The aim of our adoption service

We will do this by:

• valuing the views of adopted children and adults, their birth families, adoptive families and other stakeholders when developing our adoption services
• ensuring all staff and Adoption Panel members are appropriately recruited, supervised and trained to fulfil our responsibilities as an adoption agency
• providing clear and helpful information to potential adopters and others seeking to use the service
• responding promptly to enquiries by potential adopters and those seeking post-adoption support
• the safe recruitment and assessment of adopters to provide warm, nurturing, stable adoptive families for individual children and sibling groups, doing all we can to ensure children's needs will be met so that children are enabled to realise their full potential
• providing new and established adopters with the support and training they need, recognising the additional skills needed in parenting adopted children
• putting the child's needs to the fore when identifying the right adoptive family for them, and respecting and promoting his or her racial, cultural, religious and linguistic background
• gathering and acting upon the views of birth parents on the plan for adoption
• creatively supporting children when they move to adoptive families
• providing and retaining quality information about the child's family of origin, as imaginatively and creatively as possible
• consider the long-term support that may be needed when making plans for children
• seeking out, listening to and wherever necessary acting upon the child or young person's views about adoption and related needs
• supporting all parties with their Adoption Support Plan once the child has been placed
• providing counselling services for children and adults affected by adoption
• respecting and involving adopters in decisions that affect their family
• complying at all times with legal and regulatory requirements, standards and guidance that underpin the service.