Adoption journey

[dreamofabean]

Good luck Lyns!! X

 

[Lyns]

We did it!!! We got a unanimous yes and we saw a photo of him....and he is just gorgeous!!!! I was so scared to actually try an create an image in my mind from the description, as I thought I could have felt disappointed if I got it wrong, but he really is too cute for words and he's my baby boy!!!!

We meet him next Monday for the first time and he should be home within 2-3 weeks from then! I am one happy Mama today! xx

 

[Aimee4311]

Yay! Congratulations!

 

[Lolly1985]

Wooooooohoooooo!!!!! CONGRATULATIONS, but we had no doubt you would be fab!! I am so glad that he is all you imagined and more, your very own little boy. And I bet you little lady must be so excited to be a big sister. Hope you are celebrating tonight

 

[Loski83]

Massive congratulations lyns to you and your family, I bet it was an amazing moment to see your son xx

 

[dreamofabean]

Yay!!! how wonderful for you Lyns!!!

I called ss today, Sw is coming to see us next
Tuesday to start home study whoop! Our allocated Sw is the lady we've dealt with so far so I'm very happy about that

 

[Lolly1985]

Dream that's great news all round Welcome to the all consuming madness that is the HOME STUDY

 

[dreamofabean]

thanks Hun!!! Out of curiosity, how long should I expect the meeting to last? A couple of hours? Dh will have to leave wk for session n then return! Lol!

 

[ipen44]

Hi All,
Looks like there are some celebrations in order--Congrats to the match and the first home study visit!

I hope the meeting with the SW is good--maybe she already has a child in mind and wants to see what you think? When I did foster care, things moved super quickly. Good luck to you.

 

[Lolly1985]

Yeah ours are usually 2-2 1/2 hour sessions, nearer 2 1/2 as we chat a lot in between You must be so excited!! Have you been doing your scrapbook?

 

[dreamofabean]

Tbh I haven't done much lately. Have been finding things really hard with my nan but will definitely get onto it now!! Have been doing my family tree today! Found it tough as there are soooo many examples online in different formats! Lol

 

[Lolly1985]

Oh i'm really not surprised, it is just so horrible All in good time hun

We are really lucky as our SW said we only have to go back to our parents! Easy for me as mum, dad, had me, my brother... done She said we could draw it as admin will just type it into their systems format. Same with our ecomap. Got get me colouring pencils out!!

 

[dreamofabean]

We were told grandparents, I'm one of five and my dad one of 4 so gets a bit tricky! Not sure if I was meant to include my aunts Etc but I have! I didn't realise it didn't have to be typed.ive spent hours making it look pretty! Ha ha!!
How are you doing Eco map? All I've done so far Is look into local stay and plays etc. do you record it like a map or just a list? X

 

[Lolly1985]

They will appreciate your effort i'm sure, and maybe even use it as i'm sure theirs are the bog standard!!

I got a bit confused with the ecomap and the support network. For the support network we were told to add say 'John (38) and Lisa (32) live 3 miles away in xxx with their 3 year old daughter. Lisa is an Outreach Worker with experience of working with children aged 0-8. We see them once a week. Available for practical and emotional support' So I listed all our family and friends, local groups, or VA and online support forums, in bullet points. Our SW said we now need to draw an ecomap and transfer the same information onto it. I honetsly don't get why as we have all the evidence in bullet points so why do we need to now just essentially present it in a different way? I have got an idea to tweak it a little though, and that is to do it like a spider diagram, and colour code my arrows according to either distance or levels of support Yikes, our work will be like something off blue peter by the time we have finished with all of this faffing

Panic... It is day 4 of prep tomorrow and I have seeminly booked off 31.1.12 instead of 2013 so it is not on my leave sheet Sure it'll be fine, but damn it why didn't I check sooner

Have a good day all

 

[zero7]

We did it!!! We got a unanimous yes and we saw a photo of him....and he is just gorgeous!!!! I was so scared to actually try an create an image in my mind from the description, as I thought I could have felt disappointed if I got it wrong, but he really is too cute for words and he's my baby boy!!!!

We meet him next Monday for the first time and he should be home within 2-3 weeks from then! I am one happy Mama today! xx

Huge congratulations Lyns! Sounds like a dream match

So happy for you and your family. Can't wait to hear how your first meeting goes. Our little girl was sitting on the floor in her foster carers home, playing with some toys. We walked in and she looked up at us with her big blue eyes and BAM! - We were hooked!!! There was a look of recognition on her little face too- from the photo albums and talking album that we supplied.

