Methods for finding your children

Have you tried Adoption Link UK? Some of the children on there are the same as on BMP and CWW but not all. And I feel there is a little more info on the children.

X x x Ladybug x x X

It is sooo frustrating - and I've not been approved that long. My main frustration at the moment is trying to get invited to an activity day! I can't even go to one because they've got too many people wanting to go! Aaaaaaaarrrrrrrrgggggghhhhhh! But still smiling 

our ff said that with most children she puts in somewhere like cww or bmp she usually gets a lots of responses and will look at photo and the one page pen picture/ profile/ flyer, selects between 5-10 of those and then asks for more info, so those have to sell you at your absolute best.
when we approached her through cww for our children i wrote the following specifically tailored to the info on the squirrel's profile, it had mentioned mainly her ethnicity, her age and development, the need for sensitive parents who understood issues children taken into care at birth may face and had a robust support network.

We are recently approved adopters (with xxxxx, although we live out of borough in xxxx) and are very interested in finding out more about squirrel, who was featured in the November issue of Children Who Wait.

We have attached our profile from xxxx borough. Although we don't have the full information about the girls, we think we have the potential to be a good match to squirrel and potentially for the following reasons...


Both chotimonkey and mr monkey have friends with children of squirrel's age and have spent time with these children and are aware of the needs of this age range. chotimonkiey has completed an 18 month mother and baby observation with a focus on the early years relationshiops and how attachments are formed at squirrel's age and the importance of attuning to the child and letting them show you their biological, social and emotional needs. Through her child development and child psychotherapy course, chotimonkey has attended weekend seminars on strategies to help children build attachments and cope with serious loss. It has also helped her to understand, that even though squirrel was taken into care at birth, she will still have had suffered the loss of her birth parents and then her foster parents and understands that grief is a complicated process which takes a long time to work through.



We have a supportive family many of whom live within five minutes walk of our house and a very child centred network of friends and neighbours.



we are both from mixed race families and although we are not an exact match for squirrel's ethnicity, we have a deep understanding of the importance of celebrating all aspects of a person's cultural identity and we have both embraced each other's cultures, showing that we are open and receptive to new cultures. Our understanding of xxxx culture is that there a lot of similarities to the way that chotimonkey was brought up, within a form of Islam that is not as strict as other Middle eastern communities and encourages for women in dress and opportunity, which dovetails with the way that chotimonkey was parented. The area we live in is ethnically diverse and the school that three streets away is very committed to prmoting and celebrating individual cultural identities.



Our sibling relationships are also very important and although we know with adopted children, sibling relationships can be difficult as different children will have had different early experiences we would be very willing to consider adopting squirrel''s unborn sibling, should they be taken into care and should it be in the best interests of both children.


We hope that you will consider us as a potential match for squirrel and possibly her sibling,

our social worker's details are:

hope this helps... good luck

It's so frustrating not to get any responses, it's not personal, for squirrel out sw had more than 50 enquiries and she had loads more children she was finding for, so I can see why they don't respond to them all, but is so disheartening.

I think this is a v hard time to be waiting for children as current govt wisdom mean they are approving more adopters more quickly for less children...

Things to enhance your profile could be v specific experience/ training to the type of children you have been a Approved for eg age range/ siblings etc, your la prob runs all sorts of training you could ask to be in on, which could be funded.
Diff types of experience with your age range

Getting involved with local organisations, adoption groups etc

All this stuff looks good for linking and matching and more importantly is v helpful after...

Lots of sympathy for the wait tho, it's so horrid, but worth it in the end

VV, I do what Choti does: send an extra email after the initial enquiry with a bit more detail about my experience with caring for 'difficult' kids with similar issue to LACs, it gets their attention (although it isn't put quite so eloquently and detailed as Choti's - that's sooooo good).

I went to an exchange day and was shocked, like you, at how few children there are, crazy, significantly less than 6 months ago even. It is helpful if there's a child you've "enquired" about and you do get invited to an event where they're likely to be profiled - to go up and chat to anyone there from that LA. I did that the other day, she was the FF in fact and said did I have experience of X so I reamed off the issues I dealt with re: a certain child and she stopped me once she got that yes, I well ticked that box. Whether it turns into anything - who knows but I think you can only put yourself out there. By chatting to the SWs there, they remember a real person rather than a photo or profile info.

As to getting on the Activity Days - just email BAAF to see what dates they've got planned in your area which aren't yet on the website and see if they can put you down for it. Have you emailed that National Register to ask if you can be considered for the Adopters access: it is only a pilot scheme and I understand that it's only prospective adopters whose LAs are participating that get to have the access (can't remember if you're with LA or VA)

Hang in there all of you like me still waiting: we will get there

x

We are pursuing a link and found out they will be at an activity day but BAFF have said it's not right that we go as we may 'hog' the children ( my words obviously) this is nonsense, they have already been to one Activity day and no joy ...and the SW seems keen on us. We are mature enough to ensure we 'work the room' and allow others to experience the children... it would just be good to meet and interact with them. I think the SW goofed, she should have just sent us to the activity day and kept quiet if that's the way BAFF play it. We met our previous link like that and were 'sold' once we met them....this feels like just anger obstacle for children to get adopted.   

Yes minefield indeed, we might have to push for a 'blind' sighting , so watching them in a park or something, feels creepy...!!