Early Permanence

At ARC Adoption North East, we are committed to exploring different routes to adoption that offer the best possible outcomes for children. One of these is called Early Permanence, a route previously referred to as Fostering for Adoption or Foster to Adopt.

With Early Permanence, children and babies are placed with approved prospective adopters, who are also approved as temporary foster carers, at the earliest possible stage, providing much needed care and stability whilst the family court determines whether the best thing for the child is to be adopted, or to return to their birth family.

There are many benefits linked to Early Permanence, but it is a route to adoption that isn’t suitable for all, and is something that our social workers discuss in detail with prospective adopters.

“We chose early permanence in order to give a child the best possible start to life, no matter how long they stayed with us and also with the possibility of adopting the child from a young age. It was not an easy process but it was 100% worth it. If you are considering an early permanence placement we would say it is important to have a strong network around you for support. We feel it helped to have a 'go with the flow' attitude, as things change all of the time and no two days are the same.”

Adopters, Vicki and Lucy

To be considered to care for a child under an Early Permanence placement, ARC adopters must complete two days’ training which will provide an in depth look at the role and expectations of a foster carer, as well as the associated benefits and challenges of Early Permanence. We cover some of these briefly below:

Advantages for the child

• The child will benefit from stability and continuity of care from the earliest possible stage, avoiding the possibility of multiple family placements and possible placement breakdowns. 
• Early Permanence enables early bonds to be made and early attachment needs to be met.
• It allows for a permanent home to be found for the child as early as possible, with research showing that risks of developmental and behavioural difficulties lessen the earlier the child is placed with permanent carers.
• Early Permanence enables the early development of forming a secure attachment to their primary care giver.

“We chose Foster to adopt as it felt like a really great option for the child. Less moves, less people for them to have to learn to trust and form attachments to, that could come and go from theirs lives. We felt that we would have our child's whole life story too. We would have as much information for them as possible and mostly first hand. In our experience we got to meet birth mum and gain a relationship with her that benefitted her, us and our child. We gained a perspective on birth family we might not have got from the traditional adoption route. Our child got to experience the love of his birth mother and our love along side one another. So when contact ended it was less stressful for him. We got to be his constant in a ever changing situation. At times the experience was difficult and lot to manage, we had regular meetings, contact sessions and medicals and life was pretty busy for us but so worth it. We would 100% recommend foster to adopt to anyone. We feel incredibly lucky to say we have got to experience all of our son's first moments, our son's whole story and got to gain a relationship with his birth mum. ”

Adopters, Lauren and Dominic

Advantages for you (as a foster career and prospective adopter)

• You will provide early stability, love and care to a baby or child, in a time of their life where they are extremely vulnerable. Regardless of the court outcome, you will have the satisfaction of knowing you have played a very important role.
• You will get to know the child sooner and if you do go on to adopt them you will have already established a bond and will be able to share early memories with them.
• There is the possibility of having a very young baby placed with you, even straight from hospital.
• You will get to know the birth family better through 'family time' contact sessions, which will give you a better understanding of a child’s birth family and history. You will be able to talk more meaningfully with the child about their birth family, and potentially develop relationships and form the basis for more 'family time' contact in the future if it is deemed appropriate and all parties agree.

Challenges for prospective adopters

Being a short-term foster carer does not suit all prospective adopters, and there will be a number of things that you will need to consider:

• You will need to be emotionally resilient, flexible and be able to manage a number of uncertainties.
• Due to the young age that some children enter an Early Permanence placement, there could be some uncertainties around their development.
• You will need to be able to work with professionals and attend / be available for regular meetings and visits to your home.
• You will need to support and be comfortable with the child maintaining family time with their birth family until the court makes its final decision about whether the child should be adopted.
• You will need to understand your role and position as a foster carer. Until an adoption order is granted, you are not ‘Mam or Dad,' and decisions about the care you provide will be made by other people. This understandably can be difficult to cope with.
• The court may decide to return the child to their birth parents or a family member, so you need to be able to deal with the uncertainty whilst the court makes its final decision.
• You will need to think about how you, your immediate and wider family will cope if the court does not agree with the plan for adoption. It will be important for you to think about what support you might need from the outset, what support you have access to and how you typically deal with challenging, upsetting or painful situations.
• If you already have a child you will need to prepare them for the period of uncertainty in the fostering phase.

These are all things that our team at ARC Adoption will discuss with prospective adopters in detail, and for those wishing to go ahead to  be approved for both mainstream adoption and Early Permanence adoption, our team will guide and support families through the full process and well beyond.

Our Early Permanence adopters describe the process as challenging but extremely rewarding - could it be the right pathway for your family?

If you would like to find out more about Early Permanence then please call the team at ARC Adoption on 0191 516 6466 or click Adoption enquiry and a member of the team will contact you as soon as possible.