Archived Forums

Hi & welcome to the sitewe're not kinship carers and our adoption was a bit ago, so this is just general information and in my experience, what a sw asks varies from sw to sw, so there are no definitive answers to your questions but thinking about the following might help you anwer some of the questions the sw is likely to ask (in no particular order)- do you want this particular child or would you adopt any child?- do you have the finances to cope with a child?- have you had IVF recently?- Did you want a birth child of your own?- Do you have fertility isuues?- How well do you get on as a couple?- How would you cope with problems an adoption might cause within the family? eg birth mum wants access and other relatives think she should have baby & not you- how would you feel about child having contact with birth parents?- have you 'grieved' over not having your own children?- Would you want to have your own birth children at some time in the future?I know these are very personal questions, so don't expect you to reply to them on here, but SW is likely to ask some very searching questions, if not on first visit, on subsequent visitsthere may also be other family members who are considering adoption/long term foster carethe good news is that sws do try and consider family members first before going down the adopting elsewhere route, but the bad news is that if birth mum sorts herself out before decision on adoption is made, then there is a a small risk the child will return to her and make your relationship in the family 'awkward'you are likely to have to go through 'adoption training' - though not sure if kinship adopters have to do prep course and home study.Best tip is to have plenty of tea/coffee/soft drinks, biscuits/cakes and to throw out/prune any plants that look half dead.hope this helps give you something to think aboutall the bestl