Adoption Support Handbook

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1 Adoption Support Handbook Today s Family - Tomorrow s Future

2 A new beginning We are so pleased you are adopting a child through Derby. We hope that you love being part of a new family and are looking forward to a fantastic future together. We are proud to have been with you at every stage of the process so far and our support doesn t stop here. There will be a team around you, to help make sure you get the right support. When a child is first placed for adoption, he or she is still looked after by the local authority (often called in care ). This means the local authority still has statutory responsibilities and there will be regular reviews until the Adoption Order is granted. These are chaired by an Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO). The review is a good opportunity to keep the adoption support plan up to date. The IRO will check you are happy with it and that you have received all the paperwork you should have had. The child s social worker will still be involved and you will have your own social worker, usually the worker who supported you through the approval and matching process. So there are lots of people around to ask for help. Things to think about The matching and introduction process can be a very busy and emotional time with a lot of unfamiliar paperwork to look at. Now your child has been placed, it is a good idea to look through the paperwork again. Does the support plan cover all the things you think it should? Have you been given a draft of the life story book? And are you happy with the content? The book has to be something you feel will help you tell the child s story so if any changes are needed, please talk to us about it. Document checklist You should now have these documents: A summary of the child s health needs from the agency medical adviser. A copy of the Child s Permanence Report (CPR) (This should have been updated for the matching panel, so just check with the child s social worker that you ve the most up-to-date version). If you don t have any of these, or if you want to know more about something, please talk to our team. Contact with birth relatives If there is a plan for indirect contact with your child s birth relatives, there should be a Letterbox agreement in place, so you know what is expected of you. Read our Letterbox scheme leaflet to find out more. 2 3

3 The Adoption Order is granted! The Adoption Order isn t the end of the adoption process - it marks a new beginning. You now have full parental responsibility for the child, so you have the same rights and responsibilities as if the child had been born to you. After the Adoption Celebration you should be given the final version of the child s life story book. This should be brought up to date to include the granting of the order. You will also be given a copy of a Later in Life Letter. This is a letter written to the child for them to read when they are older. It will be for you to decide when the time is right to share this with your child. A copy will be placed on their file and they will be able to see the letter and the child permanence report when they are aged 18. Please check through the life story book and letter to make sure you feel happy with the content. Some children have very difficult stories to tell and Derby City runs a telling course for adopters. Pre-adoption: Child is placed with you Stage 1 Stage 3 Even if you attended this as part of the preparation process, you may want to attend again to think about how you will tell your child s story. Being a parent to any child has its ups and downs. But rest assured, help is on hand if you are not sure of a situation or want to understand why your child is behaving in a particular way. We know from experience that there are certain issues you will face as your family develops. We hope that the future is full of brilliant memories and that you will take advantage of the support available when the time is right. For the first three years you can access support from the authority who placed your child Stage 2 Stage 4 Which local authority should I approach for help? If your child was placed by Derby City then we are the responsible local authority and will continue to be so for as long as you live in Derby. If you move out of the area, we will still assess your adoption support needs for the first three years after the Adoption Order being granted. Your new local authority will take responsibility for supporting you after this time, although we will help with the transition and will still continue to assist you with the Letterbox scheme and any ongoing financial support that was agreed before the order was granted. If you live in or have moved to Derby and your child was placed by a different authority, they will be responsible for assessing your adoption support needs for three years from when the Adoption Order was granted. We will then be responsible for your support after that time. But if you want any information about our local services in the meantime, please contact us and we will do all we can to advise you. We can add you to our mailing list for our newsletter at any time. If you are still not sure who to contact, please get in touch and we will be happy to advise you and signpost you to the right person. Health services Like any family, there are health services you are entitled to irrespective of whether your child is adopted or not. Your first point of call will usually be your GP. If the need for specific health services was identified before you adopted your child, this should be covered in the summary of health needs prepared by the agency medical adviser. Your health visitor and school nurses are also good sources of support. Education Children adopted from care have priority access to schools. From September 2014, they will also be entitled to free early education from the age of two. Your child s school will be able to claim pupil premium plus for your child, which will help them provide extra resources. However, the school can only claim this if you inform them your child was adopted from care. Sometimes the early experiences an adopted child has had can make starting school a more difficult time. So choosing a school that understands his or her needs is important. Adoption celebration to mark Adoption Order After three years your local authority will take responsibility for supporting you. Our educational support service regularly runs a learn the child conference for teachers and other school staff to help them understand the needs of vulnerable children. This course is also open to adoptive parents and foster carers, so if you are interested in attending, please let us know. 4 5

4 Adoption support These are just some of the ways our team can support you: Newsletters Groups for children & young people Social events Access to training Consultations with clinical psychologists Life story work Befriending Independent support to birth parents Letterbox scheme Support to direct contact arrangements Post 18 services We also offer support to Special Guardians of children who were previously in care. Two-year-old free entitlement to early education From September 2014, two-year-old children adopted from local authority care will be entitled to 570 hours a year of Government funded early education over no fewer than 38 weeks of the year (which equates to 15 hours per week). Parents of eligible children who would like to take up the offer of a free place should contact the Family Information Service for information about eligibility and the process for securing a place. Information can also be found on the Government s website GOV.UK at: fis@derby.gov.uk Post address: Families Information Service Derby City Council The Council House Corporation Street Derby DE1 2FS Phone: Minicom: Contact details To get in touch with the Adoption Support Services Adviser or our team, please call or adoptionsupport@derby.gov.uk Further information For general information about the support available to adoptive parents, see the adoption passport: Adoption pay and leave When you take time off to adopt a child you may be eligible for adoption pay and leave. For more information about this see and search for adoption pay and leave. Your employment rights are also protected when you are on Statutory Adoption Leave. Your employer may have a company adoption leave scheme so it is a good idea to check your company policy. First4 adoption also has up to date information about all aspects of adoption: Derby is a subscribing agency to Adoption UK where the helpline and message boards act as good sources of information. We also subscribe to BAAF, which helps us keep up to date with national developments. Constantly improving Part of the East Midlands Consortium, we work on a regional basis to improve the adoption support services we provide. As we are constantly looking to develop our services, we would love to hear from you about what support you need and what we can do better. So, please get in touch at: adoptionsupport@derby.gov.uk 6 7

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