Jobs & Careers with Piers Linney - 128

The right start
here are nearly
5,000 children in
England waiting to
be adopted - with
more children
coming into the
system every year.
According to the Department for
Education, more than 600 additional
adopters are needed each year to keep
up with this growing number - and
a further 3,000 people are needed
just to tackle the backlog.
It's a sorry state of affairs when the
word 'backlog' can be used to describe
children but, unfortunately, that's the

reality. Another truth is that the adoption
and fostering processes are shrouded in
myths and misunderstandings.
According to research by YouGov for
the British Association for Adoption &
Fostering (www.baaf.org.uk), one in four
adults believes that being over the age of
40 would stop someone being allowed
to look after a child in care.
The study also found that 31% believe
low income is a barrier; 22% think a
disability would rule them out; and
17% believe being single makes them
ineligible for adoption or fostering.
'These myths still exist,' admits
Gemma Gordon-Johnson, head of

A shorter process
Since July 2013, changes to the adoption system have made it a smoother, quicker process.
There's now a two-stage process for approval, with a time limit of six months...

'Stage one of the process,
which takes two months,
are your checks, including
medical, reference and
Disclosure and Barring
Service (DBS) [formerly
Criminal Records Bureau
(CRB)] checks. If these are
all OK, you'll have your initial
interview with your chosen
adoption agency,' explains
Gemma. 'Stage two takes
around four months, and
is more intensive. Social
workers will carry out home
study reports, and you'll
receive training around
adoption and becoming
adoptive parents. The

1 2 8 /// J O B S & C A R E E R S

focus is on giving you all the
tools you'll need.'
The new process means
you should get to approval
stage (being interviewed by
a panel) within six months.
No time scale is put on the
'matching' stage, where
you're linked with

a child or children. Your
agency will search locally
for children it thinks may
be a match for you. If there
are no suitable children in
your area, it will broaden
its search to other regions.
Many adoption agencies
now work in consortia, so
they have the profiles of
children in a wider area.
'If, after three months, no
match has been found, your
agency must then place you
on the Adoption Register,'
adds Gemma. 'This contains
details of all the children in
England who haven't yet
been placed.'

Professional foster
carers get an allowance
for each child (the amount
varies with the needs of each
child). So if you love children
and want a stay-at-home
career, this could be
your next move
service at First4Adoption, the national
adoption information service for England.
'With adoption, word of mouth is one of
the primary sources of information, and
if someone has had a bad experience
in the past, they may be vocal about it.
This is one of the ways these myths have
become so entrenched.
'We need to raise people's awareness
of how things have moved on in recent
years. Of all the phone enquiries we get
at First4Adoption, in 98% of cases, the
first question the person asks will be
about one of these myths.
'In 2013, the government began
a programme of reform for adoption
processes, and many of the reasons that
would have meant people were rejected
in the past have been removed,' adds
Gemma. 'It's much more inclusive now,
and agencies can't discriminate on the
basis of things such as age and sexuality.
We are a diverse nation, and the adoption
reforms are trying to represent that.
'People approach adoption from
different circumstances, with varying
reasons for considering looking after
a child. It could be fertility issues. It
could be that they want to add to their
family and feel that adoption is the
best way to do that.
'Some people are even saying, "Why
would we have children naturally when
there are so many children out there
who need a home?" That's a wonderful
way to think about adoption.'

Images: Getty Images, Shutterstock.

COULD YOU PROVIDE A LOVING HOME AND A GOOD
START IN LIFE TO A CHILD IN NEED BY ADOPTING
OR BECOMING A FULL-TIME FOSTER CARER?
http://www.baaf.org.uk
Jobs & Careers with Piers Linney

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Jobs & Careers with Piers Linney
