If you have decided that adoption is best for your child and formally agreed to this, you will be asked to choose the adoptive parents you feel will be best for your child. There is a process of matching your child to approved adoptive parents.
Screening Adoptive Parents
Adoption Service carefully screens people who want to adopt children in Western Australia. This includes a Police record check, a Department for Child Protection internal screening check and a detailed medical report. Adoptive applicants attend seminars to learn about adoption and the particular needs of adoptive children.
After the screening process is done applicants participate in a very intensive assessment. An assessment report is written and then presented to a committee of experts who decide if the applicants are suitable to adopt a child. This committee is called the Adoption Applications Committee.
Choosing the Adoptive Parents
An Adoption Service social worker will ask you about the important qualities you want in the adoptive parents, as well as preferred lifestyle choices. As far as possible, a match will be made with this information and applicants who have been approved and are waiting on a placement of a child.
Profiles of applicants waiting to adopt a child
You will be given profiles of families who are approved to adopt. The profiles will include information on each family’s qualities, lifestyle, religion and medical history, as well as other important information.
Usually there are around three or four profiles to consider. From these, you can choose the family you think would best meet your child’s needs.
A new family, a new surname
The child will usually take the last name of the adoptive parents. However, the child’s first name cannot be changed unless the new family gets permission from the Family Court of Western Australia.
For more information see: