Department for Children, Schools and Families

Intercountry adoption

Useful Documents to Download

UK Adoption Agency Checklist
UK Adoption Agencies must ensure that the application is complete before sending it to the casework team.  Any incomplete files submitted will result in delays in the processing time for cases.
We recommend that you attach the DCSF checklist to the front of applications, which will help us and you to ensure that all of the papers are included.

Prospective Adopters
If you are have recently been approved to adopt by your UK Adoption Agency, and your application is ready to be (or has been) sent to the DCSF, you should ensure that you complete a Contact Sheet and also a Disclaimer (where relevant).  If your UK Adoption Agency has not supplied these to you already, you may download them below:  

Contact Sheet - Please complete and return this to the ICA Team at your earliest convenience.  We will require full completion of this form in order to progress your application.  You may return it to us by post, email or fax.

Disclaimer - If your application requires notarisation and legalisation, you may wish to instruct your Notary Public to send your documents directly to the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the Embassy of your chosen country for legalisation, rather than the documents being first returned to the DCSF.  If you wish to proceed in this way then please also complete and return the disclaimer.
Please note that if you have applied to adopt from China, the Chinese Embassy will only accept applications for legalisation which have been sent to them directly from the DCSF.  It will not accept applications from a Notary Public. 

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