We left the last entry where we'd had an initial phone call from the Local Authority and had already started discussing with them the age ranges of children we'd prefer. Our reasons were to include a time frame where the children would be with us pretty much full time while we (or one of us) was on adoption leave then when that was over there'd be a transition into school. As calculating as that sounds we felt it to be a great balance between bonding, childcare costs and also the ability to have some form of psychological report done on the children. Read more of this article... about Our Journey - We've applied, now what?
We've diarised our entire journey to become adopters and we'll be publishing it frequently here. Some details will be changed but the spirit will still be there we hope! You'll find our accounts labelled under "Our Journey". Our accounts after placement are listed under "Dear Diary". To get the ball rolling, a whole month is in the first post. Read more of this article... about Our Journey - The beginning
As a fresh faced Prospective Adopter you will be nervous and this is only to be expected. Don’t worry! The first visit is generally a bit of a get to know you session and an overview of the process. As part of this the social worker will begin making a plan on how to get you from being a Prospective Adopter to being an Approved Adopter. What you should do is look to see what you can do to make the process work for you. Read more of this article... about The first visit!
There is a lot of work that you have to do as part of the application process with the majority being done on the home visits as well as some left behind as homework for you to do. Yes, there is homework and lot's of it! Read more of this article... about Preparing for the home visits
This is a recounting of our journey and experiences, your own journey will almost certainly differ but there should be at least some similarities.
Once we had both agreed we wanted to adopt we applied to our local Adoption Agency (Local Authority). Our experience was initially quite pleasant and we honestly had no idea what to expect. There were a few telephone questions and then an appointment was made for a Social Worker to visit us. Read more of this article... about Applying to be a Prospective Adopter
Preparing to apply.
This step is not at all about completing the forms. This is subset of actions that are entirely optional at this stage however I found them extremely useful and they also helped speed up the entire adoption process from initial application to being Approved Adopters. Read more of this article... about Preparing to apply to adopt
