Our Adoption journey....
We started on our Adoption Journey in September 2012, we formally applied in January 2013 and went on statutory training at the beginning of February.
We then spent 4 months undertaking the home study with our Social Worker to complete the 25,000 word PAR (Prospective Adopters Report), looking in to our backgrounds and the way that we were parented and how it might affect how we will parent. We also had full medicals at the cost of £120 each!
My disability was questioned on a number of occasions but I managed to answer with honesty and the fact that we don't want a baby helped.
Once the PAR was completed and handed in on the 1st July we had a short wait until the Panel on the 18th July.
It's actually been more than 5 and half years since we first started trying for a baby, so yesterday was the most emotional day of our lives, a group of strangers were going to decide if we could be mummy and daddy or not...
Thursday 18th July
We went into the room with our two Social Workers containing 8 strangers who asked us questions about how we found the process, about our support network, how we relax and finally about if my father's way of parenting would impact on our child (he used to belt and slipper me when I was bad, he doesn't do this now, plus it was normal in the 80s). We were only in there 10 minutes before we were asked to leave.
Our Social Workers stayed in the room answering some more questions and we waited in a room upstairs.
Then after around 20 minutes our Social Workers returned and gave us the good news, they said that we were very calm in the panel and that we answered the questions very well.
We have been APPROVED to parent one girl aged between 2 to 5.
We should get a letter in the next 7-10 days from the decision maker ratifying the panel's decision.
We went for a posh lunch afterwards and then came home to catch up on some sleep.
I thought it might be nice to share this good news with you all on here, there is hope for everyone.
