What to do if you disagree with your child being adopted?

You may be the parent of a child who has been looked after by the local authority.  If an adoption plan has been set up for your child - you may or may not agree with it. 

What should you do?

If you do not agree you should get legal advice. You will also be offered counselling from the Connecting Adoptive Families Independant Services (CAFIS). This service is available for parents who are requesting adoption of a child or do not agree with the plan for adoption.

Appeal

If you wish to appeal against the adoption plan, your Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) should be able to put you in touch with a solicitor - you may be entitled to legal aid. After this, the court will ask an independent social worker to visit you. Their job is to safeguard your child's interests and so they will want you to explain why you disagree with the adoption plan. They will feed back your views to the court. You will also have the chance to attend the court hearing yourself (if you want to) and to state your reasons for appealing. The court will not make an adoption order unless it is sure it is in your child's best interests.

The Children Act 1989 asks social workers to explore the possibility of placing the child within the extended family if they cannot be cared for by the birth parent.

In every decision the child's welfare is the first consideration.