Matching

This can be an unpredictable and frustrating as well as an exciting part of the adoption process. It may feel as though a lot of time is spent waiting for information and responses and there may be some disappointments when potential matches don’t work out.  

It’s important to take care of your wellbeing during this time. Some prospective adopters take the opportunity to continue to carry out research and training, to prepare their homes for the arrival of a child, or to take a holiday.  

The social worker who supported you through your preparation and approval will now be responsible for working on your behalf to seek a child or children who may be a suitable match for you. They should know you well and should be well placed to help you to be successfully matched. If you’ve been approved by a local authority, a consortium of local authorities, or in Northern Ireland a Health and Social Care Trust (Adoption Agency) they’ll assess whether any of the children in their care, who are awaiting adoption, may be a suitable match for you. They’ll always try to match you with children in their care first, before the search goes any wider.   

Voluntary adoption agencies don’t have children in their care but receive the details of children awaiting adoption from local authorities or trusts. These are usually children for whom no suitable match exists within their ‘pool’ of approved adopters. If you’ve been approved to adopt by a voluntary agency, they’ll begin by searching for suitable matches for you from the local authorities or trusts they work with.  

Prospective adopters in Scotland, England and Wales can register their details with Link Maker, a social enterprise that enables adoption agencies and prospective adopters to register and connect through a secure online platform. In Wales, Link Maker provides the Adoption Register Wales and adopters are requested to add their information at least one month after approval. There is also a requirement that all children with a Placement Order (PO) and plan of adoption will have their details added within one month of the PO being granted. 

As a prospective adopter you’ll be able to see the details of children awaiting adoption. Adoption agencies will be able to see your profile and consider whether you’re a potential match for children they’re finding a family for. In Northern Ireland your details will be registered with the Adoption Regional Information System (ARIS) and this is used by a child’s social worker to search for potential matches.  

As you begin to search for a potential match, you may need to prepare a personal profile. This is usually a single page profile containing all your key information. It allows a child’s social worker to assess whether you could be a likely match, without having to read your full approval documentation. Your social worker will help you to prepare your personal profile, make sure it contains the right information and that it promotes your strengths.  

These are run by a group of adoption agencies in a particular area and are a chance for prospective adopters to come and explore the profiles of children awaiting a match, and chat to the children’s social workers about them. Your social worker will tell you about any exchange days coming up in your area.  

In Wales Adoption Activity Days and Adoption Exchange Days are organised and run by the Adoption Register Wales (ARW) and information can be obtained through contacting the ARW team. 

Children’s social workers often call the matching stage ‘family finding’. A child’s social worker is looking for the most suitable match for the children they’re tasked with finding an adoptive family for. It’s their job to scrutinise the details of prospective adopters and decide whether they might meet the needs of the child.  

If a child’s social worker thinks you may be a suitable match, they’ll contact your social worker and arrange to meet you.  You’ll be given details about the child or children. You don’t have to go ahead with the meeting if you don’t believe the match would be right for you, and it’s important not to feel pressured into pursuing a match at any stage of the matching process.   

The child’s social worker will have read your approval documentation and will want to meet you in person. They’ll provide you with full information at this stage such as the child’s birth family set-up including their siblings, the reasons the child no longer lives with their birth family, their medical history and school records. You’ll also have the opportunity to ask questions and it’s well worth considering everything you’d like to know at this stage.    

The child’s social worker may consider several prospective adopters at the same time. It can be difficult knowing you’re in a ‘competitive’ process, particularly if another prospective adopter is considered a more suitable match. If this happens to you, it’s important not to be discouraged. The child’s social worker will be looking for a prospective adopter who can best meet the needs of that particular child.   

This part of the adoption process can feel emotionally demanding, particularly if you’ve been waiting for a long time. You can take a break from the process if you need to, and this won’t count against you.  

Once a child’s social worker has met with you and decided that you’d be a good match for a particular child, they’ll prepare a recommendation for the matching panel at the child’s local authority. Along with your social worker, they’ll prepare the relevant information for the matching panel to consider. This will include an adoption placement report, which includes your details and suitability to meet the needs of the child, and an adoption support plan. In Northern Ireland, this process may be slightly different at this stage although the same considerations for matching are made.  

You’ll be given the opportunity to comment on the adoption placement report and these comments must be given to the panel.  

It’s well worth taking time to consider the post-adoption support detailed in the support plan and talking through with your social worker whether you think it’ll be sufficient given all the details you’ve been given about the child and their current and potential future needs. It’s also important to discuss with your social worker whether an Adoption Allowance is applicable. This is a financial allowance that’s sometimes given, if a child has significant needs and paid either as a one off payment or over an agreed period of time. It’s usually more difficult to secure an Adoption Allowance once you’ve adopted a child. Decisions to pay Adoption Allowances vary considerably across the country. A Settling-in Grant can also be given to pay for large items e.g beds or car seats. 

You may be invited to the matching panel to answer any questions that the panel have. As with the approval panel, the matching panel considers the suitability of the match and makes a recommendation to the child’s local authority which makes the final decision. While they usually follow the panel’s recommendation, this isn’t always the case.  

Once the match has been approved and as long the child has a legal plan for adoption in place, the adoption process moves on to the next stage – introductions and placement.