Adoptivep VALUES

IF YOU ARE THINKING OF ADOPTING, THE LONDON BOROUGH OF WANDSWORTH PARTICULARLY WELCOMES APPLICATIONS FROM LGBT PEOPLE

COULD YOU BE THE ADOPTERS THAT WANDSWORTH ARE LOOKING FOR? We have a particular responsibility for a number of children in Wandsworth for whom we are seeking a loving permanent family, and right now we are looking for adoptive families. Some of these children are older, some are siblings who need to be placed together forever, and some are very young children who have physically and emotionally complex needs and uncertain futures. We appreciate that not everyone feels that they have the capacity to meet some of these children’s needs, but part of our task is to challenge you to think more widely — to push your own limits and beliefs about the kind of child that you could manage and love.

We are an inclusive adoption service, and are interested in hearing from people who are able to meet the needs of our children. We particularly welcome applications from people from the lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender communities. But, don’t just take our word for it, please read on for two couples’ experiences. ADOPTION WITH WANDSWORTH We came to Wandsworth after reviewing the adoption process in several local authorities; asking friends who have already adopted; reading adoption magazines; and, finally, by looking at the performance generally of the local authorities in question. It quickly became clear that Wandsworth stood out as a model of efficiency and good management. We felt that this would result in a good overall adoption experience.

We were very happy to have our choice proven right very quickly; Wandsworth were able to deal with our application in an effective and responsive way from the very start. We dealt with the same people right the way through our application and were able to contact them quickly when necessary.

Once the initial assessments were finished we were signed up for an induction group. The induction course was very well put together with a number of presentations, group activities and opportunities to share our experiences with other members of our group. My partner and I felt that we had some insights that were valuable and we certainly picked up useful skills and resources from other members of the group and also from the coordinating social workers. We found that the course was aimed at getting participants to think about what might happen during the adoption process, how we might conduct adoption searches, how matching took place, eventual placement and its immediate challenges and then the aftermath of the