Well it’s not because we are simply nosy! 

Adopted children are likely to have been through some very tough times. This has occurred at a stage in their lives when they are at their most vulnerable. We need to make sure that their needs can be met and that they can be given all the things they have missed out on so that they can develop and grow.

So people who adopt children need to understand all that and to be able to parent children in a different way. This is not always easy and it helps us to prepare adopters if we know them well and can understand how they learn, how their experiences have affected them and what their strengths and vulnerabilities are.

We need to know that children are going to be safe- they may have come from an unsafe situation so need to feel and be safe in their adoptive home. So we check that adopters can keep children safe and provide safe care for them.

We need to know that adoptive parents will have the support of their family and friends so that a child adopted by them has a warm and loving extended family and community to support them and their parents as they grow.

We ask questions so that we can understand which child or children  the adoptive parents would be the right family for- adoption does not mean you can parent any adopted child- it needs to be the right match between the adoptive parents and the child or children. That means that the parents are able to give what the child needs.

It’s not a one-way street- we encourage prospective adopters to ask lots of questions too- we see it as a partnership and we think our adoptive parents also see it that way.