[Milktray]

Hi All

Spoke with our SW(this is our initial SW as I belive we will be allocated a new one when we get to the homestudy stage?) yesterday re the prep course and she stated that we would be invited to one but that she couldn't tell us when as it all depended on the children that were available?

Having come home and thought about this I am a tad confused.  We were informed by her that we have until the point we hand in our application form to change our minds about the number and age of children we want.  So if this is the case how can they base the prep course on information that you are allowed to change after attending them??

For those of you that have been through this stage, what was the case for you?

T x

 

[superal]

Hi Milktray

I'm sorry but I've never heard of this before...maybe others will be able to help as it is a while since we last went on a prep course.(about 9 years ago!)

When we went on our prep course the whole idea of them is to give you an even better insight into what is involved and what challenges you may come across once you begin the emotional roller coaster ride.

Our prep course's were fun but tiring and we learnt so much as they are a valuable part of the whole adoption process.

I'd listen to others advice & if your still unsure about whats going on give your SW a call!

Love
Andrea
xx

 

[Milktray]

When we went on our prep course the whole idea of them is to give you an even better insight into what is involved and what challenges you may come across once you begin the emotional roller coaster ride.

Hi Andrea

That's what my idea of what they were all about was!

I think I will give her a call back....

T x

 

[Ruthiebabe]

Hi Milktray,

my understanding is that there are limited places on the courses, so if you've stated that you only want 0-2s (for example) then someone who has said they'll consider 0-6 will get on the course ahead of you. You're right when you say that you don't make a final decision till the end, but I don't think people change their minds that much.

Our panel actually reduced us from 0-8 to 0-6 because they thought it would give them more time to find a fmaily locally rather than us being snapped up by the consortium area. I think it's always worth keeping you options open, especially at these early stages, becuase it does get you though the process much quicker.....I don't mean outright lying like saying you want 20 teenagers with emotional issues, but you know what I mena....

good luck,
XXRuth.

 

[morgana]

Hiya

I think you need to get back in touch with your SW for clarification. We actually made the decision while working with our SW during the home study. We were only asked to give a rough idea of ages, numbers etc prior to the prep course and in fact we raised our age limit as a result of the prep course and home study. I think possibly your SW is only trying to push you into deciding on an age limit so they can streamline the prep course to the ages of children available. I was lead to believe that the final decision is only made at the latter stages of the assessment when you are ready to submit your form F.

Sounds like your SW is just trying to make things easy for them not you. Ultimately that is what all the preperation is about because it is a journey of discovery for you and I know most of the people on our prep course have tweaked the ages since the initial info evening or first meet with SW.

Hope this helps

Morgana x

 

[Barbarella]

Hi Milktray

We were also told this... that we would have to wait until there was a space on the prep course, for the availability of the age of the child we were hoping to adopt.  There were at least 5 couples wanting 0-2 on our course, including us.  I think they are now going to encourage us to up our age limit, which I am sure we will, but we were told there were 30 couples waiting for this age group.

We are prepared for a long wait..

Cx

 

[KarenM]

Hi T

We had something similar but after our prep course.  Our LA like most get an indication from prospective adopters when they first register an interest and use this as a guide.  We were going for 0-4 originally.  But after our prep course the LA had a huge influx of 5-8 year olds so chose to deal with prospective adopters who wanted this age range and get them through their home study.  We therefore waited from the June to the November to start our home study because of this.

Karen x

 

[Nats]

Just goes to show how different all the LA are....

Our local one was literally......who ever applied got on the list, we all applied about the same time and filled the course.....
most of us were for the younger ones, although again, most were wanting siblings.

We didnt have to make our final commitment on the ages until we filled in the F1 form with the SW.

We were told that if we did increase our age group we would be placed quicker....but we felt that it was too much of a compromise right at the start.....

Good Luck

Natsxx

 

[magenta]

We waited 6 months for our prep course - but mainly because our agency only runs four courses a year and were already fully booked when we had our initial meeting in February.  We were supposed to be on the november course but got 'promoted' to the august course after the SW campaigned on our behalf.

To be honest - 6 months felt like a lifetime away back in February but here we are now, almost finished our course and it seems like the right timing for us.  i needed a summer to come to terms with being a mummy to a toddler/little person rather thna a baby and to exorsise the demons of not getting to be pregant etc like my friends.  it also gave us time to think about what we want, what we can cope with, what work will need to be done on the house etc.

We also had a really lovely 'adult only' holiday just in case we don't get another chance for a few years.  it will be unlikely that we will be matched anytime before this time next year but we are now officially on the 'adoptive parent to be saving plan' (haha) once we discovered how little income we will have when sprog comes along.

Enjoy the six months..get used to the idea of being a mummy in the next year or so and enjoy your last few months of SW and child free living.

magenta xx

 

[Milktray]

Magenta

You have the perfect attitude 

We are focusing on forthcoming events, holidays, anniversaries etc in a way to help the next few months go by.

we are also looking on the time as enjoying being without children - ironic really as we have spent the last 10 years quite sad about not being parents, but now that we have made the decision to adopt we can see an end in sight!  God willing we will become parents this way, so now is definitely mine and DH time!!

T x