Adoption

Children need the long-term security that family life can offer. Adoption is a way of providing permanent families for children, who cannot, for whatever reason, be brought up by their own parents. Adoption is for life! It is a legal procedure in which all parental responsibility is transferred to the adopters with the adopted child becoming a full member of the new family.

There are thousands of children waiting to be adopted and the Government has set a targets to increase the number of adoptions by at least 40% by 2004/05 from a baseline of 2,700 in 1999/2000. To meet this objective more potential adopters need to be encouraged to come forward.

Bringing up a child can be mutually rewarding and great fun as well as hard work and a big responsibility. This is especially so when you choose to bring up a child who was not born to you. But whatever the challenges, adoptive parents have the opportunity to change a child's life and to provide a better future through the security and stability of a permanent loving home.

It is the fundamental right of every child to belong to a family, a principle underpinned in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which the UK ratified in 1991. Where children cannot live with their birth families, society has a duty to provide them with a fresh start and adoption is one means of doing so.

Research shows that generally, adopted children make very good progress through their childhood and into adulthood compared with children who have remained in the care system throughout most of their childhood.

Information pack

If you are interested in adoption and want further information, you can contact the Adoption and Permanence Team and ask for an adoption information pack.

The pack will explain about who can adopt, the adoption process, adoption support, preparing to adopt, and answer frequently asked questions.

We have leaflets giving information regarding 'After Adoption Yorkshire' and the 'Letterbox' scheme.

The Adoption and Permanence team has a selection of leaflets, books, videos and CD ROMs that are available to adoptive applicants.

Useful contacts

The Adoption and Permanence Team
Ground Floor
Wellington House
36 Wellington House
Barnsley
S70 1WA

Telephone: 01226 775876
Fax: 01226 775864
Email: Adoption and Fostering

Office hours: Monday - Thursday 8.45 am - 5.00pm, Friday 8.45am - 4.30pm

Viv Stuart
Adoption and Permanence Team Manager
Telephone: 01226 775876
Email: Adoption and FosteringWebsites

British Association for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF)
Skyline House
200 Union Street
London
SE1 0LX

Telephone: 020 7593 2000
Email: BAAF

Offers information and support on all aspects of adoption.

Adoption UK
Manor Farm
Appletree Road
Chipping Warden
Banbury
Oxfordshire
OX17 1LH

Telephone: 0870 7700 450
Email: Adoption UK
Offers support and information before, during and after adoption. A parent-to-parent network of more than 3,500 existing and potential adoptive parents.

After Adoption Yorkshire
31 Moor Road
Headingley
Leeds
LS6 4BG

Telephone: 0113 230 2100
Fax: 0113 278 6050
Email: After Adoption Yorkshire

Offer appointments in a number of local areas, including Barnsley. Telephone advice line, confidential advice and counselling, support groups for adopted people, adoptive parents and birth parents. An intermediary service for people who have traced a relative and want to make contact, mediation service on adoption issues.

Useful websites

Barnsley Safeguarding Children Board