C o m m u n i t y
by Lesley-Ann Doughty, SSAFA’s Adoption Manager
Most people are aware of SSAFA Forces Help and the services the organisation offers. However, not everyone knows that they also operate as a Voluntary Adoption Agency, assessing applicants from the serving military community both in the UK and overseas.
T
he SSAFA Forces Help Adoption Service enables serving military personnel to have the same
opportunity as civilians to be assessed as prospective adopters. It is a unique service in that it is a registered Voluntary Adoption Agency both in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland – the only agency to be registered in all three registration areas.
The Service operates within the same legislative and practice guidance as every other Adoption Agency. Once prospective adopters are approved by the agency, children are placed with them by Local Authorities in the UK. Like all Voluntary Adoption Agencies SSAFA Forces Help is non-profit making.
The aims of the service is to approve prospective adopters who can meet the needs of children from the Looked After Children system in the UK, (previously children ‘in care’) whose long term plan is for adoption. Children who need an adoptive family have a range of needs including those of different or mixed ethnicity, disability or placement with their brothers and sisters. Whilst there are still some placements of very young children, most who need an adoptive family are not babies.
FIRST STEPS
The process of being assessed as a prospective adopter is detailed and in-depth, and takes place over a period of approximately eight months. The first step is to request an initial information pack from the
Adoption
Administrator at SSAFA Forces Help Central Office (tel: 02074639326). After this, families who are still interested and who meet our criteria for acceptance, talk to Patricia Lowe, Principal Social Worker. If both sides wish to proceed a social worker will carry out two initial interviews in order to decide whether adoption is right for you and to identify whether there are any issues which might preclude you from being assessed.
If you and the agency both feel adoption is right for, you will be invited to the Prospective Adopter Training, which takes place over four days and is held in London. The training focuses on the most important issues relating to adoption and enables applicants to explore their concerns in addition to providing a realistic overview of the adoption task. SSAFA Forces Help meets your expenses for this training..
Following the training, you are allocated a social worker who will complete a detailed assessment with you. The assessment also continues your on-going learning about the needs of children. It includes exploring your background, past and present relationships, reasons for wanting to adopt and your ability to meet the needs of children who need an adoptive family.
You will also be asked to give details of two referees who have known you for five years or more in addition to two family referees, who will then be interviewed by a social worker. Your line manager/commanding officer will also be asked to give a reference and you will need to have Criminal Records Bureau checks, which includes Service Police Records and a full medical. If you have parented children with a previous partner that person will also be contacted and asked to comment on that time.
DAUNTING?
The process of assessment can seem daunting at first. However, applicants usually find that
32 Summer 2008
they learn a lot through the process and find it a beneficial experience. The social worker will see you and your partner, if you are making a joint application, both together and separately. The number of visits can vary but it is usually somewhere between eight and ten.
Once the assessment report is completed, you will receive a copy, minus the references, so that you can ensure that the information is accurate. The report is then presented to the Adoption Panel for its consideration. You will be asked to attend the Panel.
The Adoption Panel makes a recommendation about your approval as prospective adopters, which is then passed to the Agency Decision Maker for their ratification. If the Agency Decision Maker approves the recommendation, you are then approved as prospective adopters. Following this, your social worker will help you to identify children whose needs you may be able to meet, and your details are placed on the National Adoption Register for England and Wales (Scotland and Northern Ireland do not have one).
The timescale for identifying the right child or children can be very short or it can be long. The crucial element in this process is to make sure that it is the right ‘match’ as you are making a commitment to the child or children for the rest of your and their lives.
If you are interested in being assessed as a prospective adopter, or you have been adopted yourself or placed a child for adoption and would like some additional information from SSAFA Forces Help, please contact Patricia Lowe, Principal Social Worker: 01743 235266,
patricia.l@ssafa.org.uk
If you have a general interest in adoption and would like further information you can access this from the BAAF (British Association for Adoption and Fostering) website: www.
baaf.org.uk or the Adoption UK website:
www.adoptionuk.org.
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