Thursday 22 March 2012

We are linked!

We have seen a few profiles of children in our local authority and read two Child Permanence Reports (CPR's).

We are cautious to say too much, but we have found a child who we are both very interested in.  We have seen a photograph, but frustratingly it is dated February 2011 - so it is a year out of date! 

Obviously there are real reasons for this child to have come into the Care system and to be subject to an Adoption Order and it is starting to feel very real now.....

We have contacted the Family Finding Social Worker and told her we are interested in exploring whether this could be a match.  She told us that the child's Social Worker had read our report and was keen on us as well! So now, the next step is to meet for a home visit and discuss the match.  The FF SW told us that she would try and get a more recent photograph and a DVD by the time we meet!!!!

We are trying not to get too excited.  This remains a complex and testing process; we have been told that there are other families who might be suitable matches as well so we have to remain emotionally 'detatched' (as best we can!!!)

In the meantime we are both recovering from illness / being 'run down'..... I have a feeling we are going to need to be in tip-top condition as we go into the next chapter!!!

Until next time,

Ruth and Hannah
x

Thursday 15 March 2012

Profiles Please!

It's been just over a week since approval.  I can honestly say that it has sunk in now, we are both enjoying our new status.  We are bracing ourselves for the next part of the journey and we have already begun to take some small steps in the direction of family finding.

We spoke to the manager of the adoption Team this morning who congratulated us on our approval for last week.  She also clarified our position ahead of the official rubber stamped approval letter coming through our letterbox. Just to remind you that the Panel had for some amazing reason left the decision of sibling or single child to us and our social worker. This decision tripped our lovely social worker but made sense to us.

This 'fogginess' around exactly what the panel were approving us for - one child / a sibling is probably why we had a delay of celebration.  The clarification from the Manager is that it's up to us to decide what our capacity as parents will be - sibling group or one child. We believe we have the capacity and it will be down to the right match.

We have seen the profiles of 4 children already and we are certainly feeling the 'reality' of this new position as approved adopters.

We have been thinking about attending an 'Adoption Exchange' event as well.  These are events which are attended by Local Authorities and approved adopters where they promote large numbers of children who are waiting in care.  This sounds like a good way to speed up the process and be able to compare a number of profiles.

http://www.bemyparent.org.uk/features/what-is-an-adoption-exchange-event,225,AR.html

It's great to be in this position...we hope it happens for us in good time.

Hannah & Ruth

 X X X

Tuesday 6 March 2012

Approved!

So yesterday was a very special day for us as we finally went in front of the adoption approval panel.

We got there early and waited for the panel to invite us in. We sat in the waiting room making small talk with our social worker for what seemed like an eternity. The panel was running about 25 minutes late when we were finally invited in with our social worker.

There were 12 panel members, who introduced themselves one by one. They fielded a good number of questions. We had been prepared for two or three questions but we counted about nine in total. The biggest debate was whether we were to be approved for one child or a sibling group.

We did our level best to get across all of our skills, experience and passion for parenting.

They asked us to step out and afer a few minutes invited the three of us back in for the verdict.

Everyone went around the table and we had a resounding 'yes' from all the voting panel members.

It was a little odd but they have not put any restriction or recommendations on our approval in relation to ages, gender or number of children. Instead they wanted to leave it 'open'.

So, we stepped out of the Town Hall, shell shocked, bewildered and a little bit confused the result. (We had expected more precise detail in the panels recommendation).

Today we both woke up and the massive news is starting to kick in.....finally we are approved as adoptive parents. We are 'good enough' according to those in the know!!!!!

It has been a long and difficult journey to get to this point, we are both so excited and relieved. The next stage will no doubt be equally as difficult but we are so ready to move on and start trying to find our children and eventually getting them home!!!

Hannah and Ruth
X x x x