Who can adopt

We are looking for people who are warm and compassionate. People with flexibility and resilience to give a child a happy home.

• Be at least 21. There’s no upper age limit.
• Have a spare room for your adopted child.
• Live near our London, Bristol or Birmingham offices. We recruit within a 50 miles radius of Bristol or Birmingham or an hour’s journey from London.
• Have been a UK resident for at least a year.

Your finances

You don’t need to be “well off” but you will need to show you can support a child financially.

Your relationships

You can be single, married, cohabiting, in a civil partnership, widowed or divorced. Stability is essential, so we ask that, if you’re in a relationship, it’s been stable for at least two years.

Your home

It doesn’t matter whether you own or rent your home. But the child you adopt would need their own bedroom.

Your health

Your health is important. You’ll need to look after a child for a long time. Having a disability doesn’t stop you from adopting but it’s something we’ll talk about. If you smoke or vape, you won’t be able to adopt a child under five. We ask that adopters have stopped smoking or vaping for one year before we start an assessment.

Your childcare experience

It helps if you’ve looked after children before. This could be your own or other people's (for example, volunteering in a nursery, pre-school, primary school or playgroup). Don’t worry if you don’t have much experience, we can help you get some.

Your availability

You need to be around to support your child. Ideally, you’ll need to take six months off work when the child comes to live with you. For couples, the main carer will need to take this time off – or you can take shared adoption leave.

Your pets

Lots of our adopters have pets. We’ll just need to make sure that your pet isn’t a threat to a child, so we may ask for a vet’s report.

Your criminal record

We carry out police (DBS) checks on all applicants. You can’t adopt if you’ve been convicted of a criminal offence involving children, and other serious crimes may also disqualify you. But having a criminal record isn’t always a barrier – get in touch to find out more.