[Vanilla]

Hi Girls

After 4 yrs of failed fertility treatment we are now considering whether to continue with egg donation and/or adopt. I was hoping I could get some advice on a few queries for the latter? As its our first adoption process, we have discussed a 0-3 age match. I contacted our local borough and an appointment has been made for someone to come and look at our house tomorrow. Should we stick to one agency or can we apply to as many as we want? Also how long does it all take? We are interested in overseas adoption too and wonder if the process might be quicker. I would love to hear from anyone who are in the middle of their journey and those who have recently met their matches. I am based in SW London, so any recommended agencies in our area would be greatly appreciated too. I probably sound a bit lost - I suppose I am!

Thanking you and best wishes
Vanilla x

 

[cindyp]

Hi Vanilla

I'm afraid you have to choose one Agency and stick with it.  Unfortunately you are not allowed to sign up for more than one, you can make initial enquiries with more than one agency but once you decide you want to go down the adoption route you have to pick the one agency be it private or a Local Authority to approve you.

The amount of time varies from agency to agency, our approval took a year but there are some for whom it took two years.  I can't help you with the overseas adoption but there are some girls who are going down this route and I'm sure would be able to help you on the other thread.

Whatever you decide to do, best of luck.

Cindy

 

[Nats]

Hi there

As Cindy has said, you can make equiries with more than one but can only proceed with one.

We chose our local authority, and took us 18 months from first open evening until panel so quite long although the time soon flew by.

I am outside of London so cant help with any agencies, but im sure there is someone that can.

Wishing all the very best,....

Natsxx

 

[superal]

Hi Vanilla

Welcome to this part of the board.  We are a LOVELY bunch of people, even if I do say so myself, we'll help you with as much information that we can, so ask away.

Reference agencies, you can get as much information as you want from as many different agencies as you want BUT you can only go with one agency.(like the girls have already said)

Reference how long the whole process can take, depends on lots of things.  Some SS only run information groups so often, some only run so many prepartion courses, theres lots of things why it can take so long.

Everyone of us on this thread has a different story to tell.

When we first adopted our DS when he was 3 1/2 years old,I would say the whole process of going to the first information evening to being approved to him moving in with us took 18 - 20 months.

Our second application to adopt was alot quicker.  From beginning to end - it took 9 months and we got a baby girl aged 9 months...........every agency is different and we were very lucky to be approved & matched so quickly for our DD......it was fate & that is something I am a great believer in.

If you look on the adoption board there is a thread about overseas adoption which you may find interesting, what ever you decide I wish you luck on your journey to parenthood.

From
Andrea
xx

 

[morgana]

Hi

I am going through a private agency and have found them great only downside is that they don't have the children to adopt and instead canvas the LA's for suitable children by circulating our form F (application form to adopt) also they will help us if we see child in Be my parent/ Children who wait magazine.
You can get lots of advice from the adoption UK web site, the link is somewhere on one of the threads here.

I think (back me up here the rest of you) that the LA's are hit or miss on the time scales if you have a LA that is actively recruiting the process can be really quick but if they have their quota for a certain age group than there can be big delays. The private agency's seem to be 6-12 months process (roughly )and we were accepted onto the very next prep course after we enquired and had an initial meeting with the SW. We would have been finished in about 9 months if it wasn't for a few personal hic-cups which has meant we have had to delay for a while until we get to panel.

Hope this is helpful to you and good luck whatever you choose to do

Morgana x

 

[Milktray]

Hi Vanilla

I can definitely recommend this section - my lifesavers at times!!

I notice on your original post that you mentioned you were unsure whether to continue with egg donation and/or adopt. For info you will not be allowed to go down the adoption route whilst still carrying out fertility tx. Some LA will even ask that you give it 6months to a year from the last treatment to embarking on adoption (although this really does depend on the LA).

Re the intercountry route being quicker, this is a bit of a grey area. As you are living in London, you may find that it is slightly quicker as you will be able to use a Voluntary Adoption Agency. Your LA is obliged to help you if you wish to adopt overseas, but they will always prioritise domestic adopters, so you may keep getting put to the backburner.....

The other thing to consider with intercountry adoption of course is the cost. Depending on where you intend to adopt from it can cost anywhere from £7K - £15K!!

Here is a great forum for overseas adoption:

http://forums.adoption.com/forumdisplay.php?f=3

Good luck whatever you choose!

T x

 

[KarenM]

Hi Vanilla

Sorry to hear of your dilemma. It is a big decision to choose to stop tx and embark on adoption but you need to have got the tx out of your system before you embark on the journey.

There are a number of threads on here about choosing an agency. here's a link to one of them....

http://www.fertilityfriends.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=33959.0

I hope you find lots of info on here to help you with your decsion, and good luck for whatever you decide.

Karen x

 

[Vanilla]

Hi Karen

Thanks for the link, will check it out.

Vanilla x