Consortium members  

People interested in adopting a child from the UK should contact Portsmouth Adoption Team on 023 9287 5294


Our Commitment to adoptive parents 

Portsmouth City Council welcomes enquiries from people seeking to adopt children from the UK or overseas, and has established a specialist team of adoption workers to help and
support you.

We work closely with 'Adoption UK' (the organisation set up by adoptive parents for prospective and adoptive families) to ensure that applicants are well supported throughout the adoption process and beyond. Portsmouth City Council offers to pay three years worth of membership of Adoption UK to all adoptive parents approved by Portsmouth Adoption Agency.

We welcome enquiries from married or single people from all walks of life, and make a clear commitment not to discriminate unfairly on the grounds of age, ethnicity, religion, disability, gender, sexuality or class.

Our commitment to Children needing adoptive families.

Our highest priority is to find families as quickly as possible for children needing to be placed for adoption. We have very few babies available for adoption. During the last 12 months we have placed very few children without special needs under 1 year with adopters who were not already connected with the child. It is necessary for us to prioritise people waiting to be assessed as prospective adoptive parents and our priorities will be based on the needs of the children that are waiting for an adoptive placement.

Portsmouth covers such a small geographical area that we do not usually place Portsmouth children for adoption within our city boundaries. That is why we have joined the South Coast Adoption Consortium, which comprises West Sussex, Southampton, Poole and the Isle of Wight. Any prospective adoptive families approved by the Portsmouth Adoption Agency will be added to the consortium list of families available to be linked with a child. This list is made available to colleagues from the other authorities involved, when they are looking for adoptive families for children in their care.

In this way we are able to match Portsmouth children with families throughout the consortium area, and give colleagues in other authorities the opportunity to match their children with Portsmouth families.

The South Coast Adoption Consortium currently has a number of families already approved to adopt very young children. Therefore the consortium members have decided not to prioritise new applications from people seeking to adopt young children under two years of age who do not have special needs.

Numbers of children placed for adoption by Portsmouth City Council

In the past 12 months we have placed 18 children for adoption, ranging from 5 months to 8 years, 7 of whom were placed with siblings.

Numbers of adopters approved

Over the past 12 months Portsmouth City Council has approved 9 adoptive families for domestic adoption the majority of whom are wanting a young child.

Whom do we most need?

We are always looking for adoptive families for children aged between three and nine who need to be placed singly or with brothers and sisters, or children of any age with health complications. These children are most likely to have particular emotional, attachment, educational or other special needs resulting from their early life experiences. They need adoptive families who will nurture them and accept them for the unique individuals that they are, and who will give them a chance to experience the security and stability of growing up in a loving family environment. Any potential adoptive families coming forward will need to be able to make a commitment to maintaining links between their adopted child and significant people from the child's past including siblings.

We particularly welcome enquiries from people living within a 30-mile radius of Portsmouth.

Enquiry line for people interested in adopting a child from the UK

If you are interested in knowing more about adopting a child from the UK, please contact our Adoption Enquiry Line on Portsmouth (023) 9287 5294: one of our specialist adoption workers will be pleased to help and advise you.

Inter-country adoption

If you are interested in adopting a child from overseas, please contact Jennie Dix, Adoption Manager on Portsmouth (023) 92 841626, who will welcome your enquiry and be pleased to assist you.

Step-parent adoption

If you have an enquiry about adopting a a step child, please contact the Adoption Team on
023 9287 5294.

After adoption enquiries 

If you are a birth relative or an adoptive parent who was involved in the adoption process, no matter how long ago, please either contact our 'After Adoption' helpline om 023 9283 2288 or the Adoption Team on 023 9287 5294. If you are an adopted person who wishes to access your adoption records or an adopted person or birth relative who wishes to enquire about Intermediary Services, please phone 023 9284 1626 to speak to Jennie Dix, Adoption Agency Manager or e mail her at jennie.dix@portsmouthcc.gov.uk

People currently living overseas who seek to adopt a child

If you are currently living overseas, but intend to permanently reside in Portsmouth, and want to adopt a child from the United Kingdom or from the country in which you are living, please contact Jennie Dix, Adoption Manager, by telephone on Portsmouth +44 23 9284 1626 or by fax on +44 23 9284 1631.

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