No one has a right to adopt

As the UK is discussing a major overhaul for streamlining some of the bureaucracy and prospective parent checks, this commentary underscores the importance of not forgetting the best interest of the child in the equation. This is a must-read as it completely applies to all adoptions, regardless of country.

“The system does need an overhaul. But speed isn’t everything, and children’s welfare must come first.

The government has announced an overhaul of the way in which prospective adopters are assessed in order to speed up the process.

No parent has a right to abuse a child. Children who’ve been abused or neglected need state care.

That care has to make up for the care that was missing before, and it requires a very high level of skill as well as love – love plus.


Assessing adopters is rocket science. Today, Tim Loughton, the children’s minister, announced an overhaul of the way in which prospective adopters are currently assessed, to speed up the system. Evidence and analysis should underpin each stage of the adoption process. Children who have already experienced loss and often trauma would demand nothing less. No citizen has a right to adopt.


Children who have been placed with the wrong people, whose adoptions have broken down, and who have come back into the care system a second time, teach us that the assessment process has to be robust.

Having said that, the current process takes far too long. Gaps of weeks and sometimes months are regularly reported by those being assessed – many of them have received no decent explanation for the delays. Rail staff will these days tell you if a train is delayed by a few minutes: such customer care standards also need to be imported into the adoption assessment process. While adoption is a service to children, not adopters, too few agencies convey the urgency in the race against time to place a vulnerable child in care permanently before they lose hope or suffer damage by being left in limbo with short-term foster carers. The voice of the child is too often lost in current bureaucratic processes.

Adoption assessment has been refined over the years, including stronger matching processes between the adopter and the child needing care. Best practice examples include the use of video to bring a child with special needs to life in a short film which prospective adopters can see – thereby seeing the child, not just the disability. Describing a child on paper can highlight complex needs in a way that can be more daunting and off-putting. Adoption parties can subtly bring children and prospective adopters together in a carefully staged and managed social event which can lead to adopters falling in love with a particular child. More modern methods can promote better adoptions – the emphasis must be on better adoptions, not just speed.


Preparation and assessment of adopters should be completed within six months. Experience shows that most adopters need about this length of time to come to terms with the nature and consequences of making a lifetime commitment to a child. The problem is if this six months becomes nine, then 12, and then even longer.

When I was adopted, my adoptive parents were not assessed. I wish they had been. They would have learnt a lot through today’s process. They were also not supported afterwards and I would have benefited if they had been. Good pre-placement preparation and good post-adoption support are indispensable parts of the adoption process. Each child and each adopter needs to be psychologically ready for adoption.


The adoption system does need an overhaul; but to be successful, whole system reform is needed, not just streamlined adopter assessment. Equal emphasis must be given to reducing delays in court cases, and to giving a greater priority in access to public services for children in care, particularly early access to child and adolescent mental health services. And the assessment process must not become so light-touch that children’s safety is compromised.”

No one has a right to adopt
[Guardian 12/22/11 by  Anthony Douglas]

Put this in your  and smoke it, Craig Juntunen!

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