My role within Adoption Focus is one of real privilege. As Linking and Matching officer, I work with a variety of wonderful families at the stage where they are getting closer to becoming parents. This can be a time of excitement, apprehension and uncertainty for our prospective adopters.
Once ready to start family finding, it is my job to understand our adopters’ strengths, experience and skills to find children who could be potential matches. I am responsible for supporting and advocating for adopters through the process of finding potential children as links and working closely with all stakeholders to ensure each step in the matching process is carefully considered.
This week, I attended Stage two training to deliver a section on family finding. This is often the first contact I have with families and it’s always an enjoyable experience for me. Every family has their own unique history and motivation to adopt, and it gives me an opportunity to explain the level of support that can be offered, the ways in which we can family find and to give adopters an idea of what is involved in the process.
Adopters often have the same important question: How long will it take to be matched with a child?
This is a difficult one to answer with the length of time being dependent upon the family’s considerations and personal circumstances but to give an indication of possible waiting times, the last 10 families with placements were waiting on average 10 months from when they were approved by our panel to when they were able to bring their children home.
I must confess that although some families do wait longer, those are the matches that are most rewarding to be part of. This week, we have received confirmation that a couple who had been waiting for over 18 months will have their daughter placed tomorrow. Having worked with the family and their social worker closely for such a long time, it’s certainly been gratifying to be part of their journey. Equally, I support some families who are linked within a few short months, and it is a pleasure to see them matched quickly which ultimately reduces waiting times for children in care.
Since the 2002 Adoption and Children Act was introduced, adoption by same sex couples has risen by over 50% and we are proud to have supported many gay couples become families. This week, a same sex female couple were matched with a fantastic little girl who is developing a wonderful relationship with her two mummies. Since starting in the Linking and Matching role last year, I have been fortunate to work with 19 gay couples, 12 of whom have had children placed and seven of whom have been linked with children and are currently in the matching process.
Despite this increase, national adopter sufficiency is currently low and the length of time children with placement orders are waiting is rising. With children with complex needs and sibling groups waiting the longest, family finding can be an emotional process. In July, we had four new families approved by panel. Following approval, I meet with adopters to discuss their considerations and to look at children’s profiles together. Along with most other agencies, we use a platform called Link Maker, which is a social enterprise founded by adoptive parents.
When first viewing profiles, families are often overwhelmed with the number of children needing placements, so it is my job to guide them through the process, carefully considering possible links and liaising with family finding social workers.
Alongside Link Maker, profile exchange events and activity days are useful for finding possible links with children. We are part of the Midlands Together Collaboration (MTC) formed by a group of regional adoption agencies in the Midlands who support one another in the family finding process. At the last MTC profile exchange event, adopters were able to introduce themselves to several family finding social workers, ask questions about specific children and meet with other adopters. This resulted in three successful matches and the feedback from our adopters was highly positive.
Starting from September, I will be working closely with the training and social worker teams to deliver some new online sessions for those adopters in the family finding process. These will be held bimonthly, and each session will focus on a specific aspect of linking and matching. I am really excited about bringing our family finding community together to share their experiences with one another. The adoption process is an emotional time and having the support of families who can relate to the journey and offer reassurance will hopefully be comforting and encouraging.
Last week I accompanied one of our social workers to a visit a couple I supported to find their match with two little girls. It is difficult to explain how uplifting it was to see these children being collected from school by their dad and running home to see their mum. The house was different from when I visited before they had the girls; there were colourful wellies in the porch and toys scattered around the living room. The girls were full of chatter, silliness and excitement about end of term fun at school. They were home…safe, loved and comfortable. Being part of that is something very special and I feel very fortunate to be advocating for adopters and children in my role.
