Before you decide to adopt from overseas please consider the following:
- Have you considered caring for a child from this country? Many of the children we place each year are pre-schoolers. If you haven't already done so, please look at the section of the website on adopting a Child from Essex. There is no charge for adopting a child in the UK.
- The first choice, where possible, is for children to stay with their birth parents or within the extended family. If this is not possible many countries are now developing their own family placement services so children can stay in their country of origin. Where they can't, inter-country adoption may be an option for some of these children.
- You need to know that adopting a child from overseas is complicated, time consuming and can be very expensive. You will need plenty of determination and resilience as well as a very good understanding of both the joys to be gained and the potential pitfalls.
- Situations change quickly and the way the process works varies enormously from country to country. You will need to keep up to date and make sure your information comes from a reliable source such as the Department for Education www.dfe.gov.uk and the Intercountry Adoption Centre.
- People often think that a child from overseas will have a less complicated history. But children adopted from overseas may have had very poor pre-natal care and have developmental uncertainties, and may have been in an institution for most of their lives. These factors may lead to emotional or behavioural problems, or developmental delay.
You may have very limited information about your child and their birth family.