Adoption
All children should have access to a secure, loving home where they have strong bond and relationships with each member, ideally in a family situation. Unfortunately there are a growing number of children within the UK who require long spells of intense childcare and in a lot of cases need to be permanently placed with a new family via adoption.
Social workers put children high on their priority agenda and those who need to be adopted are taken care of at every possible stage of their life to ensure they have the best start in life possible. Many children within the UK are unable to grow up in their birth families for one reason or another, however adoption is a way to provide these children with a family. Adoption is a legal process that takes time, effort and commitment to ensure the child and the family are 100% happy with the situation.
Adopting a Child
With celebrities all over the world glamorising adoption, particularly overseas adoption, the subject is hot on the media and social mind. Adoption is often dismissed as an option in childcare largely due to the negative viewpoints about removing a child from their family and/or the mistrust dishonest adoption can cause to a child.
However there are a number of good, upstanding citizens within the UK that can provide a loving, caring home to children who cannot stay in their own home. In fact studies have shown that the majority of adoptions work out very happily for all those concerned. Social workers are on hand throughout the whole of the adoption procedure, including the pregnancy stage in some cases.
For example a woman pregnant who cannot provide a high quality of life for her child may consider adoption as an option and social workers will support them through the whole of their decision. Often adoption follows a period of foster-care, which provides a gradual transition for the child rather than simply placing them from one supposedly permanent home into the next one.
Every decision made in the adoption process is done so in the best interests of the child. This term is used to describe a set of principles that will guide a court's deliberation when they assess what would keep a child safe and how the child's needs will be met. Hopefully through the process of adoption children will create a new, permanent relationship with their new parents, leading to a strong family bond.
Through adoption the person assuming the parenting role permanently transfers all rights and responsibilities from the birth parents to themselves. Adoption is a permanent change in status and is subject to legal requirements. This legal process will be assisted by social workers and be made as smooth as possible, however there may be a trial period involved to ensure it is the best situation for the child, particularly if the child is of an older age. If you are interested more in adoption, there are a number of organisations offering information, alternatively local authorities will often have an adoption scheme or policy in place.