Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council

Adoption

Adoption today is very different from adoption of the past - even as little as five or ten years ago.

Adoption in the past usually involved babies being placed by unmarried mothers and adopted at a young age. The age of children requiring adoption has traditionally been under two years old.

Today adoption usually involves children in the care of local authorities and these children are likely to be over two years old and some of these children have had some damaging experiences.

In the past the Adoption Order was usually seen as the end of the process and adoption was a closed and secretive topic. Today adoption is a lifelong process, which provides a child with a family to call their own, and also cherishes the child's birth family link.

The first consideration in adoption is the welfare of the child. Our main aim in recruiting adopters is to find safe and suitable families for children who cannot live with their own families.

Stockton Council aims to recruit adopters within a 50 miles radius of Stockton-on-Tees although we are flexible in this and will consider applicants outside of this range.

These pages provide more information about adopters and becoming an adopter as well as support for adopted people, birth relatives, adopters and relatives of adopters.

About the Child Placement Team

We act as an adoption agency to provide services to both adults and children whose lives have been affected by adoption:

• We assess and approve people to become prospective adopters.
• We find families and place children for adoption.
• We offer advice, guidance and support to adults who were adopted, families who have adopted, birth parents who have had their children placed for adoption.

The Child Placement Team look after both fostering and adoption cases and organise training and development sessions for the carers. The team is made up of a Child Placement Manager, Supervising Social Workers, a Support Worker, Team Clerks and a Marketing and Recruitment Officer.

Each foster carer and adopter has their own dedicated Supervising Social Worker, who has a wealth of experience of supporting and supervising carers. They will work with you to match children who need placements and offer full support, development and training.

The Child Placement Team also provides services to both adults and children whose lives have been affected by adoption.

If you choose to foster or adopt through Stockton Council you will receive:

• a friendly service tailored to your needs
• a dedicated Supervising Social Worker that will take you through the whole process
• full support, training and development
• an allowance to cover the everyday expenditure that caring for a child involves.