Adoption Cost & Process Guide UK 2025 — Domestic, Overseas & Step-Parent Adoption
Adoption permanently transfers parental responsibility to the adoptive parents and extinguishes the birth parents’ legal relationship with the child. The costs and process vary enormously depending on whether you adopt through a local authority (which is free), a voluntary adoption agency, or through an inter-country route. This guide covers every route and what to expect.
Domestic adoption via local authority: free to adopters. Step-parent adoption court fee: £183. Inter-country adoption: significant costs apply. Adoption leave: up to 52 weeks (same as maternity leave). Statutory Adoption Pay: up to 39 weeks at £184.03/week (2025/26). Adoption Order application can be made after 10 weeks of placement.
The Domestic Adoption Process
- Registration of interest — contact your local authority adoption team or a voluntary adoption agency (VAA). Initial enquiries are free and do not commit you.
- Information and preparation — attend preparation groups, receive information about adoption, and be supported to consider whether it is right for you.
- Assessment (home study) — a social worker carries out a detailed assessment of your life, relationships, health, and capacity to parent. Takes 6–8 months typically. Results in a report to the Adoption Panel.
- Adoption Panel recommendation — an independent panel considers the assessment and makes a recommendation to the agency decision-maker.
- Agency decision — the agency (LA or VAA) makes the formal decision that you are approved to adopt.
- Matching — children are matched with approved adopters. You may wait months or years for a match. National Adoption Register helps match children without local matches.
- Introductions — a structured meeting and transition period before the child moves in.
- Placement — child moves in. A placement order is in force. Adoption cannot be applied for for at least 10 weeks.
- Adoption Order — application to family court after 10 weeks of placement. Hearing usually straightforward. Court fee: £183. The Order finalises the adoption legally.
Adoption Leave and Pay
Adopters have the same leave and pay entitlements as birth mothers on maternity leave:
- Adoption leave: up to 52 weeks (26 weeks ordinary + 26 weeks additional)
- Statutory Adoption Pay (SAP): up to 39 weeks. First 6 weeks at 90% of average weekly earnings; remaining 33 weeks at the flat rate of £184.03/week (2025/26)
- Eligibility: must have 26 weeks continuous service with the employer by the time of matching notification, and earn at least £123/week
- Partner leave: the partner can take up to 2 weeks’ paternity leave and pay
- Shared Parental Leave: available for adoption in the same way as for birth
Frequently Asked Questions
No. An adoption order is final and irreversible. Birth parents cannot revoke their consent after the order is made. The only route to challenge an adoption order is an appeal, which must be made promptly and on grounds that the order was wrongly made. Once an adoption order is in place, the child is legally the child of the adoptive parents in every respect.
Letterbox contact (also called indirect contact or post-adoption contact) allows birth family members to exchange letters or cards with the child via the adoption agency, without direct contact. It is common for once or twice a year and allows the child to have some connection to their birth family history. Direct contact (meetings) is much less common and only appropriate in specific circumstances where it is in the child’s best interests.