Adoption

Adoption is a way of providing new families for children who cannot be brought up by their own parents or their natural extended families. Normally adoption is only considered when every other possible alternative has been explored.

Adoption is a legal process. An Adoption Order makes an adopted child a full member of your family and  transfers all the rights and duties of parents to  you.  Once it has been granted and Adoption Order cannot be reversed.

This section provides an overview of the adoption process and aims to help you decide whether the idea of adopting a child or children is something you might wish to take further

Article		Description
	Why Children Need Adopting	Examples of why children need adopting
	Who Can Adopt	The myths and facts about who can adopt a child
	What Sort of Children Need Adopting	The ages and profiles of children who are placed for adoption
	Adoption - things to consider	Some things you should think about before making a decision about adoption
	Becoming an Approved Adopter	The process for training and assessing people wishing to adopt.
	Matching Children to Family	How we match children to their new adoptive families
	Common Health Questions	Each child to be placed for adoption has a full medical and development examination carried out by an experienced paediatrician on behalf of the adoption agency
	After Adoption	Support Services for adopters
	About the Adoption Team	Information about the Adoption Team and how to contact us
	Adoption - Expression of Interest	If you think you may be interested in adopting a child and want to know more please complete our Expression of Interest Form
	Contact Us	Contacting the Adoption Team
	Adopting from abroad	How to find information about adopting adopting a child from another country
	Adoption Agencies in Reading	Other local agencies who can train and assess prospective adopters