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Service information

Adoption process


  1. Fill in the reply for Complete the Adoption Enquiry Form.
  2. A customer service officer will contact you to discuss your enquiry and will advise you of forthcoming Adoption in the Black Country Information Evenings, which you are able to attend regardless of whether your adoption offer is pursued by Walsall Council.
  3. Once you have considered all the information and want to pursue your interest in adoption further, complete an adoption offer form and the permission form to undertake initial statutory checks and return it to Walsall Council.
  4. Once received, your adoption offer will be passed to the Adoption Team Manager, who will consider whether you have the potential to meet the needs of children awaiting adoption in Walsall.
  5. A Social Worker may contact you to arrange a visit to your home to complete an initial assessment of your circumstances.
  6. The initial assessment will be discussed with the Adoption Team Manager and yourselves and a decision will be made whether we would like to continue your application to be assessed as prospective adoptive parents.
  7. You may then be offered an office appointment to complete your adoption application form and to nominate referees to support you in your application. You will also need to produce documentation to enable us to process statutory checks.
  8. You will be booked onto the next available adoption preparation training course, which is run as part of the Adoption in the Black Country Consortium.
  9. Following completion of the course, the Adoption Team Manager will allocate your case to a Social Worker who will work with you to undertake your assessment and complete a prospective adopters report.
  10. Prior to being presented to Walsall Adoption Panel, applicants will have the opportunity to read and comment of their prospective adopters report. A decision about proceeding is made by the agency in consultation with applicants
  11. Applicants are invited to attend panel together with their assessing Social Worker.  
  12. Panel will make a recommendation to the agency decision maker regarding whether you are ‘suitable to adopt a child’.  
  13. The Agency's decision maker makes the final decision and you will be informed

The national standards timescale reference is 8 months from receipt of your application to consideration of your application by the Adoption Panel.

Contact us

Walsall Adoption Service
Pinfold Health Centre
Field Road
Bloxwich
Walsall
WS3 3JJ

Enquiries Freephone 0800 923 3706
All other calls 0845 111 2839
Email familyplacementsservices@walsall.gov.uk

This page was last updated on 05 December 2011