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I totally agree with you PT about matching panel being a farce.Whe we adopted our DD's 10 years ago I remember matching panel being a waste of time. It was more of a rubber stamping exercise and I was left wondering "what was all that about?"When our FC was asked the question "why is this a good match?" I remember her saying - "Well Mum is white and is going to be at home full time"(FC was white),she said - "Dad is black and goes out to work" (FC husband was black and worked)a few other things about our personalities etc and that was it. That's why we were a good match and I was left there, looking at my DH thinking "is that it?".Yes apparently it was!I know my DD's were only 1&2 and were meeting their milestones and were considered easy to place, so maybe if they had had more needs it would have been more detailed, but I did think that the whole matching meeting was a complete waste of time and they didn't even need us there, as they could have agreed it amongst themselves and just rubber stamped it.I don't know what other peoples experiences have been, which is why I think you starting this thread is a great idea and I will read it with interest, but as I said, ours was a complete farce. Yes two, mixed race kids placed, with a white Mum, and a black Dad,(like BM & BF) pat on the back, haven't we done well, next please!

ha ha, jmk, just like us - 2 mixed race boys, one mixed race couple, dad works whilst mum's on adoption leave (FM was their primary caregiver whilst FF worked) - ding ding, next please!To this day I'm sure that, when we walked in the door & said we were interested in boys of mixed race age 3-6, that "THUD" was the sound of a collective jaw drop from the entire LA adoption team whose ship came in with us... not just the faulty door.

I find it a joke that a link can be made and then adopters/children made to wait for 4, 5 or maybe 6 months to get a panel date! I know a couple who actually waited 7 months as most were full - how absolutely ridiculous! and... when you hear social workers say that matching panel is nothing to worry about, its just rubber stamping and all will be fine... well makes it even more of a joke!So my 'ideal' would be that after a match is identified, it has to be agree by childs social worker and family finder. The manager signs it off and sends to decision maker. This in my opinion could take a couple of weeks. Then intros planned for maybe 4 weeks following this to give time for preperation, giving notice to work etc..At the moment nothing is certain until after panel and then intros usually one week after. This means people tend to 'hold back' and then its suddenly all systems go with 7 days to get your head around it! So from link being identified to child moving in should take between 6-10 weeks. Just my opinion

Never been to a matching panel. In fact have only ever been to one approval panel.One frustration we had was with littly. We were being approved specifically for her and so we asked if we could do approval and matching on the same day - in order for her to be home with as as quick as possible. Only to be met with utter horror. Oh no, that's not the way we do it here. Well why not when approval was child specific.Middly's was done sensibly and with bigly, well we'd already been matched with him prior to being told about him. So within weeks of first knowing of his existence, he was home. Now that was a shock!!

From us being matched to DD's moving in was about 4 weeks, so pretty quick really. Would have been quicker but both SW and FC had booked holidays hence the delay. Meant we missed YDD's 1st Birthday.

I think things used to be a lot quicker. Mine took 4 months from link to moving in and that was considered a very long time with lengthy delays due to court proceedings. I dont know of anyone locally to me now who gets to panel in less that 3 months, with most taking 4-6 months