Getting Started

Adoption as a way to create or grow your family requires motivation, patience and persistence.  Coram IAC will help you to understand and navigate the processes here in the UK and the country you choose to adopt from. 

The first step is to speak to our Advice Line, who will check your basic eligibility and will then invite you to an Information Session. If you live in a Local Authority which does not subscribe to our services, you can still attend an Information Session at Coram IAC, once the Local Authority has confirmed your eligibility. Your Local Authority will then support you from that point on.  However, we may still be able to work with you if you if want to adopt from a country with which Coram IAC has a Country Programme. 

Once you have attended an Information Session, you can request an Initial Interview with a Social Worker to help in your decision making. At this interview the social worker will confirm whether you meet the criteria of both the UK and the country you wish to adopt from. If you are eligible, following the interview. Coram IAC will send you a Registration of Interest (ROI) form. If this is accepted, that marks the formal start of the Assessment & Approval Process.

In the north west and north east of England, Coram IAC works in partnership with other adoption agencies such as Adoption Matters, Nugent and ARC Adoption in order to provide prospective and existing adopters with more localised services.

The Approval Process

The following is a brief overview. Our Information Pack, which is available on request from the Advice Line, will provide a more detailed explanation.

Stage One (normally 2-3 months)

• Registration of Interest Form accepted by agency
• Stage One of the Approval Process formally commences
• Prospective Adopters attend Preparation Course
• Prospective Adopters gather information for Adoption Portfolio
• Coram IAC undertakes all statutory checks on Prospective Adopters

Stage One Review

If all checks are satisfactory Prospective Adopters proceed to Stage Two.

Stage Two (normally 4 months to Agency Decision)

• Attendance at additional training modules
• Assessment with Social Worker
• Adoption Panel and Recommendation 
• Agency Decision Maker approval

Post Approval

• Papers collated and sent to the Central Adoption Authority for England at the Department for Education for processing
• The Central Adoption Authority team prepare the Certificate of Eligibility, which proves you have followed the correct procedures, and issue all the required paperwork to your country of approval 

Please note that the Central Authority are independent of Coram IAC and charge for their services.

Once your papers have been sent abroad you will be placed on a waiting list by your country of choice. How long you might wait to be matched with a child will depend upon each individual country. In general, if you are open to either gender, flexible about age and / or are willing to accept a child with additional or special needs, the wait for a match is likely to be shorter.  Neither Coram IAC nor the Central Authority have any control over how other countries manage their waiting lists but we will try and keep communication open where possible.  

Current Waiting Times

As of April 2023 waiting times for our most popular countries, on average, were:

• Philippines – 1 to 2 years for a child 5 and upwards. If willing to accept specific special needs, this will also reduce the waiting time, and the child may be younger than 5.
• India – 4 years for a child between 0-4 years old, 5 to 6 years for an older child aged 4-8 years old (for OCI and NRI status). Foreign applicants have recently been given the lowest priority and may wait longer
• USA – 2 to 3 years
• South Africa – 18 months to 3 years 
• Colombia – 1 year and 6 months
• Pakistan – 1 year or less.