoption team has:

a service manager for fostering and adoption with a wealth of social care expertise
a principal social worker who supervises the team of adoption social workers as well as working closely with the service manager
skilled adoption social workers who are committed to providing an excellent adoption service

The way the service works is explained in the One Adoption Statement of Purpose (PDF, 881KB) .

Ofsted regulates the service and carries out inspections to assess that we are meeting minimum standards and regulations. We proudly hold an ‘Outstanding’ judgement from our last inspection in 2011 which was maintained from our inspection in 2008. Ofsted recognised ‘the agency is extremely well managed at all levels, both strategically and operationally’.

Feedback

If you are involved with our adoption services we want your views.

If you are a young person aged 10 to 16 and want to let us know how it is going complete the form for adoption comments (age 10 to 16) .

To leave general feedback about our service complete the form for social services feedback .

Ask us about adopting

If you want to put yourself forward to be an adoptive parent or want to know more about it then enquire about adoption now.

Enquire about adoption

Other types of adoptions

There are other types of adoption placements that can happen depending on the circumstances.

Under certain circumstances, an adoption order can be applied for direct to the local courts where a child who is not related to you has been living with you for some time. Generally the birth parents of any child would have to be willing to agree to the adoption or the court would have to be asked to dispense with their agreement. Before a court application can be made however, you must give at least 12 weeks written notice of your intention to adopt the child to the local authority adoption service.

This approach is most often used by step families who have a child or children from a previous relationships living with them. In these circumstances, some step parents feel they would like to legally formalise their position with their step child and obtain parental responsibility.

There are essentially 3 ways in which step parents can obtain parental responsibility:

By a Parental Responsibility Agreement or a Parental Responsibility Order
By a Residence Order
By an Adoption Order

Who can apply to adopt?

Must be 21 years or more
You must have resided in the British Isles and have been habitually resident there for at least a year prior to the application
You do not need to be married but you will be expected to have lived together as a family (with the child) long enough to demonstrate stability. This would usually be for at least six months before you apply to adopt.

The child to be adopted must be under 18 and unmarried. If the application to court has been made before the child’s 18th birthday, then it is possible for a child over 18 to become adopted if the eighteenth birthday has occurred by the time the matter is heard.

For further information please see the Step Families and Adoption Booklet below:

Step families and adoption booklet (PDF, 4.6MB)

If you require any further information please contact the Adoption Service using the contact details provided.

An Intercountry Adoption is an adoption of a child who is habitually resident in one country by an individual or couple who are habitually resident in another country. Intercountry Adoption is a complex process with very stringent legalities as compliance is required through UK legislation as well as the relevant countries legislation.

Intercountry Adoption is not an easy option. A thorough assessment is completed before a child is placed away from their country of origin, community and extended family. As a prospective intercountry adopter we advise to look beyond the initial desire to provide a child from another country with a stable home and loving parents and home and think about the long term affects it may have on you and the child.

If you are considering Intercountry Adoption we will initially gather information from you. North East Lincolnshire Council works in collaboration with other agencies to offer potential intercountry adopters the specialist service they require.

These placements are for children who may not be able to safely cared for by their birth relatives and who need at least a short period in local authority care.

They are likely to need to be adopted, but still have a chance of being reunited with their birth family.

For more information on this type of adoption view the Early permanency placements leaflet (PDF, 1.5MB)