 to me. If I do so, I may not myself 57 remove my child from the prospective adopters as this would be the responsibility of the agency, which must comply with my request within seven days, unless any of the following orders are applied for or made in respect of the child:  an emergency protection order or a care order under the Children Act 1989;  a placement order or an adoption order under the Adoption and Children Act 2002.  I retain parental responsibility for the child.  I may only have contact with the child by agreement with the agency or by order of the court.  After the child is six weeks old, the agency will seek my/our formal consent to the child being placed for adoption. Name and address of the adoption agency Name of the adoption agency social worker and contact details If you are in any doubt about your legal rights, you should obtain legal advice before signing this form1. Signed Date Witnessed Date 1. Publicly funded legal advice may be available from the Community Legal Service. 58 You can get information about this or find a solicitor through GOV.UK on www.gov.uk/check-legal-aid. Eligible 59 Chapter 3 Preparing, assessing and approving prospective adopters This part of the guidance explains the duties of an adoption agency in respect of prospective adopters, and how the new two stage approval process should work in practice. Eligibility to Adopt 3.1. An individual or couple cannot apply for an assessment of their suitability to adopt unless they meet, or would meet, the eligibility criteria to apply for an adoption order. The criteria are that:  the prospective adopter(s) is at least 21 years old;  the prospective adopter or one of the prospective adopters is domiciled in the British Islands or the prospective adopter or one of the prospective