Support through the adoption process

At Adoption Counts, we believe in offering support to adoptive families throughout the adoption process from preparation prior to approval to ongoing and specialist support when needed.

We will work closely with you, so you understand the full process that you’ll go through and the likely timescales. You will have a social worker alongside you on the journey, who can answer your questions and help you at every stage.

We know that the process of applying to become an adopter can feel overwhelming at times, so we’ll do all we can to make it a little easier.

  • All of our adopters will complete preparation training about the adoption process, children who need adoption, birth families and maintaining relationships, and much more. This is a three day course that is offered at the very beginning of your journey with us.

  • For certain issues within adoption, we offer additional training sessions including keeping in touch, understanding trauma, supporting siblings, and RACE matters for adopters considering adopting a child of a different ethnicity to their own.

  • Each child will be paired with an Adoption Counts ‘Family Finder’; someone who will have the time to really get to know the child, their needs and their background, and who can advise and support the child’s Social Worker. They also take time to consider any specialist needs a child may have, and start planning longer term support, so plans can be in place even before adoption takes place. Our Family Finders play a really important role in helping to find the right family for the child.

  • After a ‘match’ has been confirmed our adopters receive lots of information about the child they have been matched with. This lays out the child’s specific strengths and needs and the child’s life story so far. At this stage we create, with you, the child’s Adoption Support plan that has lots of details and specialist advice tailored to the child. We also start to share advice on how adopters can take their first steps as therapeutic parents to an adopted child, and even a ‘later life letter’ for them to share with their child when they are older to help them understand why they were adopted.

We do all this to make sure adopters feel ready, prepared and supported from the very start of their relationship with their child.