Legal Update: Preparing for the adoption assessment process

Ongoing evidence indicates a fundamental mismatch in the increasingly complex and challenging needs of children who have adoption as their agreed plan and the motivation and expectations of many prospective adopters. Adoption UK’s Adoption Barometer showed that 53 per cent of adopters considered withdrawing from the adoption preparation and assessment process because it was too difficult, and 49 per cent felt there had been times when the process seemed so difficult, they wondered if they could continue.

This mismatch has persisted for some time, despite the development in 2013 of the two-stage assessment process and the subsequent introduction of regional adoption agencies, both aiming to make the process of adoption easier.

A complex pathway

Adopter preparation and assessment is by its very nature subject to, and requires, professional judgment. The importance of the assessing social worker’s relationship with applicants is a central part of the assessment, preparation and support process. Adults considering adoption are embarking on a complex pathway that will span a lifetime. Thoroughly preparing adopters continues to be key to ensuring that they are fully aware and able to meet the challenges of adoption. While preparation courses for prospective adopters vary in length, specific content and the point at which they are delivered in the assessment, they all cover similar contents (for example, attachment, impact of childhood trauma, maintaining birth family contact and some elements of therapeutic parenting among others). The assessment process provides ample opportunity to explore issues in a positive, sensitive, supportive and evidence-based way and this continues through the linking, matching and placement process and then in the adoption support plan.

While efforts such as preparation groups can increase knowledge about the experiences of children, empathy for birth parents, and a willingness to consider openness in adoption, evidence tells us they do not lead to changes in matching preferences. Older children, sibling groups and children from black and ethnic minority backgrounds all continue to wait longer to be placed with families.

The necessity of making sure that any child placed is safe and will have their needs met by adoptive parents requires exploring sensitive, intimate, and personal subjects with prospective adopters – which can feel overwhelming or intrusive. Doing this well requires skilled, relationship-focused practitioners.

A recent examination CoramBAAF conducted of assessment and preparation models in other parts of the world, to be published shortly, highlights elements which could be of interest to our own system. For example, the US model makes use of a series of complex questionnaires to gather data and appears to provide a greater degree of uniformity in assessment. The Netherlands makes greater use of psychologists in looking at prospective adopters’ relationships. Australia embeds direct contact into the majority of their adoptive placements.

The near completion of the establishment of regional adoption agencies and the recent publication of the National Adoption Strategy provides an opportunity to continue to improve policy, practice and delivery. We must take every opportunity to continue to review the assessment process in order that it continues to be a robust, yet transparent process which supports prospective adopters to meet the needs of those for whom adoption is the correct plan.

As part of National Adoption Week, CoramBAAF is running a series of workshops for adoption professionals in November:

• Ethnicity, cultural awareness and sensitivity in the context of matching children with prospective adopters (17 November)

• Video-feedback Intervention to promote positive parenting (18 November)

• Preparation and assessment of prospective adopters (25 November)

• More from www.corambaaf.org.uk/training-events/main