THE adoption service at SSAFA, the armed forces charity, has been rated as ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted following a recent inspection.
Demonstrating all-round excellence, the service received the top rating in all three inspection areas: the effectiveness of leaders and managers; how well children, young people and adults are helped and protected; and the overall experiences and progress of users.
SSAFA has been a registered independent adoption agency since 2000 and was developed to counteract the difficulties faced by some serving personnel looking to adopt. While many members of the armed forces can adopt via their local authority, some agencies don’t accept applications from serving personnel due to misconceptions about the military lifestyle.
Familiar with the complexities, SSAFA has successfully worked with individuals and couples from all service backgrounds to create loving families.
The Ofsted report states: “Prospective adopters had no hesitation in reporting to inspectors that they chose this agency because they felt understood as military families. They felt that this agency offered a non-judgemental approach and saw strengths which other agencies had considered as weaknesses.
“Children and their adoptive families are offered exceptional services. They receive highly individualised and bespoke assessment, training, matching and support services. There’s a strongly held sense of trust in the relationships developed between the agency workers, children and prospective adopters. This creates an atmosphere where adopters feel that they can share any issues without being judged, in the knowledge that they will receive unconditional support.”
SSAFA works with a wide variety of people, providing homes for children with a range of needs. It recognises that there’s no typical adoptive parent and welcomes enquires from anyone who feels they would like more information about adoption.
If you or someone you know is currently serving and would like to adopt, get in touch with SSAFA at https://www.ssafa.org.uk/get-help/military-families/adoption