Minister launches adoption information pack

The Health Minister has launched a new training pack, 'Preparing To Adopt', which has been compiled for adults who are thinking about adopting children.

Speaking at the Dunadry Hotel launch, Bairbre de Brun said all children were entitled to grow up in a "loving family that can meet their needs throughout childhood and beyond".

She added: "In the past too many looked-after children have been denied this opportunity. I am determined that for those children, whose families are clearly unable to care for them in the long term, adoption must be considered as a means of providing them with a family for life.”

The ‘Preparing to Adopt’ pack is designed to provide a systematic framework with practical guidance on the process of preparation for adoption. It also provides material such as how the legal and administrative processes work, as well as emotion advice on issues such as attachment, stability and resilience.

The ‘Preparing to Adopt’ training pack has been developed by the British Association for Adoption and Fostering with financial support from the health department. Home First Health and Social Services Trust helped to test out the material in the pack.

Each year there are about 130 adoptions, 65 of which are children in public care who are unable to return to their birth family.

For the last two years, the health department has secured allocations of £1.9 million of additional funding to support a number of adoption initiatives.

(MB)