If you wish to adopt a child from overseas and you are a resident of Thurrock, Havering or Southend,  you can contact Partners in Adoption on 0800 652 1271 for further discussion or information. Alternatively complete the request form and send it to us, we will send out an information pack. 

Although there are many children in England who are looking for an adoptive family, there are also children overseas who need homes and Intercountry Adoption may be their only opportunity to belong to a permanent family. Intercountry Adopters need to be assessed and approved by their Local Authority in this country before they are able to adopt from outside the UK. They also need to meet all the requirements of the adoption system in the country from which they choose to adopt.  This country needs to be identified at the outset of the process, and adopters cannot normally change countries during the assessment, or after approval.  Inter-country adoption is not funded by the local authority, who only finance adoptions of the children in their care, and all the fees for assessment and paperwork both in this country and overseas must be met by the adopters.  The rules and procedures relating to inter-country adoption are complex, and require a high level of commitment form applicants, but Partners in Adoption will allocate an adoption social worker to guide you through the process.

The British Government is a signatory to the Hague Convention, which encourages intercountry adoption in circumstances where:

• the child cannot be cared for in any suitable manner in their own country
• the adoption would be in the best interests of the child and with respect to the child's fundamental rights as recognised in international law
• the adopter has been assessed as eligible and suitable to adopt from overseas by an adoption agency in their country of residence.