Local authority or Agency?

[jemimafuddleduck]

Hi

After 4 failed IVF cycles (one more to go) we're looking more and more at adoption. I'm tentatively doing some research and trying to understand what the process might be for us.

Apologies if this has been asked before, but can someone please explain the difference between adopting through the LA or an agency? Is it a case that LA get "first pick" and any children that are. Ore difficult to place go to the agencies? Sorry if that sounds blunt/insensitive but I really don't know the terminology or how else to say it!

Just looking for some guidance... thanks in advance.

All looked after children are the legal responsibilty of a local authority. Its expensive to assess adopters so LAs will always try to find an in house match first. So in that sense they have 'first pick'
However, there are many reasons why a child can't be placed in their home area. This in includes security issues. My LA doesnt place locally as the town centre is small and chances of running into birth parents is higher. There is obviously a 'turnover ' of children, some years the LA might have no babies, just older children, or vice versa and that might not fit with the children you want to adopt. They might have sibling groups only and adopters who want single children or vice versa. Many LAs work in consortia now which usually involve a VA.
Hard to place does not mean harder to parent. A child can be hard to place because they are older , older in adoption world means four or five plus. Girls get placed quicker than boys, a four year old boy will be harder to place than a four year old girl, but the girl may have more issues. Children from ethnic minorities are harder to place.
Easy to place children are the so called healthy babies, but you take more of a risk with a baby. I adopted a very hard to place child, a boy, dual heritage age eight, with autism. He has certainly given me a hard time but overall he has been a lot easier than some of those healthy babies whose problems dont become apparent til later on.
Generally a child is harder to place because they are not in the most in demand groups, not because they are inherently more difficult.
When the time comes, you would be best off talking to a few agencies and pick the one you feel most comfortable with
Good luck

@Ted27 thank you so much for taking the time to reply.

Did you speak to a number of agencies before deciding on one? What helped you make your decision?

You say you adopted a child of dual heritage - are the agency happy to place children with parents outside of their ethnicity, ie white parents with a black or Asian child or is this a no-no?

No I didnt. I went straight to my LA and had a very hard time. I left them before my assessment was completed and went to a VA who were much more supportive. My local authority SW basically didnt think single people should adopt so it was't exactly a meeting of minds! Thats why I always encourage people to shop around.

transracial adoption is controversial and fraught with difficulty, maybe not rare but certainly unusual. They will usually only place transracially in exceptional circumstances.
My so really was hard to place more for his age and sex. He was nearly 8 so very old in adoption terms. They also wanted a single adopter. I also reflect his ethnic hertitage in that his birth mum is white. They were quite clear with me if mum was black and birth dad white they wouldnt have approved it. There were also some things in my background and experience which convinced them it was a good idea.

Lots of prospective adopters say things like they wouldnt care what ethnicity a child was, but its really not that simple. Its very tough bringing up a young black man ( he is 15) you have to be very aware of how subtle racism is in this country and be able to challenge and give your child the confidence to deal with the crap they face. You need to be able to provide them with right environment and be willing and able to promote their heritage.
I obviously think it can work but its not something to be entered into without a great deal of thought

I absolutely love my VA, I picked between an LA and a VA based on the social workers that we would be working with and the level of post adoption support available. We feel this has been a great choice FOR US as our SW has guided us through the process so well and we have had a really good experience of adoption so far. They have great links with the LA's and are already looking at potential links for us with our panel being next week- well within the six month time frame that was stated at the info evening.
We have had friends that have had the almost polar opposite experience, so count ourselves lucky. I would say meet both and look at who you have chemistry with, who you feel will be able to support you in a long and intrusive process, and who can you trust when you need support post adoption, or when you just need paperwork doing on time!
It is worth stating though that we were never 'fussed' on having first pick of younger children, and were grateful to have received the message on here that hard to place doesn't mean hard to parent. The initial conversations we had whilst exploring the idea of adoption meant we felt we could cope with slightly older children, which is something that our agency (being a VA) was well equipped for.

I think it depends what age Range you are looking at. If you are wanting a baby or foster to adopt placement then I would go with the local authority although it doesn’t necessarily have to be your own local authority just somewhere near enough that the meeting is can happen. If you’re open to age range you will probably get more support from a voluntary agency.

We met with our local LA and one 40 mins away.

We went with the one furthest away as we didn't gel with our local one (they wanted my OH to go to scout groups even though he'd worked with children for the past 20 years, and they seemed to be going through a tick list rather than using common-sense). Plus a friend had adopted with the one we went with and sang their praises.

When it came to matching we were selected over another 4 couples as we didn't live locally and they did.

We went with a voluntary agency and the post adoption support we have had has been fantastic (contrast that with our son's LA who have barely been in touch since he came home.)