How to adopt How adoption works How adoption works Adoption is a way of providing families for children who cannot be looked after by their birth parents and therefore need to belong to a new family. It is a legal procedure with adopters taking full parental responsibility for the child once an adoption order is made in court. The child then legally takes the adopter’s surname and gains the rights of any natural child. Adoption is a life-long process and adopters play a crucial role in helping their adopted child make that journey. The experienced and professional team at ARC Adoption North East welcome people who are interested in adopting children of all different ages. We are also very keen to hear from people who feel they could adopt an older child or a sibling group so that we can keep brothers and sisters together. Anyone who can give a child with a disability a chance of family life would also be welcomed. In addition we are looking for people who may be open to fostering for adopting or concurrent planning. If you would like to know more about becoming a parent via adoption, please call 0191 516 6466 or click Adoption enquiry and a member of the ARC Adoption team will contact you as soon as possible.