Placement for adoption means that the adoption agency formally arranges for a child to live with. Adoption agencies assess people who want to adopt children (prospective adopters), to make sure they are suitable. An adoption agency will either be within a local authority (which will have children in its care). Or they might be an independent organisation, called a voluntary adoption agency.
Before a child can be placed with a family who wants to adopt them, children’s services and the Family Court have to follow certain legal procedures. These are explained in The Adoption and Children Act 2002.
It says children’s services can only place a child with a family for adoption if:
Even if the Agency Decision Maker has approved a plan for a child to be placed for adoption, the adoption agency cannot actually act on the plan unless the court makes a placement order.
But, remember, these procedures do not need to be followed in the same way where a child is being cared for in a foster for adoption placement.