Children in need of adoption

We are a member of the Adoption 7 Consortium made up of six Social Services Departments - Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, Milton Keynes, Luton, and Hertfordshire, plus the voluntary agency St. Francis Children's Society. If we do not have suitable children for your family, once you are approved as adopters, we will refer you to the other consortium members.

All the children needing adoption will be in our care, usually in foster homes, or occasionally in residential homes. Sometimes the birth parents will have decided they are unable to parent the child and have voluntarily placed their child for adoption. In other situations social workers will have made this decision against the parents wishes and the court will have made a care order.

The children needing adoptive homes fall into the following categories:

• Children aged 0 - 5 years, some of whom may have spent the majority of their lives in foster care
• Children aged 5 - 12 years
• Brothers and sisters of varying ages who need to be placed together
• Children of African Caribbean, Asian or mixed heritage who need families who can reflect their racial and cultural heritage
• Children with some physical or learning disabilities who need a family where there is knowledge and perhaps experience of the needs of children with disabilities.

Many of these children will have experienced neglect and/or emotional, physical or sexual abuse before going in to care. Their parents sometimes have a history of mental ill health or alcohol or drug abuse which will have contributed to the likelihood that the children may be behind in their overall development. Some children may need therapeutic help after placement or after adoption to help them come to terms with their past.

Most adoptions will involve some form of contact with the birth family. An exchange of letters and photographs via the agency will reassure a parent that their child is safe and still alive. This would usually happen once or twice a year. When older children have an important relationship with a parent, grandparent or brother and sister, that relationship may be maintained by a face-to-face meeting. These meetings would usually be at a neutral venue and may be supervised. The minimum would be once a year and the maximum not usually more than three times a year.

It is helpful for adopters and birth parents to meet once, usually before the child is placed. Birth family members will not know where adopters live or their last name, but they will be able to visualise the child happily cared for by people who appear loving and committed. Adopters will then have a realistic picture of the birth parents to help them to talk to their children about their background.

For more information call 01494 586443 or email adoption@buckscc.gov.uk