Information for Prospective Adopters
What is adoption?
Adoptive parents provide a secure and loving permanent home for children who cannot live with their birth families. When you adopt you become the child's legal parent.
There are lots of reasons why children cannot live with their birth families. It could be that they have been neglected or abused. Some children may have needs that their family cannot cope with.
We have children of all ages who need adoptive parents. Some are groups of brothers and sisters who need to stay together.
All of them need loving parents who can give them the care they need to adjust to new lives and go on to have a happy and fulfilling future.
Who Can Adopt?
- Applicants must be at least 21 years of age. There is no upper age limit but children need a parent/parents who can be a support to them well beyond their teens.
- Single people and couples can apply to adopt. Couples do not have to be married or in civil partnerships. It is the stability of relationships that matters not legal status.
- Those who have no children and those who have birth children can adopt.
- A criminal record does not automatically mean one cannot adopt but it does depend on the offences and when they were committed. There are some specified offences against children which mean the person is not suitable to adopt. Thorough checks are made.
- You do not have to own your home to adopt but have appropriate security of tenure.
- It is not how much income you have that matters but how well you manage your money.
- Being disabled is not a barrier to adoption - it is your capacity to parent an adopted child that is important.
- We welcome prospective adopters from all cultures, languages and religions within the UK and whose backgrounds are from more than one culture.
- Applicants need to demonstrate a commitment to giving a child the care and security he or she needs, by undergoing a detailed assessment of themselves and their family, and attending a preparatory training course.
- Applicants need to be aware of the importance of most adopted children maintaining some level of contact (direct or indirect) with their birth families.
Further information is available to download in the leaflet "Your guide to adopting a child".
If you are interested in finding out more about adoption and would like a visit, please contact us on (01429) 284596 or 405589.
Adoption Team,
8-9 Church Street
Hartlepool ,
TS24 7DJ
(opening hours: 8.30am - 5.00pm Mon-Thur, 8.30am - 4.30pm Fri)
E-mail: fosterandadopt@hartlepool.gov.uk