Hi,
Can you please let me know what we can do to obtain experience with children? We don't have any friends with kids close to us so that we can spend some time with them on a weekly basis.
What kind of volunteering is considered appropriate? Shall we try to find something in the schools nearby?
Thank you in advance.
Hello, what we did was to contact our local council and had an appointment made to meet someone that specialises in setting up volunteers etc. At that appointment she showed us all of the places that require volunteers (obviously just the young children groups) and we chose the one we felt we would enjoy the most. She forwarded our details on and then they got in contact with us, after all the DBS and relavent checks were done we could start. We help out at the toddler groups at our local school. It has been great experiece and really is actually quite good fun, the grounds are stunning at this school and I love seeing the children and parents have a great time, I will be taking my child to this group when they are old enough. My adoption friend volunteers at her local church, hope they helps. :-)
Hi, we were also asked to obtain more experience with children during the assessment stage before we adopted. This was because our limited childcare experience could be considered a negative during the prospective adopters’ panel. Just like you we did not have close friends with children. At the time we volunteered as a couple for an organisation called KEEN in London, that provides weekend recreational sessions for kids with autism and special needs. Basically each Sunday for about 6 months, we attended one of these 3-hour recreational sessions and were paired with a different kid each time. Even though we never intended nor did we adopt a child with special needs, the experience was really helpful and we learned a lot of strategies that can be applied when raising a child and that helped us to boost our adoption profile. Not sure where you are based, but there must be other organisations like KEEN across the country that provide this type of service. At the time we also tried volunteering with schools and nurseries, but we couldn’t find any options that allowed us to volunteer during weekends and as a couple. Hope this is helpful!
Here is the website for KEEN:
If you don’t live in London you could always try to contact them to ask them if they know other similar organisations in other parts of the country.
Very useful information.
Thank you so much!
This is a good website for finding opportunities, in general. You can tailor your search to particular days of the week etc.
Family contact centres and prison visiting organisations are possible too - it may help to have experience with children in this kind of context.
Thank you, Lettice, John and GK1309.
No worries, hope our info can be some help to you. It is a lot trying fit it all in as well as a job but like I said if you find somewhere you think you will enjoy, then you will have great fun doing it. :-) Good Luck.
Do you think it is possible to find something for both us at the same time?
Yeah definitely, I go and volunteer with my husband at the same time. It is something you could ask your council worker (or who ever is in charge of organising your volunterring). We are lucky that my shifts are optional and my husbands work is flexible so we just picked the best day for us that effected his work the least. :-)
Thank you, GK1309!
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