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Contents

1. Responding to Requests for Information
2. After Approval
3. Matching
4. Post Placement Duties
5. Post Adoption Support
6. Placement Breakdowns
7. Review of Approval

1. Responding to Requests for Information

All requests for information about inter country adoption made by telephone or letter will be responded to promptly. The Duty Social Worker, Adoption and Permanence Team, will establish that the caller lives in Brighton & Hove and if so, explore briefly with him/her the reasons for wishing to pursue inter-country adoption. As part of this conversation the Duty Social Worker should ensure that the enquirer has an accurate knowledge of the criteria and process for domestic adoption and details of the children available for adoption within the UK.

The enquirer will be asked to consider the possibility of domestic as well as inter country adoption and to contact the Adoption and Permanence Team if they wish to know more and proceed further.

If the enquirer expresses a wish to only pursue inter-country adoption further they should be advised of Brighton & Hove Children and Young People's Trust’s (BHCYPT) agreement with Parents and Children Together (PACT), a voluntary adoption agency, to undertake the preparation, assessment and approval of inter-country adopters on its behalf. The enquirer should be informed of the current charge payable by the applicants to PACT for this service. The enquirer should be given the contact details of PACT (info@pactcharity.org) and advised to contact them directly.

PACT will provide the enquirer with further information and counselling and send a detailed information pack regarding inter-country adoption, the assessment process and charges and the likely timescale involved. PACT will also advise the enquirer of the different processes and eligibility criteria for specific countries. If the enquirer wishes to pursue inter-country adoption after receiving this pack they should liaise directly with PACT who will then provide the preparation, assessment and approval service.

2. After Approval

Following approval, Parents and Children Together (PACT) will forward to the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) the reports presented to the Adoption Panel, the Adoption Panel minute and the written notice of the Agency Decision Maker (Adoption)'s decision.

PACT will continue to support the prospective adopters and deal with all related correspondence with the DfES until a child is placed with the prospective adopters. BHCYPT’s Adoption and Permanence Team will only become involved following the placement of a child with the prospective adopters.

The Secretary of State will check whether the statutory requirements have been met and will then decide whether to issue a Certificate of Eligibility and Suitability and inform PACT and the prospective adopters of the decision.

The Certificate, if granted, will state that the prospective adopters have been assessed as suitable to adopt and a child adopted by them will be granted leave to enter the United Kingdom subject to Entry Clearance and the making of an Adoption Order.

The DfES will then arrange for the necessary papers to be passed to the relevant overseas authority, which decides whether to accept the application and identifies a child to be matched with the adopters.

The DfES will confirm in writing to the adoption agency and the prospective adopters that the papers have been sent.

3. Matching

The matching part of the process may be the subject of considerable delay depending on the waiting list of the chosen country.

If the authorities in the relevant country approve the application, when a suitable child is available for placement, they should send the papers to the Department for Education and Skills (DfES), who will in turn send them to PACT and the prospective adopters.

Occasionally, the country will inform the prospective adopters directly; they should be advised during the Home Study to inform their Supervising Social Worker immediately if this happens.

The Supervising Social Worker from PACT will then arrange to discuss the child with the prospective adopters at a face-to-face meeting to be held within 10 working days of receipt of the information, before the prospective adopters make a decision or make any plans to travel to meet the child. The Medical Adviser will prepare a report on the medical needs of the child and this will be shared with the prospective adopters during the face-to-face meeting. If necessary the prospective adopter will be given the opportunity to discuss the child’s medical needs with the Medical Adviser.

Before accepting a child, the prospective adopters must travel to meet the child. Where a couple are applying to adopt, both applicants must travel.

If the prospective adopters wish to proceed with the match they must provide the Supervising Social Worker at PACT with written confirmation of their wish to do so. The Supervising Social Worker will inform the DfES that this written confirmation has been received. As soon as the prospective adopters have accepted the match, the Supervising Social Worker should advise them to apply for entry clearance for the child, by sending the child’s details to the Entry Clearance Officer at the UK Embassy or High Commission closest to the country where the child is living.

Where there are no suitable children to match with the prospective adopters, the overseas authority will notify the DfES, and they will notify PACT. The Supervising Social Worker will inform the prospective adopters and assist them to decide what further action to take, including a further report to the PACT Adoption Panel seeking approval for a different country.

4. Post-Placement Duties

The Adoption (Designation of Overseas Adoptions) Order 1973 as amended in 1993 enables adoption orders in countries listed in the Order to be recognised in the UK.

Children from Designated Countries

If an adoption order has been made in a Designated Country, it is recognised under UK law and the child’s visa usually states ‘for settlement’. PACT will inform the local authority that the child has been placed with an adopter in the Brighton and Hove area and then has no further involvement. BHCYPT Adoption Support Team will be responsible for making arrangements for post-adoption services, if appropriate (see Adoption Support Services Procedures).

Should the child placed be from a country that requires progress reports to be completed it is the responsibility of the adopters to commission (and fund) the completion of this report from PACT or another agency of their choice. The report must be written by a suitability qualified Social Worker (see Adoption and Permanence Panel Procedures)

Adoption Orders made in Designated Countries do not automatically result in the child acquiring British citizenship. An application for registration will usually need to be made; application forms can be obtained from the Nationality Directorate of the Home Office or from any British Diplomatic Post.

Children from Non-Designated Countries

If the child matched with the prospective adopters is from a non-designated country, PACT will inform the local authority of this as soon as the adopter confirms they wish to proceed with the placement.

