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It's a very long winded process with many set backs for all who go into it. You may feel you are asked lots of awkward questions or not, but everyone who goes through the process has a different experience and most seem to wait around a year/2 years for all the prep work to Matching panel, then up to 2 years again to get children placed, then add on a few months/years to official adoption order.Hope this gives you some ideal

Hello, there have been quite a few threads on the other parts of the board about length of process - the average being what Lonsdale summarises above.Some lesbian and gay adopters have found that it was difficult to find an agency to take them on and assess them in the first place. Anecdotally this seems to be improving - and it does seem to be particularly an issue in areas like London where the types of adopters applying (typically white) don't match to the profiles of the children the Local Authorities are seeking families for. So it's not entirely down to sexual orientation, though many people have suspected that being gay doesn't help when there's lots of competition to be taken on by an agency.Again, anecdotally, some lesbian and gay adopters have found it hard(er) to be matched and placed with children after approval and have felt that they were discounted or not considered for children they expressed an interest in for spurious reasons.Once again anecdotally, this is not everyone's experience. We were linked to a child almost immediately upon approval and know of other lesbians who had the same experience - other adopters (gay and straight) wait for a long time before even finding a potential match.In short: experiences vary and I'm not naive enough to think that sexuality doesn't play a role in some experiences, but it's not the only factor.ps. It took us almost exactly 2 years from Initial Enquiry to Approval Panel. We're still waiting for our Matching Panel, which if it goes ahead will be approximately 3 months after our link. So I'd say if you're thinking of adopting in 18months+ time, then you're right to start enquiring now. Good luck.

Hi 123pcharlesIn a nutshell we first called our local Social Services in June 2007, were Approved at panel in August 2008, Matched at panel in April 2009 and our Adoption Order was granted last week.Good luck.Daddy2 x

Wow, i appreciated it took a long time but thats longer than we had guessed. All worth it though. We have our first meeting 20th January to get the ball rolling!!!so watch this space lol.....

New standards for adoption say the entire process, from your initial phone call, to being approved as a prospective adoptive parent, should take no more than eight months. All adoption agencies are working towards this goal.Once you are approved, the process of matching you to a suitable child can take from a couple of weeks to over a year. Things are changing in adoption to help speed this up. The new adoption register allows adoption agencies to link adoptive parents with children waiting to be adopted, so you and the children who need new homes don’t have to wait so long.

Wow, afteradoption, that's a very ambitious aim given the speed most agencies are able to work at currently.We spent 6 weeks to 2 months chasing our LA to follow up our interest from a public meeting stage, where they took our details and promised to call us back, to initial visit from a SW (with Christmas in the middle admittedly). Given the much reported shortage of social workers, how do you see this being carried through in practice? Realistically I mean.

As others have said its incredibly variable, but should be within about a year once you have completed prep.You may find however that as you are planning a CP that your agency will only take you so far into the process at this stage. They may ask that you wait until 6-12 months after your CP to come back to them to begin. It may be worth sounding them out as to whether they will proceed now with such a big event in both your lives on the horizon.Midge