Our “spotlight on” feature gives you information about some of the adoption agencies across England to highlight the services they provide. First off is Adopt North East.
I’ve started with Adopt NE because the agency is very close to my heart. We adopted our daughters with our local authority who are now part of this regional agency. Without them, we would never have met our beautiful girls.
This article is written by Angela Gent from Adopt North East and gives you a flavour of what the assessment process entails.
Considering adoption?
We’ll be with you every step of the way.
As part of National Adoption week, a new regional adoption agency combining local authority services from North Tyneside, Gateshead, Newcastle, Northumberland, and South Tyneside is looking to find forever homes for siblings across the North East to stay together.
Adopt North East is an exciting service putting the needs of adopted children and families at the forefront, together with their expertise to provide high-quality post-adoption support.
Children who are waiting
In the North East, almost half of the children waiting for adoptive families are brothers and sisters in groups of two or more. Sibling groups wait longer than single children to be placed with a forever family.
Most people adopting for the first time choose to take a single child into their family. However, it is often in the best interests of the children that a sibling group finds a family together rather than experience further trauma by being separated.
National Adoption week
National Adoption week is a national campaign that takes place every October. The need to find families for some of our most vulnerable children remains at the heart of the campaign. We will be prioritising the need to keep sibling groups together and find the ideal adopters for them to become a forever family.
Adopt North East is asking anyone who may be considering adoption to think about whether they could parent siblings. There’s no denying that having more than one child comes with real challenges, but it also has advantages and brings great rewards.
The assessment
Whether people are considering adopting siblings, a single child, or a child with additional needs, the assessment process at Adopt North East is as straightforward as possible. The team support families every step of the way.
The process is in two stages. During stage one, which takes two months to complete, a range of checks are carried out, for example medical, DBS, and reference checks. Applicants are also asked to take part in two days preparation training.
Stage two takes four months to complete and includes training and home visits from a social worker. During this time the social worker will get to know the family and assess their suitability to adopt. A report is prepared with the family which is considered by a panel.
Information evening
Adopt North East has various information events throughout the year, some are in person, some online. The first in-person events for 2023 are on the 10th and 21st of January. You can find full details on our events page.
You don’t have to come along to an information event to get in touch, the team will be happy to speak to you any time. You can contact them by telephone on (0191) 643 5000, email adoptnortheast@northtyneside.gov.uk or visit our website.
To find out about other adoption agencies, head over to our “Spotlight-On” section.