tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133644764234436521.post3862040109486100436..comments2024-03-27T08:21:50.015+00:00Comments on Life with Katie and Pip: Our Adoption Story: Preparation ....or is it?LifewithKatiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04128468078776052456noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133644764234436521.post-47029614300375907312013-03-28T08:43:38.652+00:002013-03-28T08:43:38.652+00:00Hi Anon. I think the wobbles are a normal part of ...Hi Anon. I think the wobbles are a normal part of contemplating being a parent but particularly so with adoption. There is a lot of fear and negativity being thrown at us. This is partly why I wanted to keep this blog going so people could see our experience. Meeting other adopters helped me so much when I went through the process first time around. Meeting real life adopted children who were LifewithKatiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04128468078776052456noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133644764234436521.post-70539212405133360762013-03-27T19:42:35.327+00:002013-03-27T19:42:35.327+00:00Hi gem,
I'd like to echo some of the other p...Hi gem, <br /><br />I'd like to echo some of the other posters here. I'm a couple of months away from panel and am having a wobble due to all the negativity. I've done a lot of reading to try and understand what we might have to deal with but everything I seem to read is the negative perspective. I'm not sure if this is because people naturally like to have a moan and that when Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133644764234436521.post-80222862816976652932012-03-30T17:27:33.775+01:002012-03-30T17:27:33.775+01:00Hi Sarah! Yes it was unusual but they were trying ...Hi Sarah! Yes it was unusual but they were trying to train all the people who had been waiting for a while in one go. Last time round we only had about 5/6 couples on our course. I am very keen to put across the side of adoption that we are experiencing as I know how much negativity there is surrounding the process. We do need to be informed and it does need to be realistic. I think Social Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17603750197226508469noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133644764234436521.post-19399323966953353412012-03-30T17:10:52.324+01:002012-03-30T17:10:52.324+01:0040 people over 4 days! Wow. We had 8 (4 couples)...40 people over 4 days! Wow. We had 8 (4 couples) over 2 days. We've now had 2 SW visits and things seem to be moving quite quickly. I'm glad i read this post because all we hear is negative issues about children and no happy stories. I had a little wobble this week and also made myself STOP. The quote in your post is perfect for me right now.Sarahnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133644764234436521.post-74449617637384654592012-03-30T12:13:58.293+01:002012-03-30T12:13:58.293+01:00I hope you hear back again soon. It's so hard ...I hope you hear back again soon. It's so hard when you're waiting. I'm also currently waiting for a call from a SW about checking our CRB forms. 3 days waiting so far *sigh*<br /><br />For us, as second timers, the main issue is the age gap between Katie and our next child. There has to be at least 2 years gap between them. This is because their research shows that the older child Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17603750197226508469noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133644764234436521.post-40941030216079628462012-03-29T09:33:13.776+01:002012-03-29T09:33:13.776+01:00Well I hope that is the "reason" because...Well I hope that is the "reason" because when she left us she said she would "speak to her manager next week" (which is this week) and let us know the outcome. With her saying that if it does not happen I hope she does not mind if in two weeks I call her to see where things are up to.<br /><br />What "rules" are being followed with you about age gap between the Opportunity for successhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11710282413757181752noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133644764234436521.post-59616892941491085552012-03-29T08:27:12.877+01:002012-03-29T08:27:12.877+01:00It usually takes a few weeks to hear back after an...It usually takes a few weeks to hear back after an initial home visit because the SW has to write up their report and then meet with their line manager to discuss it. If the SW works part-time then that can be delayed a bit longer. We waited nearly 2 months to hear the outcome of our home visit this time because our SW is only part-time and runs a lot of training sessions so has little admin Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17603750197226508469noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133644764234436521.post-73901298949273628482012-03-28T11:38:26.917+01:002012-03-28T11:38:26.917+01:00Thank you. We have enquired at a Voluntary agency...Thank you. We have enquired at a Voluntary agency now since our LA did not seem to be making any moves in any direction and had the initial visit last week so we are waiting to hear if they will invite us to apply or if they feel there are other things they need to do before that stage but if I