How to decide which agency

[ParkerH1]

Hi everyone
How did everyone come to choose the agency they went with?
Big decision as I know cant change once started and I was hoping you might be able to tell me how you made your decision

Thanks

We went to info sessions with a couple and picked the one we had a good feeling about.

Same as pp, we haven't started yet as life has thrown some challenges up but we went to a few open days, and when we had a random question, I called each up to hear their take and we have picked the one the 'felt' the best based on their approach to us, the way they said they work and most importantly their post adoption support.

• gut feeling plus
• what do they offer in post adoption support? (very important question! Do they have an open door policy? Do they offer specialised parenting classes, workshops, etc.?
• what kind of child are you looking for? roughly speaking: healthy baby: LA might be better; older children/ BAME children/ sibling groups: VA might be a better fit.
• LAs try to place "their" children first and foremost, so initially there is less "choice", VAs don't have children themselves which means a) you are their priority b) they search nationally straight away

I would always say go for a Local Authority rather than a voluntary agency. LAs have children to match, VAs don't. And VAs generally foist you off to your LA if you need any support inthe future and offer very little themselves - it will be your LA that has a duty to assess your adoption support needs, not a VA. VAs are very good at promising a slick service to get you through to approval, but unless you are seeking a hard-to-place child, VA adopters often wait much longer for a match (it's to do with money, it costs a LA more to "buy" adopters from a VA).

We went to some information evenings and chose the one we felt most comfortable with. Looking back I would have considered more about what they offer for post adoption support. If you are in England, many local authorities are (or will be) part of a regional group of local authority agencies. Some of these regional agencies cover large areas and potentially this should increase ‘internal’ choice of children by increasing the number of local authorities working together, for example Adopt London, Adoption West. If you are looking for a young baby you may want to look into early permanence and whether the agency supports this.

I think it really depends on the specific VA and LA. We have had excellent support from our VA for years, while we have made terrible experiences with an LA. LAs have a duty to assess your post-adoption support needs, but not to then provide that support. So in that respect there is no difference.

Hard-to-place children are often no harder to parent than easy-to-place ones. It can just be their age or ethnicity. "Healthy babies" can turn out to be children with a lot of additional needs.

@MarmiteChocolate Do you have any evidence that VA adopters wait longer for a match? I would be interested in that, because VAs search nationally straight away. I know VA adopters whose entire process - start to placement - took 10 months, while I have heard of LA adopters who had been waiting 4 years. Both are extremes of course.

I would be very careful with the regionalised adoption agencies. They are very new. We have made awful experiences with one. They were not just disorganised but also negligent and unethical.

Personally, because local authorities have children to place and voluntary agencies don't, we went with the local authority.

We were lucky to have excellent post adoption support.

You can also choose a local authority which us not your own but close by.

My friends are currently going with a voluntary agency.

I'm a social worker in a regionalised adoption team and have been for nearly 20 years, also am an adoptive parent and birth parent so have many hats 😀 All I hear from VA social workers when I'm talking to them about family finding is how long it takes for their families. The reality is that a VA family will not be picked if there is an "in house" family or a family from another LA. It costs a lot more basically. I get countless VA families apply for babies I feature on linkmaker and their social workers tell me time and time again (when I am calling them to decline taking the link further) that they know their family won't really be in with a chance because of funding. A VA is fine if you want something that very few families will be looking for - large siblings group or disabilities etc. If you are looking for one white child without too much complexity, a LA is where to go.
Just my twopence worth! It makes me very sad hearing from families who have been swayed by a lot of empty promises from VAs that then do not materialise. That said, there are some shocking LAs around too.

Post adoption support is really important. I think (maybe a social worker can tell me) that for the first three years the placing authority is responsible for providing this. They may have arrangements in place but if you are from London and adopt from up north or vice versa, if the placing authority has great post adoption support, how will you access it?

The child being placed with you is the first step on a life long journey, so yes, matching is important but post adoption support is vital too.

Yes the placing authority are responsible for support in the first three years and depending on distance accessing that support can be tricky, but that’s a separate decision to choosing your approval agency because the placing agency depends on the child. I’d agree with everything @MarmiteChocolate said.

What I meant Jellycatspyjamas was that you may have access to selecting a child from anywhere but the post adoption support could be tied into being in a certain area and that could be difficult. If you go with your local agency or another local agency, you are more likely to be able to access the support.

We met with 4 agencies and the LA. Where we live the LA would not be much help as most of the children they would place would be from the same area.

I would recommend checking what post adoption support they offer. We have not needed it but its good to know it there.

Note if you do meet with multiple agencies then when you commit to one they may need to write to the others to see if they would have accepted you. Not an issue in our case but could come up.

Thankyou everyone I really appreciate your help. I've made some phone calls and have call backs scheduled.

Thanks again

Exciting times. Good luck