Becoming an adoptive parent

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About this service

Wiltshire Council is an approved adoption agency, which arranges adoptions for children; approves adoptive families; matches children needing adoption with suitable adoptive families who can meet their needs, and provides a support service to adoptive families.

Enquiries are welcomed from people of any ethnic, cultural or religious background with an interest in being considered for assessment as adoptive parents, including couples whether married or not, gay or lesbian, and single people.

You can enquire online by filling in the Online Application Form.

Some applicants may choose to apply to adopt a child from overseas rather than a local child (domestic adoption), view the Inter-country adoption page for more information.

What are the legal requirements for prospective adopters?

There are three ‘eligibility criteria’ which apply:

1. Minimum age – an individual or both if a couple must be over 21 years of age
2. Specified offences – where an individual or another member of their household has committed or been cautioned for a specified criminal offence at age 18 or over, they will not be considered eligible to adopt.
3. Residency – a couple must have been habitually resident in part of the British Isles for at least one year ending with the date of the application to the court for an Adoption Order

What is the process for preparing, assessing and approving adopters?

Provided applicants meet our eligibility criteria, they may be invited to take part in training/preparation, as well as a detailed assessment process, involving a number of home visits, checks and references.

An assessment report (Form PAR) will be completed and presented to the Adoption Panel, which will make a recommendation to the agency about the applicants’ suitability to be adoptive parents.

Related documents

• Information for prospective adopters 47kb Information for prospective adopters

Related links

• British Association for Adoption & Fostering
• National Statistics

Last updated: 18 November 2010