have heard nothing in 2 weeks I will try chasing that up too and then go back to chasing up the LA.Opportunity for successhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11710282413757181752noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133644764234436521.post-83719885208286061952012-03-28T09:28:47.103+01:002012-03-28T09:28:47.103+01:00Yes, looking at it from that perspective, they wer...Yes, looking at it from that perspective, they were very efficient. I think we will all suffer a bit from the cuts to public funding at the moment though. Many Local Authorities are restructuring and making people redundant within Childrens Services. Our LA is very short-staffed now, hence the huge group training we attended for the prep course. They are bringing in agency staff to do some of Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17603750197226508469noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133644764234436521.post-65324438805882749012012-03-27T22:27:10.540+01:002012-03-27T22:27:10.540+01:00That all actually seems quite quick. You went from...That all actually seems quite quick. You went from the actual time the enquiry was "allowed" ie Sept 2008 to panel within 14 months. We have not been allowed to go beyond "enquiry" for 6 months now already, not even been invited to "apply" to them. You must have a very good LA.Opportunity for successhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11710282413757181752noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133644764234436521.post-46006797028368019852012-03-27T12:36:35.936+01:002012-03-27T12:36:35.936+01:00Hi there. Sorry for the delay in replying to you. ...Hi there. Sorry for the delay in replying to you. Our first time round was longer in that we had to wait a year post IVF before we could attend an info event. So we first enquired a year beforehand and then had to wait until Sept 2008. Our initial home visit was Dec 2008; our prep course March/April 2009; Panel was Dec 2009 and we were matched with Katie a few weeks later and then had meetings Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17603750197226508469noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133644764234436521.post-61112779683688810612012-03-24T22:51:57.976+00:002012-03-24T22:51:57.976+00:00That seems quite quick compared to what I have cur...That seems quite quick compared to what I have currently experienced from our LA. We made an enquiry to them in August 2011, had the initial visit in September 2011 were promised a course in Feb 2012 then were told that the social worker should never have promised that. The social worker has now retired and I have heard no more from them since 9 January 2012, we have not yet been invited to Opportunity for successhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11710282413757181752noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133644764234436521.post-38570786655160728002012-03-24T13:48:31.222+00:002012-03-24T13:48:31.222+00:00Hiya!! Yes we're using the same local authorit...Hiya!! Yes we're using the same local authority that we used first time round. We sent off our initial application in September 2011; had an initial home visit in Dec 2011 and attended our prep course in March 2012. We're waiting to be allocated a Social Worker now for our home study. The aim is to get from prep to panel for approval within 8 months. That would have us at panel in Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17603750197226508469noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133644764234436521.post-57541036872953656992012-03-23T12:52:43.967+00:002012-03-23T12:52:43.967+00:00Are you using the same agency as you did the first...Are you using the same agency as you did the first time around? How long did you have to wait from being accepted as an applicant to your prep course?Opportunity for successhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11710282413757181752noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133644764234436521.post-85234358623990151492012-03-17T07:52:40.918+00:002012-03-17T07:52:40.918+00:00Hi Claire! Yes we found the HS time consuming the ...Hi Claire! Yes we found the HS time consuming the first time round as we were both working. Not sure how it will be this time because I will need to organise it so Katie isn't around. Might be interesting. Adopting number 2 was originally my OH's idea. We thought we'd only have one but it's funny how things change. I'm less worried this time round at the moment. I hope to stayAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17603750197226508469noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133644764234436521.post-39537922021191718312012-03-16T16:41:26.592+00:002012-03-16T16:41:26.592+00:00We have been toing and froing with the idea of sta...We have been toing and froing with the idea of starting again. I have to say the thought of going through the process again is a little off-putting. More for OH than me. I work from home so fitting in all the sessions was never a huge chore for me, but OH has an hour's drive to and from work; was always a bit of a struggle. Not that the procedure itself was a problem. We both found it all Clairehttp://permanentlyinapickle.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.com