You need to contact us before you apply to a court to adopt because we have to carry out an assessment and give a report to the court. This may take some months. You should contact the Essex Family Finders Adoption Team.

 

 

We will send you an information pack and invite you into the office to meet with a social worker. We will give you lots of information about step parent adoption and the alternatives that are available.

If you decide to go ahead, we will get your permission to start making checks about your suitability to adopt, including Criminal Records Bureau and heath checks.

 

We will also carry out an assessment which involves talking to you and your partner. We will also need to talk to the absent parent and/or members of his or her family about the adoption. We'll also speak to your step child and any other children in the family. Based on these discussions, we will compile a report for the court.

 

The court has to consider whether an adoption order is the best thing for your child, or if another type of order, or no order at all, would be more appropriate.

 

Every application is different and decided on a case by case basis. The court will take your child's feelings very seriously. The court is more likely to grant an adoption order if the child has never had much contact with the birth parent, if the contact has been non-existent for many years or if the birth parent has died. It is less likely that an adoption order will be granted if the child still has a relationship with the parent or relatives from that side of the family.

 

The court will also consider the length of time you and your partner have been together and how close the new family has become. You need to have lived together for at least six months before making an application to adopt.

 

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