Some days, I feel like I’m watching my child driving a go-kart, coasting down a hill that gets steeper as the day goes on. It often looks like they have their vehicle under control, but they’re going so fast, one bump or wrong turn could make the wheels fall off. One misjudgment could end in […]
Read More »Summer is coming, and those posts are back again… the ones saying “we only have 18 summers with our kids. Cherish every moment.” Ugh. Yes, life seems to fly by sometimes, but let’s not put any more pressure on parents and carers to make every moment of the summer holidays magical. Firstly, I adopted my […]
Read More »I used to think my son had a lot of fears. He asks “what would you do if…?” followed by a terrifying scenario. With time, I’ve realised he’s not actually afraid these things will happen. He just wants to hear how I would protect him. It’s a test for me, Mum #3. The Mum who […]
Read More »I met Jake’s birth Mum recently. Have been processing things for a while before posting about it. It went really well. The conversation just flowed. We both enjoy talking about how amazing Jake is. ❤️ We shared a lot of anecdotes, and I gained a wealth of information that will benefit Jake. It’s great that […]
Read More »I was absurdly nervous about the Approval Panel, although we had been told that it was a sure thing, because the adoption agency policy was to only take adopters to panel when they are highly confident that they will be approved. It was brilliantly managed, though. When we arrived, we were taken into a small […]
Read More »Stage 2 was a little more intense. We had something like 7 interviews with a new social worker. It seems the adoption agency changes the social workers between stages, perhaps so that more people have met you and evaluated your suitability, so that assessment carries more weight. We were asked about our childhoods, our relationships […]
Read More »Towards the end of Stage 1 of the adoption process, we were invited to go to “prospective adopters training.” This was 3 full days of training with other prospective adopters, plus a “Carousel Evening” to speak to experienced adopters. I was so excited! The training was HARD. Not in the sense that it was difficult […]
Read More »Stage 1 of the adoption process is largely about checking that you’re “alright” to adopt. We had DBS checks done to show that we have no criminal convictions. Strangely, my husband’s check was completed a month quicker than mine, and my form turned up just as I was beginning to panic that perhaps there might […]
Read More »I’ve always been quite house-proud, but there’s no cleaning incentive like knowing a social worker is coming to your home! On the other hand, I didn’t want the house to look sterile and unfriendly to a child! Before every social worker visit, I overthought the tidying, to the extent that I once got some of […]
Read More »When we talked about our plans to adopt, people often asked a lot of questions. The most common were along the lines of “don’t you want a baby of your own?” “Are you sure you can love another child like you love your daughter?” I always found that quite curious. I’m not biologically-related to my […]
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