Background to adoption in Rochdale
Adoption has changed markedly over the past 30 years. In 1977
20,000 children were placed for Adoption. The majority of these
were babies. Thirty years later as society's views and attitudes
have changed this figure has decreased greatly. In 1999 2,200
children were placed for adoption. Over the past six years however,
this figure has grown due to greater acknowledgement of the role
adoption can play in making permanent plans for children. Although
the number of children adopted has dropped in the past 30 years the
number of children adopted from care has grown. In the last five
years Rochdale has placed on average 20 children each year for
adoption.
The majority of these children placed for Adoption have been
removed from their parents through the court system due to
maltreatment or risk of harm in one form or another. All of these
children will have had their plan for adoption approved by the
court.
These children come to adoption with their own identity,
background and family history, all of which will impact on their
adoptive home and require understanding and acceptance in order to
increase the possibility of a successful placement.
Children who come into care are in most cases initially placed
in foster care. Great efforts are made to keep siblings
together.
Children awaiting adoption need careful preparation and
explanation about what is going to happen to them and why. It will
include preparing a Life Story Book for a child to take with them
into adoption. This will contain information vital to the child
about his family and identity. Some birth parents feel able to help
in this process to help their children move on to another
family.
Most children will need to maintain some level of contact with
their birth parents in order to promote their self-esteem and
identity. In most cases this is achieved through indirect letterbox
contact, although for some children direct contact with significant
family members will be an identified need.