Wednesday 16 July 2014

Been a longtime to get on track...

It's taken us 8 months to get our lives on track again following all change. We will try and back track and record without too much hindsight involved.

Topics we will cover initially are:
Panel
Adoption Support for 2nd child
Older sibling including being mindful of impact on 1st adopted child
Adopting a baby vs older child

Now let's pray that is all done this month

Ruth

Placement Order granted.....phew!!! (Dec 2013)

We've been off radar, whilst the last minute details are coordinated. This week the Local Authority went to court and the Placement Order was granted! It was delayed by a day, but we needn't have worried as the judge ruled the decision pretty swiftly following the adjournment.

We have also met the social workers involved and agreed the plan for introductions, to happen once the approval and matching panel sign off the match. Our lives are now in full-on nesting mode. We are so very lucky to have such supportive friends and family, as the donations, gifts and loaned baby paraphernalia keep coming. We are sorting, washing and organising stuff like crazy, but the best gift of all is that we aren't having to spend a penny (yet!).

Raina seems to be okay with everything at the moment and seems to be taking things in her stride. We are prepared for some fallout from her, once she realises that she will be sharing us: not hypothetically; but for real!!

We are waiting for approval and matching to go ahead, our last big hurdle to getting to the next stage.  The big day is just over a week away. Just time enough for us to deep clean everything in true nesting style!!!


Friday 22 November 2013

Please, please, please.....

We have been running around; passing documents back and forth with our social worker. We are writing additions to our report, editing the draft and then answering more questions!

Now it is almost D Day. The report is due in on Monday, if we stand a chance of getting to be seen by the panel in December to be approved and matched with Raina's sibling.
Having felt like all the hard work was done, being convinced not to worry..... Now we are beginning to assume the brace position as this could come to a grinding halt. For the last couple of months we have been feeling that the upcoming court hearing was our biggest hurdle. In terms of our report, we thought we were almost done and dusted. But right now; no one seems concerned by the court hearing. Everyone is now panicking about panel and scraping through that!!

This week (less than 5 days before our report should be submitted) we are told that the LA should have done another DBS (old school CRB check). They should have also done another medical check with our GP. Ok. Just a suggestion; but maybe, just maybe, this could have been done back in September when you started our new assessment!!! We are just hoping and praying that this doesn't delay our panel appearance.

We are crossing everything we can that everything works out for us next week and that we get to go to panel and be matched with sibling, so we can bring her home in time for Christmas.