The arrangements for the placement will vary from country to country; the prospective adopters will either adopt the child in the child's country or bring the child to the UK for the purposes of adoption in a UK Court.

If an Adoption Order has been made in a Non-Designated Country, the Order is not recognised in the UK.

The prospective adopters must seek clearance for the child to enter the UK from the nearest British Embassy, Consulate or High Commission. If the Entry Clearance Officer is satisfied that the entry requirements have been met, a visa for a limited period, usually one year, will be issued.

PACT will advise the prospective adopters of their legal duty to notify BHCYPT Adoption and Permanence Team within 14 days of arriving in the UK with the child of their intention to apply for an Adoption Order (or their intention not to provide a home to the child). This notice should be acknowledged by the Adoption and Permanence Team.

An adoption application cannot be made until the child has lived with the prospective adopters for 6 months or more. Where the prospective adopters have not complied with all the necessary regulations, the child must have lived with them for at least 12 months.

On receipt of the notification, the Adoption and Permanence Team will arrange for a Supervising Social Worker to monitor the child's welfare by regular visits to the family home. The allocated worker must fulfil the qualifications and experience criteria set out in the Adoption and Permanence Panel Procedure.

An Adoption Case Record must also be set up for the child. Any information received from the relevant authority in the child's state of origin, the agency that approved the prospective adopters (if not the local authority), the prospective adopters, the Entry Clearance Officer and the DfES should be placed on the Adoption Case Record.

The allocated worker must send notification of the child's arrival in the UK to the prospective adopter's GP (including a written and up to date health report on the child), the Primary Care Trust and (where the child is of school age) the Local Education Authority for the area where the prospective adopter lives.

Visits to the child should be weekly until the first review.

The allocated worker should also arrange for the placement to be reviewed within 4 weeks of the receipt of notice of intention to adopt. Thereafter the requirement is for the local authority to visit and review no later than 3 months after the first review and thereafter every 6 months.

The purpose of the review is to enable the local authority to consider whether the child's needs are being met and if not, what advice and assistance may be provided. To do this, the review must consider the child's needs, welfare and development, and if any changes are required to meet the child's needs or assist his/her development; the arrangements for the provision of adoption support and whether there should be a re-assessment of the need for those services; and the need for further visits and reviews.

If the prospective adopters notify the local authority of their intention to move to the area of another local authority, the original local authority must notify the new authority of the child's name, sex, date and place of birth; each prospective adopter's name, sex, date and place of birth; the date the child entered the UK; the date of the notification to adopt; whether an adoption application has been made and if so, the stage of the proceedings; and any other relevant information.

The allocated Social Worker should advise prospective adopters of the most appropriate timing of their adoption application. It is likely that the prospective adopters will need to apply for an extension of the child's visa, which is usually straightforward if an adoption application has been made.

When the prospective adopters make their adoption application, the Court will notify the adoption agency and request that a Court Report is produced supplied directly to the Court.

See Court Reports in Adoption/Special Guardianship Procedures for the list of the required contents of the report.

If no adoption application has been filed within 2 years, a special review must be held. The Supervising Social Worker should chair this review, which must consider the child's needs, welfare and development, and if any changes are required to meet the child's needs or assist his/her development; the arrangements for the exercise of Parental Responsibility in relation to the child; the terms of the child's entry clearance and the child's immigration status; the arrangements for the provision of adoption support and whether there should be a re-assessment of the need for those services; the arrangements for meeting the child's health care and educational needs; the reason why no adoption application has been made; and the options for the child's future permanence.

When an Adoption Order is made in the UK, it automatically confers British Citizenship on the child provided one of the adoptive applicants is a British citizen at the time the Adoption Order is made.

Where the adopters are not British citizens, they will need to seek clearance to allow the child to remain in the UK, on the same basis as them.

5. Post Adoption Support

Families who have adopted from abroad are eligible for assessment for adoption support as set out in the Adoption Support Services Procedures.

6. Placement Breakdowns

If, after the child is placed, the prospective adopters decide not to proceed with the adoption or an Adoption Order is refused or a Convention Adoption Order is annulled, the matter should be referred to the relevant area fieldwork team. The child must be regarded as a Child in Need and an allocated fieldwork Social Worker must assess the child within 7 days in accordance with the Assessment Framework. This assessment must include whether it remains in the child’s interests to be placed in the UK. The child's Social Worker must notify the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) of the outcome.

Where it is decided that it would not be in the child's best interests to remain in the UK, the child's Social Worker must notify the DfES, who will notify the relevant overseas authority, which will make arrangements for the return of the child.

Where it is determined that it would be in the child's best interests to remain in the UK, the child's Social Worker must take the necessary steps to identify a suitable alternative placement in accordance with the Placement for Adoption Procedures and amend the child's immigration status.

Once an adoptive family has been identified, the child's Social Worker will notify the DfES, who will advise the child's country of origin of the change.

7. Review of Prospective Adopter's Approval

The requirements for reviewing the approval of approved inter country adopters with no placement is the same as for agency adopters, i.e. every 12 months - see Section 10 of the chapter on Assessment and Approval of Prospective Adopters. PACT will be responsible for undertaking these reviews.

This requirement to review continues until (in relation to a Convention country) the prospective adopters have received notification in writing from the central authority that an agreement under Article 17 has been made so the adoption may proceed or (in relation to a non-Convention country) the prospective adopters have visited the child in their country and confirmed in writing that they wish to proceed with the adoption.

End