ADOPTION PROCEDURES & GUIDANCE
SECTION 10 – APPENDIX B
MATCHING CRITERIA
Context
The Adoption : National Minimum Standards 2011 state:
· Children benefit from stable placements and are matched and placed with prospective adopters who can meet most, if not all, of their assessed needs
· Children feel loved, safe and secure with their prospective adoptive parents with whom they were originally placed; and these children were placed within 12 months of the decision of the agency’s decision maker that they should be placed for adoption
In matching children with approved adopters, the adoption agency takes into account the views and feelings of the child as far as these can be ascertained based on his age and understanding, the child’s care plan and recent written assessments of the child and his birth family, the potential adoptive parents and their children.
The Adoption Guidance: Adoption & Children Act 2002: First revision February 2011 states:
“If the prospective adopter can meet most of the child’s needs, the social worker must not delay placing a child with the prospective adopters because they are single, older than other adopters or does not share the child’s racial or cultural background…………Any practice that classifies couples/single people in a way that effectively rules out the adoption because of their status, age or because they and the child do not share the same racial or cultural background is not child centred and is unacceptable”
Drawing up the Matching Criteria for a Specific Child
The matching criteria should be both broad ranging and specific to the individual needs of the child concerned. They serve four separate although inter-related purposes:
1) To identify all aspects of the child’s background, early life experiences and legal situation that different prospective adopters may feel able or not able to consider/accept.
2) To identify all aspects of the child him/herself and his/her needs in order that any adoptive families under consideration can be considered in the light of these particular aspects/needs.
3) To detail any wishes expressed by the birth parent(s) in relation to the child’s future placement. Good practice suggests that where possible the placing agency should elicit the broader wishes of the birth parents and take them into account when seeking to identify an appropriate placement for the child but this should not contribute to delay.
4) To detail the child’s wishes.
The matching criteria should therefore detail:
· Key issues in the child’s background (i.e., those that some adopters may feel unable to consider or unable to in time explain to the child, or may be unable to accept the possible implications of e.g., incest, rape, drug or alcohol abuse, parental mental ill health or learning impairments, genetic conditions within the extended family).
· Key issues in the child’s earlier history and the implications that these have in terms of the child’s future health, development (including emotional and behavioural) and ability to form attachments.
· The child’s legal situation and the implications of this (i.e., while a voluntarily relinquished child might seem legally the most straightforward, if the birth parent(s) change their mind(s) about the adoption plan, depending on the circumstances, rehabilitation may be in the best interests of the child and therefore the option that the local authority would support). This should include details of anticipated contact post placement and how the pattern of this may change as the child matures. The criteria should also identify the likelihood of the birth parent(s):
o Seeking to oppose any future adoption application.
o Seeking to apply for a contact order, either at the time of the adoption application or subsequently
(Different prospective adopters will be able to consider/cope with different levels of legal uncertainty or challenge).
· Full details of the child’s individual/personal needs including:
o Age (chronological age and developmental stage if different).
o Ethnic origin
o Cultural background
o Religion
o Language
o Health needs – those over and above the norm for a child of his/her age (including any relating to a diagnosed or apparent disability and/or any potential genetic risks e.g., parent unknown).
o Ability to form appropriate attachments/attachment difficulties.
o Emotional and/or behavioural difficulties or needs over and above the norm for a child of his/her age.
o Intellectual potential and any identified or anticipated special needs.
o Educational needs.
o Personality e.g., introvert/extrovert/loud or boisterous/attention seeking/withdrawn or passive. For very young children it is useful to assess the personalities of the birth parents (accepting that their life experiences may have adversely impacted on how they present) as basic personality traits may have a genetic component. For older children it is useful to assess how they present/have presented in different care environments.
o Physical appearance (while identifying a good physical match is rarely a major matching consideration, where a child’s appearance in terms of height, build or colouring is particularly striking, this may increase the importance placed on achieving a good physical match i.e., a child who is exceptionally tall or exceptionally petite). For very young children the physical appearance of their birth parents should be considered but is not usually a determining factor
o Interests and any special skills/abilities.
· The composition of the adoptive family most appropriate to the child’s needs e.g., a two parent family or a single parent of a specific sex: a childless family or a family where the prospective adopter(s) have already in part had their parenting needs met by having older birth or adopted children. Any specific criteria identified must be evidenced
· Any expressed wishes of the birth parent(s) e.g., that the child be:
o Placed with a family of a particular religious persuasion/with a non-religious family
o Placed with adopters who do not have children.
o Should not grow up as an only child
o Placed with adopters who live a urban or rural environment
· Any expressed wishes of the child , however trivial should be considered
· Any geographical factors e.g.,
o Outside of the placing authority’s area (to avoid identification); within 3 hours travelling distance of the placing authority (to facilitate direct contact arrangements etc.)
Note – This is not an exhaustive list, additional issues may be relevant to specific children and must in that case be included.
Producing the Matching Criteria
The matching criteria must be drawn up as a written document that can be shared with prospective adopters, their link workers and the adoption panel.
The document can be drawn up by either the child’s social worker or the child’s identified family finder. Where possible both should contribute to the final document.
In drawing up the matching criteria, social workers should draw on the information available in any current assessments of the child (i.e., educational or health assessments (including the adoption medical report) any assessments completed by ‘experts’ as part of recent or ongoing Court proceedings, or any assessments specially commissioned outside of the Court arena to look at aspects of the child’s behaviours, emotional needs, attachment issues etc.
The criteria should also reflect discussion with the child’s main carer(s) and others who have a significant level of involvement with the child (e.g., nursery or schoolteacher, play therapist etc).
The information given in the matching criteria should be specific to its purpose and does not need to contain any detail on the child’s background/life experiences etc., that is not relevant to the matching process (both the prospective adopters under consideration and the adoption panel will additionally see the CPR on the child).
The criteria must be specific and evidenced i.e., general statements about a child needing ‘a loving, caring family’ are unhelpful..
Different criteria may be weighted differently when seeking a match. This should be reflected in the criteria either by order or by stating against each criteria whether it is essential or preferred. The matching criteria is an important document which plays a central role in ensuring that the most appropriate match is identified for the child and therefore that any placement made has the best chance of being successful in the long term. This should be reflected in the time invested in drawing up the criteria and the range of issues included in it.
Once the criteria is drawn up in writing, it is often useful to draw up a grid that reflects the criteria, using such a grid can aid objectivity when considering different families alongside the child’s specific placement needs. The grid should detail whether each criteria is deemed ‘essential’ or ‘preferred’ and essential criteria should be placed above preferred criteria. A scoring system may be used
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Adoption Procedures – Section 10 – Appendix B
September 2011
EXAMPLE MATCHING CRITERIA FOR CHILD X
Placement needs to be met / Essential/Preferred / Family 1 / Family 2 / Family 3Key factors in X’s background (and the implications of these)
Key issues in X’s earlier history (and the implications of these)
X’s legal situation (and the implications of this)
Contact Issues (on placement and in the longer term)
Child’s Age (chronological age and development stage)
Ethnic Origin
Cultural Background
Religion
Language
X’s health needs (including any disability issues)
X’s emotional and/or behavioural issues (including any attachment difficulties)
X’s intellectual potential/needs
X’s educational needs
X’s main personality traits
Physical appearance
Interests/skills/abilities
The composition of the adoptive family most appropriate to the child’s needs
Any stated wishes of the birth mother
Any stated wishes of the birth father
Any expressed wishes of the child
Geographical factors etc., etc., etc.
September 2011