Following Hackney's decision to 'match' a child with you, the adoptive family, the adopters will be given an Adoption Placement Plan, which would be similar to the Adoption Placement Report that is submitted to the Panel.

Before a family meets a child, there will be a planning meeting involving the adopters, the child's foster carers, the child's Social Worker and the adoptive family's Link Worker. The meeting will make a detailed plan of how the child is to be introduced to the adopters. It is important that the arrangements and the time-table are agreed and clear beforehand to avoid any confusion that might upset the child's confidence.

The length of introductions is usually about a week for a baby, and 2-4 weeks for older children. Within the limits of practicality, the contact between the adopters and the child will be quite intensive.

The Introductions will allow you and the child to begin to get to know one another, before you begin to live with one another full time.