Non agency adoption

[MISSJANEO]

Has anyone had any experience of non agency adoption?

if you mean private adoption, it is not legal in England

We considered a non-agency adoption for our DS but as there were all ready proceedings underway it was decided to go through the L.A. as usual. You need to have been the child’s foster carer for one year to be able to apply directly to the courts.

We did meet with a solicitor but it was very challenging to find one with any experience on non-agency adoption.

The only thing to consider if that a non-agency adoption usually leaves you ineligible for adoption allowance or any further support. Our DS has significant additional needs which mean I am unable to work so he is entitled to some adoption allowance.

I don’t actually know the correct term. It’s to adopt a relatives baby. All the information I can find relates to the stages up to and including the matching process. Obviously that doesn’t apply here as we would be looking to adopt this baby.

In that case its known as kinship adoption. You would still need to contact social services.

You might want to look at Special Gaurdianship orders (SGOs) as well.

Your talking in all likelihood about a SGO. I have replied on your other thread too, if you would like to message me i a happy to share my experience.

@MISSJANEO sorry you haven't had very helpful answers so far. Hopefully mama1980 will be able to help with her experience.

When you adopt you have to go through some form of assessment, a person can't just give their child away, even to a family member. Foster carers have been through an assessment process before a child is placed, if they then apply to adopt, they still have to go through the courts for the child to be released from local authority care.

I don't know how kinship adoption works in legal terms, but SWs will always look at willing family members before they look at plans to place a child outside the family. But that means both sides of the family, so if you are related to the mum, SWs will probably want to look at the father.

I'm sure there are face book groups where you could get more information. If the child is already subject to social services supervision, I would contact the SW to see what the options might be. Good luck

Thanks for taking the time to reply I really appreciate it