Call for prospective adopters to foster first
Devon County Council is calling for potential parents who want to adopt to consider fostering first under new plans to help reduce disruption to children in care.
Babies and children, who are likely to be adopted, can wait months in foster care sometimes moving from carer to carer.
Devon Adoption has introduced the Government-led ‘foster to adopt’ scheme to protect these children from experiencing multiple moves within the care system and provide them with good quality, uninterrupted and consistent care, while detailed assessments of their birth family are completed and the Court decides on the plan for their permanent care.
The scheme is used for babies and children who are in the county council’s care where the plan is likely to be adoption, but who still have a chance of being reunited with their birth family, although the majority of children do go on to be adopted.
Cllr James McInnes, Devon County Council’s Cabinet Member responsible for Devon Adoption, said: “We are looking for special families who want to adopt and can give a child a loving home, but are willing to be temporary carers until the final decision is made for the child.
“Having prospective adoptive parents who are willing to foster first offers children care, stability and love at an uncertain time in their lives, which is invaluable.
“It also means children live with their potential adopters at the earliest opportunity so they can develop healthy attachments to their new family sooner and reduces possible future harm.
“We appreciate that what we are asking isn’t easy. Fostering to adopt requires a strong commitment and emotional resilience and willingness to be able to offer a child a loving and nurturing home whilst living with the uncertainty that the child may be returned to their birth family.
“But the rewards are immeasurable. There is the immense satisfaction of providing stability and security for a child at the early stage of their development, with the possibility of them becoming their legally adopted child.
“Your ability to care is what matters most. So if you think you could care for a child and maybe become their forever family, then get in touch today - we have children waiting to be adopted in Devon right now.”
The scheme works by placing babies and children with adopters who have been assessed and approved as temporary foster carers for the child. The foster to adopt carers will provide the day to day care for the child and will continue to work with the child’s social worker to ensure that the child has all of their needs met.
At the same time, the child’s social worker will continue working with and assessing the child’s birth parents to see if they have made the changes needed to have the child returned to their care. The Court will make the final decision on the plan for the child. If the decision is that the child should be adopted then foster to adopt carers can go to an adoption matching panel and if panel agree, will become the adopters for the child. Alternatively, if the Court decides that the child should be returned to their birth family then the child is returned.
Rachel and Ben from Exeter are almost at the end of their foster to adopt journey, with their application to adopt 26 week old Chloe due to be decided on by the courts at the end of September. They said:
“We are so blessed to have our family completed with our beautiful Chloe, it has been a long journey but was worth all of the ups and downs.
“When we were first approached about the foster to adopt programme before being approved as adopters we said no. This was mainly because of the risk of the child going back to their birth parents. It was a purely selfish decision as we felt that we could not deal with the disappointment and devastation of losing a child we had bonded with and become attached to.
“As time went on, and we were approved as adopters, we began to think differently. We tried to put our own feelings aside and think of the benefits of foster to adopt from the child's point of view - the consistency and stability of having just one home.
“Our social worker warned us that foster to adopt does not tend to give you very much notice and just two weeks later we had the phone call to tell us that there was a baby who needed a placement!
“We couldn't believe it when Chloe arrived, we felt like millionaires. She was everything we ever wanted. The first night was the best and the most scary night of our lives. We were in charge of the most precious thing in the world.
“We did struggle with the fact that at any point Chloe could have gone back to her birth parents. We struggled with having to call ourselves foster Mummy and foster Daddy and not just Mummy and Daddy. And we found it quite upsetting when Chloe went for her first visit to her birth parents. However, these were all things that we had to deal with, and we did together. We had always been a strong couple but this has made us even stronger.
“Foster to adopt is by no means an easy option. You need to be resilient, adaptable and open. It seems to go on forever and there are a lot of hurdles to jump, but it has all worked out brilliantly for us and for Chloe. She arrived with us at just four days old, and so she has only lived with us and we have provided the best home we possibly can for her.”
Louise and Neil from East Devon are also adopting through Devon Adoption on the foster to adopt programme. They said:
“Last year we were approved to adopt but although we applied for matching with a few children it didn’t work out, so our social worker explained more about foster to adopt. She talked us through the whole process and was really supportive.
“We felt a bit apprehensive at first because there is so much uncertainty and we were worried we would get too attached, and find it difficult if we couldn’t go on to adopt. But we wanted to give a baby or child the best start in live they could have, even if it was just caring for them for a few months.
“Foster to adopt is very good process and we are very lucky to now have such a lovely smiley little child as part of our family.
“The benefits for the child in care are enormous. They get that bond and attachment to their new family quicker, and because they don’t move around they feel settled and, most importantly, loved.”
More information about the scheme is available online along with details of how to get in touch with Devon Adoption.