Magical moment coming your way!

XXXXXX

 

[Lyns]

Thanks all......i can't wait until Monday

Wierd though.......don't know what the heck to say to him first of all......how do you greet your child, when you've ever met them?

Am sure will find something momentous.....like "Hi" lol! But its wierd thinking about it

Happy days huh? Xxxx

 

[Loski83]

Lyns it will be fantastic, enjoy every moment you deserve it xx

 

[Lolly1985]

Hi all

How are you all?

Lyns, I can't imagine how you are feeling right now, we will all be thinking of you Monday

Hope your journeys are all going well, and out yummy mummies Loski and Zero are having fab weekends with their little ladies

So we had our final day of prep training on Thursday. It was nice to see everyone after 3 months, and see where they are all up too. It was a packed day, starting with a talk from a teacher about education. She also works in supporting foster children and their families, so had lots of insight. It was good at points, but a lot we already knew and she talked for literally two hours without breath Next we had a session with the agencies clinical psychologist. She was very good, and I could imagine is great with children. We did a session on emotion, but our emotions as prospective adopters. It was good to be able to normalise a lot of what we feel and talk in groups and realise it is totally typical behaviour for this stage in the process. After lunch we had a session about contact, very interesting, which merged into telling your child about adoption. We looked at life story book in more detail and went over the later in life stories etc. they had also recently update the training to include social networking and contact through things like facebook. It is scary to realise just how easy it all could be. And finally we finished with post adoption support. The VA seem to offer a fantastic package which we will definitely use.

At the end we were told to start getting some pictures ready to use in our intro books And as we left the SWs were telling us all 'good luck at panel'

Have had a busy week at work, but time is flying! Went to a beer and cider festival with friends last night, met a friend for lunch today and then had a mad clean of the house. My mum and dad arrive tonight for a week ;D So excited to see them, I haven't since October and I think that is the longest time it's ever been. SW visit Monday, my Birthday Wednesday, a day off Thursday

 

[Loski83]

Wow lolly you have a lot going on this week, your last day of prep sounds really good apart from the one talking too much lol. I hope you have a fantastic time with your parents and a lovely birthday.
Lyns good luck for tomorrow with your little boy.
Been thinking about lolam and hoping everything's ok.
Hi to everyone else hope it's all going well.
I got a letter yesterday to remind me that we have to send our first letter box contact off this month, like I could forget. I'm going to make a start on that tonight just don't really know what to write I don't want to sound insensitive with the information, but I don't know whether she would like lots of info or just a bit cause she never turned up for final meeting. Los sw is coming on wednsday I have so many things to talk to her about that they are supposed to be doing and guess what it's not happening. Anyway rant over hope everyone has had a good weekend xx

 

[LolaM]

Wow lolly you have a lot going on this week, your last day of prep sounds really good apart from the one talking too much lol. I hope you have a fantastic time with your parents and a lovely birthday.
Lyns good luck for tomorrow with your little boy.
Been thinking about lolam and hoping everything's ok.
Hi to everyone else hope it's all going well.
I got a letter yesterday to remind me that we have to send our first letter box contact off this month, like I could forget. I'm going to make a start on that tonight just don't really know what to write I don't want to sound insensitive with the information, but I don't know whether she would like lots of info or just a bit cause she never turned up for final meeting. Los sw is coming on wednsday I have so many things to talk to her about that they are supposed to be doing and guess what it's not happening. Anyway rant over hope everyone has had a good weekend xx

She who? mother or SW? Who is getting this letter?

AFM--I have my last 2 classes this coming week. Met our SW at her office and my husband was LESS than pleasant, I dont know why he has to be like that. SW said we are about 80% done as of LAST week. We are the furthest along in the process. We are overachievers, lol! We will have our reinspection this week and fill in some more paperwork, bringing us further along in the process! Our caseworker said it takes about 2 weeks to process our paperwork, then it takes 2-4 weeks for the STATE to do their part, send it back to my SW, who gives it one more look and then it will be finalized. Looks like another 2 months and we will have kids in the house. Hubs had given me the go-ahead to start getting supplies together, long as i dont "go overboard" what ever THAT means!!!