For all up to date information on adopting with Leeds, please use the link to the new website on this page
What is adoption?
Adoption is a permanent life long commitment achieved via a legal process. This process eventually transfers the responsibilities and duties of a child’s birth parents to adopters by making an adoption order. Once this is made the child becomes the full legal responsibility of their adoptive parents. Children placed with approved adopters are our legal responsibility until an adoption order is made.
Are there children in Leeds waiting for adoption?
Yes. On average we need to place around 80 children a year with our approved adopters. Adoption today is largely about meeting the needs of older children mainly in the two to seven year age range. All children waiting for the opportunity of adoption are cared for by Leeds foster carers.
Leeds children needing adoption
- range in age from 0 – seven years of age
- may be both girls or boys
- may be a sibling group who need placing together
- include some children with special needs (e.g a degree of disability)
- reflect a range of ethnic backgrounds
Are there children who are considered a priority?
We need to meet the needs of those children who tend to wait longer for adoption. So we often prioritise adopters for the following
- single children age two years and above, both boys and girls
- sibling (family groups) of children normally two sometimes three children who need placing together
- children of ethnicity including children who reflect a dual heritage (e.g Black Caribbean / white) .
Are there babies and infants available to adopt?
We have a number of healthy babies and infants of white / UK origin in the 0 - two year age range to place for adoption each year. We need to place children at least two years younger than any children already in a household so families with young children will not realistically be able to pursue an adoption interest until your child is at least four years of age.
Babies or infants with disability
We do need to place a small number of babies / infants each year who have a more complex developmental or health prognosis (including being born to a drug dependent parent) and babies or infants with a degree of disability. Our family placement service can provide advice and guidance on the adoption of children with a disability via the new adoption and permanency service for disabled children. Please contact us on 0113 2475095 for more advice.
Children of Black and ethnic minority backgrounds
We have babies and infants in the 0 - two age group who reflect a particular ethnicity, e.g. Black Caribbean or Asian, who need adopters of the same or similar ethnic origin. We also have children of mixed ethnicity who need adopters reflecting their cultural and ethnic needs.
Who can adopt?
To adopt you may be single, married, partners but unmarried, divorced, remarried, childless or have children already. Adoption serves the needs of a wide range of children so we need adopters to reflect the widest range of backgrounds and circumstances. We welcome interest from enquirers regardless of income, gender, religion, sexuality, disability or race.
Age is not necessarily an issue – people of all ages adopt with us. The key issue is being able to provide a stable, secure home for a child up to adulthood and beyond.
Employees of Leeds City Council's children's services / children's social care, senior officers and elected members are unable to adopt or foster with us due to Regulation 20 (6) Fostering Regulations 2003. For further advice please contact us.
What checks are needed if I apply to adopt?
If we agree to receive an application from you we will ask for your consent to process criminal convictions and other required checks. Certain convictions can prevent an application proceeding - any disclosed conviction history is discussed with applicants in confidence and you will be advised if a conviction will affect an application.
We will also require confirmation about your health. We only achieve this once we have agreed to pursue an application with you. Any identified health issues affecting an ability to adopt would be discussed with you and would receive consultation from a medical advisor to our adoption panel.
Adoption service policy is working towards smoke free environments for it's looked after children - we do not approve applicants who smoke to adopt children under the age of five years unless under exceptional circumstances.
For more detailed advice on issues affecting a suitability to adopt, please contact us.
How long will it take to adopt?
Once we have agreed to receive a application to adopt (at or following a Initial Visit discussion) we than need to allocate available adoption staff to commence your assessment and preparation (often called a 'home study').
Once a worker is appointed (there may be a waiting period for this - we will advise you in detail following receipt of application) we are then committed to providing an assessment and preparation process (home study) resulting in your approval as adopters which would normally take around six months. The assessment and preparation process involves the need to provide a profile report on your suitability for our adoption panel and currently includes a three day preparation course run by staff and experienced adopters.
At this stage it is difficult to generalise how long you would wait following your approval to have a child placed with you. This will depend on a number of factors (e.g. your type of approval or availability of children). It would be likely if you are approved for children in our priority groups a placement with you could be achieved more quickly.
The last stage is achieving an adoption order in court. This completes a legal process which is finalised once a child has been placed with adopters. This normally takes a few months from a child being placed.
How do I register my interest or apply to adopt with Leeds City Council?
You first need to attend one of our monthly adoption information meetings where registration forms are made available.
Adoption Information Meetings
Information meetings are designed to offer a range of introductory information on adopting with us presented by experienced adoption staff. The meeting presentation starts at 7pm and is normally completed by 8.15pm allowing a period afterwards for questions and answers. If enquirers wish to pursue their interest further, Registration of Interest forms are available at the meetings. You may attend any advertised meeting of your choice - there is no need to book.
Adoption Information Meetings are held at:
The South Leeds City Learning Centre, LS11 5TT.
Meeting times: 7pm - 8.30pm. Please sign in at reception from 6.45pm. (Meetings start at 7pm prompt). Registration of Interest forms are available at the meetings. (A venue location map is available to download on the right hand side of this page).
Information Meetings for 2012:
- Jan 17
- March 20
- April 17
- May 22
- June 19
- July 17
- September 18
- October 16
- November 20
- December 11
Following receipt of your registration of interest (provided at the information meeting), we will arrange for adoption staff to contact you and arrange to visit you at home. This home visit provides an important opportunity to discuss your interest and if appropriate, agree your application to adopt.
If I live outside Leeds can I adopt with Leeds City Council?
We prioritise Leeds area residents but we can discuss enquiries from people who live outside Leeds but geographically within a 25 mile distance from Leeds centre. (eg Wakefield, Bradford, Kirklees, Harrogate, York etc ) and who are interested in meeting the adoption needs of our priority groups of children (please see above). We are unable to pursue interest from people outside Leeds if interest is in either baby / infant adoption.
If you live outside Leeds we always advise you contact your own local authority adoption service or voluntary agency first for details of their adoption services. Please contact us for further advice if you live outside Leeds and before attending any of our adoption information meetings.
I am interested in adopting from overseas so how do I get information?
For Leeds residents only we can provide initial advice and guidance on a overseas adoption interest and further to initial assessment, consider undertaking the required "home study" for suitable applicants. Overseas adoption home study assessments are undertaken subject to staff availability and agreement on costs charged to applicants. Given our priorities to Leeds looked after children needing adoption, we are only able to offer a limited service to those wishing to adopt from overseas. For more information please see our overseas adoption factsheet available on the Other Organisations Contacts page on this site (page link below).
(Please note that our adoption information meetings do not include overseas adoption).
For those enquirers researching overseas adoption, more detailed guidance and information can be accessed on the adoption - other organisations - contacts page.
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