Post by ladybug on Apr 21, 2014 8:32:33 GMT
4th Feb 2014 approval panel
So very nervous this day despite being told "If we didn't think you would be approved we wouldn't put you to panel." There was still that niggling little doubt of what if they don't approve us. Once we stepped in the panel room the nerves seemed to vanish and very out of character for me I answered the first question! We sat in the waiting room with our SW and the agency SW waiting for our decision which we received in 5 minutes! Whoop whoop, the panel approved us. The agency SW told us that the panel had very few questions to ask as our assessment was so good, our assessing SW was fab. I think they just asked questions because they had to and to hear the answer from the horses mouth as it were.
17th Feb 2014
Received our letter from the agency decision maker dated valentines day. She approved our approval!! Another worry ticked off the list.
19th Feb 2014
Received a CPR for a sibling group of three, despite only be approved for 2! Very excited to receive our first CPR however we had to say no which actually broke my heart, knowing that those poor LOs needed a home and a family and we couldn't help.
24th Feb 2014
Received our second CPR for an 11 month old little pink again she had no issues other than she had been abandoned :-( we expressed our interest as she was gorgeous and probably younger than we had dared to hope for.
11th Mar 2014
Met with our allocated SW, our agency used ISWs for the assessments. Our new SW is a student so she came with her supervisor. Spoke about "our" little pink and what would happen next. They were looking to arrange a selection visit in the following 2 to 3 weeks however pink's SW was proving difficult to contact and was never in the office! Lo's court date for PO was 18th March, we assumed that this would be granted.
18th March 2014
Came and went and we did not hear anything. Our SW's supervisor contacted us a couple of days later to tell us that the PO had not been granted as LO was not a British National and the judge wanted the case to go to High Court. They still wanted to push for selection visit so hopefully the match could be approved and sorted out so we were already to go once PO was granted. LO's SW was talking about end of April for a selection visit so we arranged for a meeting with our SW 15th April.
28th Mar 2014
Email from our SW stating that LO's case is so much more complicated than they thought after having a meeting with her SW's manager due to nothing coming back from SW. It turns out LO's SW had not been telling the whole truth and that because LO was not a British National the LA could not make the decision that she should be adopted despite the fact that this was BM's wish. Not sure really of ins and outs of it all but the government have to get involved in the case!! To say I was devastated was an understatement.
2nd April 2014
Our SW contacts us and says that they have no children in the LA for adoption!! So they are looking to put us on the national adoption register and also search within their consortium for a match for us.
15th April 2014
Meeting with SW to see where we go now and what the next steps are and also for her to get to know us a bit better as this is only the second time of meeting. We talked about making our own enquiries and also her sending snap shots of children from NAR and then the CPR if we were interested.
So far we have made enquiries about 3 sibling groups from AUK and Be My Parent but no responses as yet!! I always knew this would be the worst part of the process as there is no timescale unlike the earlier part of the process when we knew the date of prep training, when our assessment dates where and when panel date was! On the plus side our LO's bedroom is decorated, walls painted, new flooring down etc... No beds or cots as yet as not sure what age child/ren we will get. Bought a wooden toy box and have some books and Tomy forget me not talking album (was a bargain at £19.99) so had to buy it!
17th April 2014
Received details of a 3 month old pink who at this point only has an ICO with hearing for PO in June. We have seen the CPR which doesn't have any names just initials due to LO's legal status. We have said we would like to be considered for selection for her so the wait begins!
So this is where we are now!
So very nervous this day despite being told "If we didn't think you would be approved we wouldn't put you to panel." There was still that niggling little doubt of what if they don't approve us. Once we stepped in the panel room the nerves seemed to vanish and very out of character for me I answered the first question! We sat in the waiting room with our SW and the agency SW waiting for our decision which we received in 5 minutes! Whoop whoop, the panel approved us. The agency SW told us that the panel had very few questions to ask as our assessment was so good, our assessing SW was fab. I think they just asked questions because they had to and to hear the answer from the horses mouth as it were.
17th Feb 2014
Received our letter from the agency decision maker dated valentines day. She approved our approval!! Another worry ticked off the list.
19th Feb 2014
Received a CPR for a sibling group of three, despite only be approved for 2! Very excited to receive our first CPR however we had to say no which actually broke my heart, knowing that those poor LOs needed a home and a family and we couldn't help.
24th Feb 2014
Received our second CPR for an 11 month old little pink again she had no issues other than she had been abandoned :-( we expressed our interest as she was gorgeous and probably younger than we had dared to hope for.
11th Mar 2014
Met with our allocated SW, our agency used ISWs for the assessments. Our new SW is a student so she came with her supervisor. Spoke about "our" little pink and what would happen next. They were looking to arrange a selection visit in the following 2 to 3 weeks however pink's SW was proving difficult to contact and was never in the office! Lo's court date for PO was 18th March, we assumed that this would be granted.
18th March 2014
Came and went and we did not hear anything. Our SW's supervisor contacted us a couple of days later to tell us that the PO had not been granted as LO was not a British National and the judge wanted the case to go to High Court. They still wanted to push for selection visit so hopefully the match could be approved and sorted out so we were already to go once PO was granted. LO's SW was talking about end of April for a selection visit so we arranged for a meeting with our SW 15th April.
28th Mar 2014
Email from our SW stating that LO's case is so much more complicated than they thought after having a meeting with her SW's manager due to nothing coming back from SW. It turns out LO's SW had not been telling the whole truth and that because LO was not a British National the LA could not make the decision that she should be adopted despite the fact that this was BM's wish. Not sure really of ins and outs of it all but the government have to get involved in the case!! To say I was devastated was an understatement.
2nd April 2014
Our SW contacts us and says that they have no children in the LA for adoption!! So they are looking to put us on the national adoption register and also search within their consortium for a match for us.
15th April 2014
Meeting with SW to see where we go now and what the next steps are and also for her to get to know us a bit better as this is only the second time of meeting. We talked about making our own enquiries and also her sending snap shots of children from NAR and then the CPR if we were interested.
So far we have made enquiries about 3 sibling groups from AUK and Be My Parent but no responses as yet!! I always knew this would be the worst part of the process as there is no timescale unlike the earlier part of the process when we knew the date of prep training, when our assessment dates where and when panel date was! On the plus side our LO's bedroom is decorated, walls painted, new flooring down etc... No beds or cots as yet as not sure what age child/ren we will get. Bought a wooden toy box and have some books and Tomy forget me not talking album (was a bargain at £19.99) so had to buy it!
17th April 2014
Received details of a 3 month old pink who at this point only has an ICO with hearing for PO in June. We have seen the CPR which doesn't have any names just initials due to LO's legal status. We have said we would like to be considered for selection for her so the wait begins!
So this is where we are now!