Following satisfactory completion of training and of all statutory checks you will be invited to lodge your formal application to be assessed as adopters. You will be allocated a social worker who will meet with you and your family over several months. The assessment looks at all aspects of life within your family, your suitability to parent a child through adoption (which has significant differences to birth parenting), and your lifestyle, so that we can be clear what child will best fit in with your family. You will be asked to supply the names of at least 3 referees who know you well, and they will all be interviewed.