Is it rare to adopt a newborn ?

[Mozzarellapie]

I have always heard it’s rare to adopt a newborn in the U.K for various reasons . Haven’t thought much more about it till I saw a post today on IG where someone has adopted a newborn baby and it just made me think maybe it’s more common now ?

No, not really common. Court proceedings are max 26 weeks in theory but usually longer.

There are foster to adopt placements where people foster a newborn who has a care plan of adoption, and then adopt once proceedings are complete if the judge agrees and makes a placement order. Maybe it was something like that?

Must be , I just saw the post and thought oh that’s unusual, it said about an adoption journey and I’d just heard how it’s rare but obviously I don’t know all the details !

Fostering from birth is more commonplace by far.

The UK doesn’t have the same take on adoption as the US, where newborn adoption is effectively its own money making industry.

A friend met her future DS in the neonatal unit when he was two weeks old and fostered him until the adoption went through when he was just over a year old. It was a new process in their area called something like foster-to-adoption. The baby was removed from the birth parents in the hospital and I think was the third or fourth child they had had removed and adopted (due to drug addiction).

This particular post did make me feel a bit weird I will admit as it’s someone who represents some baby brands etc and I didn’t have that fleeting thought will this baby be part of the ‘content’ as the post had a lot of unboxing new things and shiny new equipment etc . Maybe I’m cynical

We adopted a child who had lived with us since they were born. We were their foster parents. I don’t think that’s very common though.

It's not very common but it can happen, in reality, as people have said, the baby has been fostered since birth whilst court proceedings to end parental rights are completed then the same family proceed to adopt. It tends to be where either the baby is voluntarily given up (very rare in the U.K.) or where previous children have been removed and the parents are deemed as unfit (unfortunately too common)

What do you mean? Can you expand on this please.

I don't think people should be allowed to monetise social media content involving any child, let alone an adopted one.

It's absolutely sick when people flaunt their adopted children for likes and attention on social media.

Lol Ummm what??? Where are you getting your info from?

Why is an adopted child different via social media? I'm adopted and don't see why that would matter.

Stolen??

I know of a couple who adopted at birth, but it was a sibling of the child they had previously adopted.

Everyone has their own take on adoption. I am an adoptive parent from the US. I adopted two children through agencies and one through court proceedings. In the US birthparents have more freedom to choose the parents of the children that they are placing for adoption. They can choose based on their preferences, religion, education, geographic area, etc. and the child goes directly to the adoptive parent(s) without fostering.
Is it possible that your acquaintance adopted through a US agency? Several agencies do international placements.

UK law doesn’t really allow this (other than in exceptional circumstances) as the adopter would have to show the baby couldn’t be adopted in the US for the adoption to be upheld in Britain, and that’s clearly not the case. The UK has much stricter laws to prevent a market in children than the US does.

Nanny louenna?

Babies are sometimes removed at birth but as court proceedings can only start after the baby is born the baby would have to be placed with foster carers rather than adopters until the proceedings conclude then they can be placed for adoption - this usually takes 6 months or more.
There is foster for adoption - I've been involved in several, but to place a baby with a FFA carer you have to be very confident that adoption will be the final outcome so usually where the parents have older children who were adopted and the situation hasn't changed. You need parental consent to place in a FFA placement and you need to rule out any family and friends carers too all of which can take time so actually placing a baby from hospital/birth with the carer who will adopt them is rare, but I've seen it in one case.
Foster for adopt is really stressful for adopters as they attach to the baby without knowing for certain that they will be keeping them forever. It's not an easy route but worth it if it works out.

@TerfIngOnTheBeach it’s a ridiculous expression used by those who’ve had their children removed by Social Services. They can’t see past the fact that they haven’t protected their children so that decision has been made. Social Services don’t steal children.

Surely some people still give babies up for adoption? My friend was voluntarily given up because her birth mum was very young. But that was 30years ago.

For the same reason that some adopted children aren’t photographed at nativities or sports day where other parents post photographs on SM. Because if the birth family are considered a security risk, it is possible for them to discover their child’s whereabouts online.

Almost never

I work in a substance misuse service, for the family safeguarding team. We sadly have plenty babies who are removed at birth due to their mums chaotic lifestyles and substance misuse.

It’s very rare. We had 2 in the space of a few months when I was a social worker and many of the managers has not dealt with babies being voluntarily relinquished and, at that time, CAFCAS had to be involved to sign some forms and they weren’t familiar with the process initially because it’s so rare. Both the babies were disabled.

That's not the question, the question is about adopting newborns.