The Adoption Process

The adoption process involves a number of different stages which will help prepare you and give you information and opportunity to decide if adoption is right for you and your family.

1. Read our information pages - you can find this online at the tabs above.

We would ask that all potential adopters read through our online information to ensure you meet our criteria and have an understanding of what our processes entail.   Once you have completed this fill in our enquiry form and a social worker will get in touch to organise an initial screening interview with you.

2. Initial Interview

A social worker will visit you at home to discuss what adoption means, your motivation for adopting, go through some things you need to think about and get an idea of what your situation is. This is your opportunity to ask us questions (no question is a stupid question!) and for us to find out a bit about you and your family.

3. Preparation Training

We will ask you to attend a preparation training course which will be held over a number of days and delivered by our adoption team workers. This will give you lots more information about the adoption process and what it entails.  At the end of the course we will follow up with a post group interview to check out how your feeling, where you are at and discuss anything we think you might need to consider.

4. Application and Home Study Assessment

If you proceed to make an application, and we accept this, you will be allocated your own assessing social worker and will begin your home study assessment. The home study assessment will involve regular meetings with your social worker, work completed by yourselves and various checks being undertaken as well as your social worker meeting with your wider support network. This process requires applicants to be reflective about their own experiences and how this has impacted upon them. We recognise that the homestudy assessment can be emotional and it is important that all applicants feel able to take time to work through this assessment with care.

5. Adoption Panel

Following the completion of your homestudy assessment a recommendation from your assessing social worker will be made to the Adoption and Fostering Panel within West Lothian about whether you should be approved as a prospective adopter. You will have opportunity to attend the panel and speak with the members about your motivation to adopt. Prior to the panel you will be clear about what your social workers recommendation is and will have opportunity to discuss this with the Adoption Manager. Your social worker will support you to prepare for panel and will be there with you.  

The Adoption and Permanence panel will make a recommendation to our Agency Decision Maker who will write to you within two weeks of the panel with a decision on your application. If you are not approved you have the right to appeal this decision.

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